Day 53: Hump Day!

This morning Christian, teacher from Vancouver, taught class. He is a super cool guy and slightly unlike the other staff members in that he hangs out with students and connects with us moreso than the other staff, who tend to have a clear boundary around social or personal interactions with all of us. Anyhow, Christian was the last of the staff to teach us and did so this morning. It was a really good class, and he brought a genuineness to the table that was really lovely.

I had him for posture clinic the other day and he told us how he ended up at his first Bikram class. This girl he’d been dating kept bugging him to go and then finally gave up. One day he was dropping her off for her daily practice, when they were fighting and she got out of the car and said, “You know, I wish you’d just come. It would change your life.” He said he angrily pulled into the first parking spot he could and stormed in saying, “well, I could do with a f*cking life change!!” and went to class. At the time he was really built and struggled, like a lot of big men, with the beginning postures. He stormed out of the room and left at Eagle. (For those who don’t do Birkam. That’s about 20 minutes into the 90-minute class).

A week later, he went back – to an early morning, low-attendance class. He bought a monthly pass. Then, he sold his mother’s piano, for which he got in trouble, and got a yearly pass. He opened a studio with one of his teachers and worked there in a non-teaching capacity until he got through training, and then went on to open 3 studios in Vancouver, BC. He now owns one and plans to do and teach this yoga for the rest of his life. Here’s a little bit more about him, he shared this with me:

http://www.5mindocs.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=46&Itemid=53

On a totally separate note, today when I got dressed the bathroom door was closed and I could see my back in the mirror on it – holy shit people! I have definition! I couldn’t get over myself, and started to do an array of tough-girl moves to show off my back muscles…to myself. I have lost about 3” around my shoulders/upper back, and I knew I looked skinnier/more defined in the front, but for some reason, it didn’t occur to me that the same would apply to my back. Super cool, eh?

Another little tidbit – I think as of today, I can say the runs/intestinal distress is 100% back to normal. Phew! It really wasn’t that brutal at all, but was something else to think about, so I’m glad that’s done with. Funny thing though – I did the Pedialytes each class to help with electrolytes and water retention. Well, I noticed late last week and so far this week, I’ve been wickedly craving sugar, and even caving in to a few M&Ms, or a bite of something sweet, at posture clinic or evening lecture. Seriously, until mid-last week, my “no sugar during the week” rule was gospel. I realized that damn sugar in the Pedialyte was kicking off my day with a sugar high of sorts – so no more of those unless I really need’em. Eek, just what I need, to rekindle my sugar addiction right before going home!

Afternoon class with Bikram was good actually. He said, “I try to kill you guys and you don’t let me.” And went on to really compliment us saying our concentration was amazing, that we’re improving like mad. It is always nice to get good feedback! At the end of class, I was lying in savasana and I had my pal Marshall on one side, and Doug on the other. Separately at different times, each of them reached over and just gave my hand a nice little squeeze. It really warmed my heart, and illustrates how incredibly compassionate and sweet this bunch is. It was such a nice way to end class!

Finally, lecture. Bikram talked about the importance of the spine and more about the body in general. Then, he was about to let us go early at 11:15 so he could eat, and then said he wanted to watch a movie and didn’t want to be lonely – so we had to stay to see the new Al Pacino 88 Minutes – a bootleg of the one that is in theatres now. It was actually a nice brain break from yoga, however the shitty copy he had froze up at the ending, climactic scene! Now that was disappointing. Fortunately a few people had gone to see it last weekend and told us what happened (which was er…predictable). Bedtime was 2 a.m.!

Pix:
Christian; Class #79 and Class #80!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bikram off to eat before movie time.