mid morning class--Day 42

I went to class this morning, and the studio seemed eerily empty. Two of our instructors are competing in the Asana Championships this weekend, as are two students from our studio. The studio owners went to LA for the Championships as well. This mid-morning class is fairly new at our studio, and usually smaller than other classes, but today there were just 12 of us! It felt a little lonely! I'm getting used to bumping into people, staggering ourselves on the lines, and making room for one more mat.

It was super-duper humid today. Didn't feel hot, but I was coated, head to toe, dripping with perspiration before pranayama even ended. I am so sweaty. Much much later in the class I looked at the lady next to me, in her below-the-knee length tights, longline sports bra top and giant massive thick all cotton T-shirt over that, and wondered why she wasn't drenched. How does she keep her hair dry in all that heat and humidity? It is a mystery to me how differently each person's body responds to this yoga.

I got mad dizzy vertigo during standing head to knee. I pushed through with it, and I struggled against it in standing bow. Balancing stick was fine, but after the first set of standing separate leg stretching, the blacking out feeling was overwhelming, so I sat down. I did one set of triangle, and I was okay after that. I still really feel down on myself when I sit out postures, but sometimes I just don't have it in me to do everything. Overall, though, it was a good class, and I am happy to have my yoga done for the day. I am toying with the idea of trying to hit the 6:30 class tonight if I can get across town fast enough, but I don't know for sure...

When I was lying in savasana after class, I was thinking back to some of the first Bikram Yoga classes I ever took. They were at a just-opened studio in Bozeman, Montana. The instructor, Chris Bunting, had such a gentle, strong, helpful style of teaching. At that time, I didn't know about the dialogue, and I was utterly blown away by the amount of precision and detail in the instruction. I thought that Chris was an amazing genius! And he is! He learned all of that dialogue, anatomy, physiology, asana study, focus, and discipline. And he learned from another genius, Bikram. But the point is, the instruction was so specific and gave me immediate improvement in asana. And that was unbelievably motivating to me. Chris an his wife, Rebeckah, are both wonderful, inspiring instructors, and I am grateful that from them, I got such a great introduction to Bikram yoga.

I read on facebook today that it is Bikram's birthday! I am wishing him a happy day, and sending gratitude to him for giving the world this series and bringing yoga practice to us.

I don't know how to throw this into my wrap-up for the day, but I love Bikram Yoga Bozeman's t-shirts. They say, "Good camel, good rabbit, good life." Indeed.