Day 14: Yoga Class #21 and We're free!!!!

The weekend. There's my prize to the left: A virgin Pina Colada by the pool! Time to reflect, think, relax (if that’s possible?) and regroup for the week to come. We are heading into Week 3, where the intensity picks up in that we begin posture clinic.

Allow me to explain. There are 16 groups of about 17 people, divided alphabetically. There are 8 posture clinic rooms – in this case, corner suites in the tower, some of which look over the ocean. They are posh, air conditioned and comfy, for this, I’m assuming we are to be extremely grateful as the frequency in which this is mentioned implies conditions in the past were not as favorable. Each day, two groups are in each room on a rotating basis so you get to experience/learn with different people, save for the 16 others in your group, with whom we are to get nice and cozy since we’ll always be together.

In each clinic, one student delivers the dialogue of a specific posture, while three other students perform the posture exactly as the one delivering says to – that is to say, if they make an error, we follow their incorrect direction. Meanwhile, a proctor reviews and takes notes about each student in a super-secret notebook that we are never to see, unless we return as a (volunteer) proctor at a future teacher training. Then, I believe we are privy to the information more or less as a learning tool.

Craig set up a mini-version the other day and we got to see him deliver juicy, productive feedback to a few people. He did the thing where you give all the positive stuff first, and then a few corrections that are delivered with grace and kindness. Now then, I don’t expect all proctors will be as eloquent in their verbiage as well-practiced, experienced Craig.

Still, I look forward to getting on with it – though the memorization part is brutal and you can feel everyone getting keyed up around the stress of it – it’s like a 90-minute 1-person show with 28 distinct scenes that if performed poorly, will leave your peers twisted up in knots, holding a painful pose for too long because you forgot where you were knowing they have another whole yoga class to do in no time because they’re constant which is when guilt sets in and then you are really screwed and can’t remember a gosh-darn thing and…and..and! Can you feel my fear? Thought so.
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Today's Pix:
Bikram Tiger Short Boys (Bikram loves animal prints, and sells clothes here; these guys all coordinated their outfits for Saturday calss); Me, #21!!!!!; Mexican Wildlife found near my bag/shoes after class (I will be avoiding the bottom cubbies from now on); Todd, Jennifer & Christian after the after-class ocean/pool/chill; Sunset from Sushi restaurant where we had Saturday dinner!