Week 6 has come and gone. So have many other things. Now, officially two-thirds through this yoga boot camp,
there have been numerous accounts of “triumphs, tears, and the torture
chamber.” This has been Hell Week
#2 … with a lot of heaven thrown in.
To start the week, we had 6 ½ - 7 hours of posture clinic a
day. Memorizing and reciting four
postures in one day and preparing to do the same the following day is no easy
feat. However, being the amazingly
fabulous yogis that we are, we handled that task on top of incredible sleep
deprivation remarkably well.
Pretty much, we rock. I say
that with the upmost sincerity. I
also say that because without each other, none of us would have made it this
far with success. We ARE each
other’s rock.
Group 13, AKA: “Lucky 13” – I love you all!
Little piece of heaven # 1: From the Lower East Side
NYC was representing here at TT on Monday night. Tricia, a
studio owner from the Lower East Side taught our class. I LOVED HER! She was amazing!
She was full of energy. She
was tough, with a drill sergeant demeanor who held postures FOREVER! She made us want to work hard
though. Throughout the class she
referred to us as “teachers.” This
was the first time anyone had addressed us as such. A couple of other things that stood out were in Balancing
stick she said, “Your body should look like a ‘T’ as in Love…” and my favorite
quote of the week, “Be nice. Work hard. Amazing things will come.” Oh and, did I forget to mention that ‘T
as in Tricia’ is Lady Gaga’s personal Bikram trainer? Yeah, that’s right… I met my first pseudo star!
Life is all about balance, right? So, to counter the amazing teacher and class on Monday
night, one might say that Thursday zeroed out the scales. For our evening class, we were led a
teacher and studio owner from VA.
To keep the politics to a minimum, I won’t use her name but I will tell
you that it was the WORST class I’ve taken. When teacher’s come to TT and teach class, there is a
certain expectation about the quality of instruction you’ll get, and when a
teacher has been teaching for 10 years, well that expectation grows a bit
more. I guess this is a perfect
case of why they tell us to “leave your expectations at the door”… because
you’re going to get the unexpected.
When Bikram teaches, you never know what you’re in store
for. You never know what will or won’t come out of his mouth. You never know how long he’ll hold the
postures or how long his class will go.
Friday night, Bikram taught.
I think he said “push” an extra 200 times. He held the first set of triangle for what felt like 2
minutes. He went off on numerous tangents that I will refrain from restating
here (but if you’re interested in his famous “Bikramisms” we can chat another
time). It’s no wonder class was 110 minutes, 20 minutes longer than a “normal”
class.
Little piece of heaven # 2: From the good ole Granite State
Wednesday afternoon, I was sitting in my room finishing up
lunch after a study session at the pool.
There was a knock on the door.
I got up to answer it thinking it was housekeeping with towels. I opened the door not to a Hispanic
lady with linens but to a friendly, familiar face from the other side of the
country. Sara, my studio owner
surprised me here in LA. I had no
idea she was coming, but I was sure glad she did. She stayed for here through Saturday, took class in the
enormous hot room, went to Whole Foods with me while I stocked up on grapes,
and on Friday night before she headed home, we went out to dinner with Angelie,
Hilary, Evan, Alex, and Alex’s studio owner. We feasted on a smorgasbord of food, 4 types of lemonade,
and 8 different types of cupcakes.
Sara and Angelie at Lemonade
Little piece of heaven # 3: Good Luck and Hard Work
I think Sara brought with her all of the love, support and
encouragement that all of my friends and family back home had been sending my
way. That and maybe some
additional good luck… Wednesday, just a half hour or so after Sara’s surprise
arrival; I was back in posture clinic.
I had been struggling with the dialogue up to this point, and a
suggestion I received was to just get up and do it, go first. So, that’s just what I did. I got up first to do Camel. For the first time in 2 weeks, I didn’t
freeze. I got through, start to
finish, and did it pretty well. I
was so excited; I literally jumped up and down after I said the last word. I was thrilled. I sat down and began to work on the
next posture, Rabbit. This is my
least favorite pose to do in class, mainly because I kind of suck at it. It’s really hard for me to do and it
hurts… a lot. An hour and a half
or so after I did Camel, I got back up to do Rabbit. Not only did I NOT freeze, I flat out rocked that posture. Two in a row and the second one was
even better than the first. The
posture I’m the worst at in the hot room was the one I did the best on in
posture clinic, go figure! I was
elated, so happy and so proud. I
had been working diligently and getting so frustrated with not getting to where
I wanted to be. I was hard on
myself, but today I was proud. I
only wish Sara had been in that Cabana with us so she could have seen it. It was a breakthrough for sure!
A little piece of heaven # 4: A Taste of New England in the
Autumn
Let me first preface this by saying, I have the best sister
in the world. Friday night as I’m
heading back to lecture, the concierge stops me to give me a package. From whom? You guessed it, Kim, my wicked awesome sister. She sent me “Fall from Home.” A pumpkin filled with yummy treats: a
fresh picked apple, a caramel covered apple, mini painted pumpkin, mulling
spices for cider, maple sugar candies, NH honey sticks, a whoopie pie, and a
frame with pressed leaves from our yard.
So great and so perfect!
Thanks Freddie!
Nothing beats Fall in New England!
A little piece of heaven # 5: Body Surfing
Surf’s Up!
Laura and I headed to the beach on Saturday to soak up some Vitamin D
without practicing dialogue! It
was so refreshing! We did recruit
some drunken guys on the beach to try and teach though. They told us they wanted to learn how
to “center their chi” and asked for our help. Of course, we obliged.
It was hilarious, although I’m sure the day after they didn’t feel all
that “centered” but more like hungover and sun burnt. After our little yoga session, we went into the water and
rode the waves. We didn’t have a
surfboard so we used the ones we were born with, our bodies. I don’t remember laughing so hard. We had a BLAST getting our asses kicked
by those waves. I think I still
have sand and salt in my hair but it was so worth it! The sunset after, well that was insane too...
Center that Chi fellas
Wish y'all were here for this!
A little piece of heaven # 6: "We're going to HOLLYWOOD!!!
Today we did the touristy thing. After the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, Keunah drove Laura and I around LA and we did all of the things people usually do the first day or two they’re here. We just decided to wait 6 weeks. We drove down Sunset Blvd, Hollywood Blvd, and Rodeo Drive. We saw the Hollywood sign, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Star Walk of Fame, and took quite a few photos with celebrities at the wax museum. We went window shopping and played dress-up in Dolce & Gabbana. $14,000 for a coat…. Ehh, that’s just pocket change! HAH! Then we went over to Santa Monica for a little pampering. We got mani/pedis and grabbed some dinner. We got back to the hotel and just in time; being a tourist is tough work, we were pooped!
Look at the size of that tomato!
Mmm, oysters!
Helloooo Hollywood!
Country Stars Gone Hollywood
Got into a bit of trouble here in Hollywood...
Johnny Castle, let me show you a thing or two
I got this under control Obama
90210
Cha-Ching! Pretty Woman Style!
The week began with an asinine amount of dialogue. It ended with us erupting in screams of
excitement, tears of joy, hugs for all, and lots and lots of smiles. Why? Well, at the conclusion of 6 weeks, we had done something no
other group of trainees had done before, not in 40 training sessions, not ever…
we finished all 26 postures. We
got through the dialogue hell and did it faster than any other group had
done. Add in having a
weekend not filled with studying, allowed us to have a nice little break and
see some of this city that has become our temporary home. I guess it’s true… you can’t get to
heaven until you’ve gone through hell!
Namaste!
No comments:
Post a Comment