For those of you who don’t know me, Hi, Hello, or I should be saying Hola, mi nombre es Jodi and I’m about to do a very life changing thing. I’m headed to Acapulco, Mexico for 9 intense weeks of Bikram Yoga Teacher Training. When I return I’ll be certified to teach Bikram Yoga.
What is Bikram Yoga? Bikram Yoga is 90 minutes of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises done in a room with a temperature of 105 degrees. It’s not a walk in the park. I first tried “Hot Yoga” while I was living outside Nashville, TN. It was such an intense workout, and, oh the sweat! No one quite gets the sweat when explaining what I do. Imagine you’re the supersaturated towel being squeezed in a hotbox. Then ring yourself out, over and over, for 90 minutes.
Why, because I’m crazy. I’ve been an athlete for the greater part of my life and was starting to have back pain at age 30. The motion in my sport is very one sided and after 25 years of playing my body finally screamed at me. I was working a job that gave me no balance in life. After getting out of work early one night I decided to do something about my back and the unbalance not only in my life but in my body as well. I looked up Bikram Yoga online and found Sheila’s studio and headed out the door the catch the last class of the evening.
Class was exactly what I needed. Structure, discipline, intense, emotional, difficult, and there was so much room to improve.
I went almost every day for 30 days during that winter month. Sheila planted a seed in my head I should consider teacher training. At first I thought, no way, not interested! The more my job involved misery, the more trying something new seemed inviting.
The rest. . . I’ve been doing Yoga for the past 4 months in preparation for the next 9 weeks, averaging about 5-6 days a week. I’ve done doubles in a day, a triple (Sheila implied one day after class she didn’t think I knew what I was getting myself into and how hard it would be , so, I got all fired up and did 3 classes in one day, thanks for the inspiration Sheila), and a non water class (no drinking water). I had read another student’s blog about her spring training experiences and how we are required to do a non water class – so I tried it. It wasn’t so bad, there were a few times a sip would have been nice. The student blogger explained that the teacher describes the reaching for water in class as a metaphor for life – the second we feel uncomfortable we reach for something to comfort us. I reach for Yoga!
My body! My body has changed so much. My skin is better, I feel good in my clothes and there is some serious lean muscle mass going on. One day at work I had to hand pull a drag with a man on the softball field because the gator was down and surprisingly, I rocked it out! He was huffing and puffing, I was in cruise control. Yoga, who knew!
So here I sit in the airport headed to Mexico City. I have one bag packed at EXACTLY 50 pounds with one carry on. Not bad for a two month jaunt. I am an avid traveler and really, everything you really need is found everywhere in the world. You just may not find a benchmark Hawaiian pizza in Africa or wherever you find yourself.
I’ve packed about 10-14 Yoga outfits, it is rumored your stuff stinks after two months of 11 classes a week. In my bag there is a serious concoction of electrolytes such as Emergen-C, Gatorlytes, Magnesium, Potassium and Vitamins. I’m not much of a pill person so taking all this is not within myself, but I’ve read horror stories of people in class passing out and getting IV’d for dehydration. Better safe than sorry. I’m brining one Nalgene bottle (simple), a yoga mat, a few fitted sweats and t-shirts (I hear the lecture rooms are cold), a bowl, spork/knife tool, my brain, and a small handheld blender (I hear mixing smoothies before class helps). Who knows if I’m prepared or not? I trust myself enough to figure it out.
Reasons to trust myself:
I once bought a bus ticket in Portuguese (which I don’t speak or read) in a sweaty packed chaotic bus station to get from Rio to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Oh, and I drove in Italy (enough said). Besides, I’m staying at a ritzy hotel on the beach and there is a Wal-Mart – in my opinion, we’re all cheating!
Damn it, I just remembered the one thing I forgot, my BIKINI! I’m such a moron.
This experience is going to kick my ass I’m completely aware of this. I may even shed tears or join in a group hug. All I can do, is all I have done, which is, prepare myself mentally and physically, as well as memorize the dialogue for Half Moon Pose. What the hell is that? Oh yes my non-yoga friend! I have to memorize the 90 minutes of dialogue for each of the 26 poses. In my first week I must recite Half Moon in front of 300 hundred people! Holy Schnikeys, Did I mention that? This is actually the one thing I’m worried about, the dreaded Dialogue. I can memorize it, no problem, if we using the wristwatch of a snail. I just hope I’m quick enough to have each pose memorized in one night, ready to recite the next day! Talking in front of 300 people, ha, I’m a bit of a ham.
Hopefully this gets us up to date. I’m going to sign off now as I write this lightheartedly with kind spirits which may change over the next few weeks. I hope not. Tonight I’m staying in Mexico City with a host then going to find a bus to Acapulco tomorrow. I still don’t have a place to stay my first night in Acapulco, I think I just heard a freak out in Kentucky right about now. No worries people, travel is my passion! There are some Yogi’s staying a hostel near our hotel I may catch up with. We’ll see. Cheers!!
Quotes from Kentuckians before heading to Mexico:
"watch out for drunk Mexicans"
"you better speak Spanish, what are you going to do"
"is the internet all in Spanish in Mexico"
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