First day with Bikram

This morning we started lecture at 10am. I woke up to the sounds of the ocean, ate some yogurt, granola and banana (so yogi i know!) outside on the patio above the pool overlooking the palm trees and beyond that the ocean. when i learn how to use my first digital camera i will try to get some pics up.

there is a lot of excitement going on! tonight is the 15th of september, which means it's the mexican independence holiday. parties all night long till morning! in mexico city the president rings the bell of independence at 11pm and everyone shouts viva mexico! then parties till it's september 16. i love holidays in foreign countries. americans, well lets just say, we don't know how to party and live every moment just yet, like some places in the world do. we are too busy working and worrying. that is what i love about travel, learning from other cultures.

All the teachers spoke today and gave us tidbits of info, we went over the rules again. . geez, it's so common sense, i don't get it. and people still keep asking questions, can we drink the water, where is the yoga room, what time is the shuttle....
the stuff we are told over and over, its like camp and the counselors keep reminding us,
"if you are on meds, keep taking them"
"eat food"
"sleep"
"breathe"
"after 4 big meals you should have 4 big poops (thank you rajashree)"
"no falling in love here, only fall in love with yourself"

we should be drinking 5 litres/1 gallon of water a day
getting electrolytes

There is such a pattern, I'm guessing many people seem to miss these rules - like breathe.

give me a week, i know, i'll be group hugging all over the place!

soo..... for the real news!!!! Bikram spoke today. he came in through the back of the lecture room (which is cold by the way) and made his way to the stage where a large couch sits on center stage. people stood up. no joke. one guy sat next to my german friend and kept saying i'm sooo excited, i'm sitting right here so bikram can see me. a bit cultish scary. people brought presents for his assistant to give him. holy holy!

lets talk about bikram. geez. ok. where to start. first off, he's a snazzy dresser. my dad would like his style. he was wearing a silk see through white collared dress shirt, with white pressed slacks, and big ol white boots. to top it off a white bike hat (think 80's just a simle flimsy hat that bikers wore, with the bill up, not a helmet), which makes it look like he might go dancing in downtown haarlem, new york till sun up then hop on a bike and join a race. very snazzy!
He is totally fit. great great shape, i keep finding myself looking at his face then his body and they don't match up in age, it's awesome!

he wears a headset on stage and it reminds me of the movie oleander with tom cruise. tom cruise is a self help motivational speaker and wears a headset on stage. thats what it reminds me of, with no disrespect.

so bikram starts his speach, which is good, he has a presence. it feels a bit churchy, lots of this is why i'm great, this is why yoga is great.

bikrams points today,

we are the luckiest people to be here today
why are we so lucky - answer - we made the best decision for our life to be here
what is the most important thing in your life - answer - your life
if you are the most important person in your life how can i get you to realize that
life is good - we have everything we just don't know how to use it
because we don't know how to use it we have nothing.

so leave everything outside the door and focus on becoming the best teacher in the world

(i sware mom, dad, sister, brother, boyfriend, i'm not joining a cult)

he's actually very engaging and interesting. part of me feels this is very similiar to training as a top level athlete, i feel like i am fortunate enough to have similar training in the things bikram is focusing on.
being a former college and professional athlete and now a coach, i can relate his message to the mental, physical and lifeskills training of sport.

Another teacher spoke today and mentioned some of the things Bikram will teach us:
-yoga and the mind
faith/trust
moral discipline/self control
determination
concentration/meditation
patience

this is verbatim what i learned while training as a college athlete day in and day out, good thing we had sport psychologists and life skills teachers! (go beavs!)
1 having faith in ourselves, our teammates and our coaches and gaining confidence in practicing on the field every day - will help us perform well and deal with failures in our sport
2 having the discipline and self control to push yourself, not cheat yourself (like running through the lines at 6am in conditioning) and knowing when to be smart with your body (aka getting sleep, studying, balancing social life)
3 having the determination to practice day in and day out (20 + hours a week in college) and striving being better than the athlete next to you
4 staying focused, during practice, in the classroom, letting failures in your performance on the field pass without affecting your game,
5 being patient with yourself, when you have been hitting for the past 4 hours and your body is not doing what you and your coach want it to - being patient knowing that 4 hours of repetitions will pay off tomorrow.

in my opinion, very similar

so if anything has prepared me for these 9 weeks, training as an athlete has!

i found out we only have to do half moon pose on stage, i thought we had to do hands to feet and back bend, thank god! (mumbo jumbo for non-yogis, sorry). so i was all pumped up and ready to do my on stage today, but after lunch bikram cancelled half moon, so tomorrow i'm gonna rock it out. I feel really good about it. I absolutely love the feeling of fear before a big game, an at bat against the best pitcher in the country, karaoke, public speaking, surfing, jumping off a cliff into an old quarry, ok, you get the point. maybe i'm an adrenaline junkie, i love the feeling of practicing then trusting myself to perform by jumping into a situation just to see how my body and mind will react. this is my thought process in dealing with change or adversity, every time i overcome adversity with a success I gain confidence. the more i "push myself beyond my flexibilty" the more interesting i find everything around me. i've really enjoyed life so far and really looking forward to what will come of this training and challeges that will present itself. it's exciting. i'll stop rambling.

I think i'm rambling because some of my friends are really freaking out about going up on stage their bodies are reacting in flight (breathing heavy, sweating) , its very interesting to watch and learn from. we have been talking about it and i have offered advice from a coaching standpoint in dealing with failure and preparing your body for success. things like gaining confidence from practice, having a plan for failure - focus on your breath, having a focal point, a routine, something you can go to when things are tough, etc... now i'm really rambling. I'll stop, BECAUSE . . .

I"m off to my first yoga class of 9 weeks. see you later skaters!