Day 7

Day 7 was interesting. I took the 9:00 AM class. A young girl was teaching, I forget her name. It was a good class all and all, however a couple things got me thinking...

So during class today, people kept coming in late. Some during breathing, some during half-moon.... some during awkward, some during eagle............. some during head-to-knee..... yes, I said it, some people came in during standing head-to-knee. At first, during breathing, during half moon, even during awkward, I didnt' really have an issue. But when people start coming in during standing head-to-knee, it gets pretty annoying. How can you possibly have a good class? The room isn't hot enough to begin with! You're telling me you're going to walk into a class and just start standing head-to-knee pose? Come on... I need at least one good padahastasana to get my hamstrings ready for that pose and at least one set of eagle to get my hips ready. Some people had the excuse that "traffic was bad"... Whatever. I just know that if I was in my car, and I looked and saw that I wasn't going to be able to make it to class before 10 after, I would turn the car around and wouldn't even bother going to class; I would simply wait until the next class.

The next thing that bothered me was people walking in and out of the room... again. Every class I've taken so far, there have been people who just up-and walk out of the room at random intervals. It makes me wonder, why are these people leaving? Do they think it's hot? Or do they think they've gotten a substantial workout at that point and time and feel free to leave? There was one girl who walked in during awkward and left during standing head-to-knee. When the teacher asked her where she was going she said she had to leave because she had a hangover-- Now, I guess I really shouldn't be saying this since I'm 19, but truthfully, if you are ever feeling like shit on the morning after a long night... Bikram Yoga is the best thing for you. The balancing series may be rough: your vertigo may be off. And you may be really tight and not want to sweat at all. But eventually your body and mind will give in and surrender to the yoga and you will feel better as the class progresses.

This series was designed to heal tons of ailments. I do these poses all then time when I feel something is out of balance... If my chest is tight and I'm feeling very anxious, I do pranayama deep breathing and camel pose. If I have a bad stomach ache or stomach cramps, I drink a lot of water and do multiple sets of wind-removing pose. If I have an exam, presentation, or speech at school, I go into the bathroom or into the hallway and do two lengthy sets of half-tortoise pose. Yes, this seems crazy, but I wouldn't be telling you these things if they didn't work (I truly don't mean to sound like a teacher right now, cause that's the last thing I want to do... sound just like the voice that you hear everyday for an hour and a half, but I don't quite know how to express how this series really works).

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I am taking the 1030AM tomorrow. This was a relatively boring post, and a hodge-podge of thoughts jumbled up into paragraphs. So pardon me. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Oh, and another thing! I have been eating a majority of raw foods since I've been here and drinking fresh juice everyday after class. There are SO many tasty options here for raw food. And I have found that I have so much more energy during my practice. I think it's a combination of the food, the weather, and the energy of the city.

* Those of you who are at home, try eating some vegetables before class (but not too close to class, we don't want any accidents) to see if your energy level changes. Steam some broccoli or eat something green. See if it has any effect on your energy level during class.

May the force be with you, yogis.