Pressure is building: Earthquakes and Break Downs

I'm going to start with the juicy juicy first!

Bikram kept us up last night till 1am watching the bollywood movie Jodhaa Akbar. Very good movie! Very late night for an 8:30 class with Emmy.

Emmy the 82 year old ass kicker taught class this morning. Everyone was dragging their mats into the hot hot room. Emmy was doing the usual, spending a lot of time teaching and talking while we struggled in and out of poses. Half the class went down on their mats, puking resumed in the back of the room. I had two girls down for the count the entire class on either side of me. It felt like extra weight was on my arms. Classes are 90 minutes long, the heat is cranked up, it's hotter than 105 for sure (rumor has it they crank it up every week at one point to over 125). Pressure is mounting.

At 9:59am one older man shouted from the left front of the room "we have one minute to go, one minute". Emmy was no where close to being done with the class. At 10am he stood up and started to shout while grabbing his mat, towel and water. Class is over, 90 minutes, we do not go over! He headed to the back of the room with everyones full attention (even the sick were upright). One of the staff members stood up and shouted, sit back down, stay in the room. The older man was still screaming fuck you, fuck you, this class is supposed to be 90 minutes. He put up his fists and was ready to fight. A few of the men near me jumped up to go help. The older man kept screaming and the staff finally let him out. Emmy continued on with the class after things settled down. People are cracking. Sadly the man who lost it today is actually one of everyones favorites. He is usually smiling, happy and positive. After class when everyone spilled out of the heat to collapse on the grass he walked by and apologized, saying, i know, i know, i am sorry, i know you need me, i need me. No one even cared, we are so exhausted, everyone was very supportive.

Last night I got into the yoga room a little later than usual. I'm usually parking my mat in the 5/6 row near the vents so I can catch the tiniest hint of a breeze that feels like an amazing hurricane during class. The podium was set up for Bikram with his orange cup of tea and his orange towel laid out. I saw an opening up near the front in the 3rd row. Thought to myself, I'm the camp champ, I'll move up there near Bikram. Holy Shit! Lets just say the girl next to me cried the whole class, the hot air felt like a crushing weight on my body and my legs were on fire. I felt like I had to do each pose to stay strong in front of Bikram. I did all the poses, my worst was Camel, you sit up on your knees and arch your upper body back into a back bend grabbing your feet with your hands. It makes your heart race. That was my worst pose, I could only tilt my head back.


During Triangle pose the man next to me moved out of the posture and I felt the earth move under me and then the mirrors started to shake. EARTHQUAKE! I was so tired I didn't even care. It was our second earthquake since being here. The other one happened at 1 am in the morning. During that earthquake I heard my roommate go to the bathroom, so I got up to go, and she was blah blah blah at 1am, i just walked right past her, went to the toilet and back to bed. I guess she was trying to tell me we were having an earthquake. I'm to tired to care.


By the end of Bikrams class my feet and hands were tingling, going numb, no joke. My body felt like a giant weight and I could barely lift or move it. It was a struggle. I did it. Bikram didn't say anything to me, thats a good thing, he's a drill sargent. During class I said to the woman that was crying, you can do it, focus on your breath, keep breathing. At the end of class while laying in the heat she handed me some ice. It was the most amazing ice I have ever felt. I started on my forehead, immediately cooling sensation. down my temples to my neck and just like that it was gone. Ahhhh.