Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Made The Decison



So, I've made the decision I'm doing it! I'm finally going to do it. I'm going to Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in LA in April. Or rather, I have decided that not going is no longer an option. I've been talking about it for 2 years now and I feel if I don't do it now, I never will.


Since discovering Bikram Yoga 3 years ago it has quickly become an integral part of my life. Some would say an obsession. I was training for the Auckland Half Marathon at the time, when my girlfriend, Wendy, suggested we go try this "hot yoga". To be honest I'd never heard of it, and being a gym junkie and someone who loved to pound the pavement, I couldn't imagine yoga every providing the kind of work out I liked but thought a bit stretching couldn't hurt.


Boy was I wrong! As it turns out, a Bikram Yoga class was harder than ANY half marathon race I had done, made me sweat more than pounding the pavement, and after some classes I felt so sore, sick and beat up that I couldn't imagine it was giving me any benefits let alone doing anything for my flexibility. But there was something about it, that kept drawing me back into that hot room.


To those who haven't done a class, Bikram Yoga is a series of 26 postures (asanas) including 2 breathing exercises, taking 90 minutes and done in a room heated to 37 degrees. Sounds like torture? It is! And thats the whole point of it. To push you to your limits, past boundaries you didn't even know you had and take you to a whole new place of consciousness.


Besides the physical benefits of giving you a great body with that "yoga glow", healing old injuries (some you won't even know you have) and improving your flexibility, there is a whole range of mental benefits that you start to develop. Slowly but surely you start to have more clarity, patience and compassion both for yourself and others. You find that on the days you get onto your mat you feel more calm and things are easier to handle than on the days that you don't. Hence the start of the obsession.


To be able to teach Bikram Yoga it requires you to go to an intense 9 week Teacher Training course (otherwise known as TT or Bootcamp) with Bikram himself. (Yes, Bikram is an actual person, not just a style of yoga. Don't worry, I didn't know this in the beginning either) During the 9 weeks you do 2 yoga classes a day every day, along with posture clinics, lectures, and learning the dialogue. (During a class the teacher doesn't actually practice with you but delivers a specific dialogue or instructions for each posture. You need to learn this and be able to recite this verbatim before graduation.)


So, this is the adventure I have signed up for. I am scared, excited and thrilled all at the same time. I can't wait! And to you, Wendy, thank you so much for the introduction. I will forever be so grateful that you suggested we "try this hot yoga". xx