Week 4 and 5 are over! I still can’t believe how quickly time has gone since I have been here and how much happens in the course of a week! Week 4 was a big break through here in the Yoga Bubble for me! I finally came off the Advil and Ice regimen and started feeling more like I was practicing yoga and not on the football field!!! Also, my line assignment was finally moving up! After Week 2 we were given line assignments in the yoga room. Everyday it would change, either moving up or back. Line 1 being in front of the mirror going all the way back to line 10. By last Wednesday I was in line 5. Thursday line 4. By Friday I was in line 3 and could finally see my reflection in the mirror again! I spent days trying to block out so many other moving arms and legs. It was just me in the mirror and not 443 other bodies around me distracting me!
Most importantly, I solved the mystery of perpetual water retention here at training. I learned about the anti-diruetic hormone in my body. Apparently it’s a common problem to feel swollen and for your body to retain water through this training. Nine weeks of water retention? WHAT! I kept getting the answer “its part of the process”….Ummmm…I don’t think so. Finally one night in anatomy Dr. Preddy, the genius that he is, explained when your body sweats a lot it releases the anti-diuretic hormone which causes your body to hold water. Hence the water retention. After a few hours your body goes back to normal. For me, it’s just about when our second class starts so my body doesn’t have any real recovery time. It was me against my own hormone! I don’t know if you can beat it anotomically but I think I did! Or I deactivated it so hopefully I don’t get stranded in the desert any time soon because my body won’t have the mechanism to ration water!
Based on this hormone epiphany, better hydration became the name of the game. I thought I was hydrated before, I wasn’t. The phrase “PRE-GAME” has a whole different meaning for me now. Before class is a ritual of pre-game hydration that I would die without! One-20 oz. water bottle is half water and half coconut water or Gatorade. The 64 oz. Hydroflask, that has saved my life, is water with fresh lemon juice and a pinch of sea salt. If I’m really feeling crazy I had mint or cucumber. In between class I go NOWHERE without my Hydroflask and will easily finish another 64 oz. of water BEFORE the next class! This is a good place for a disclaimer. Don’t let this scare you from taking a Bikram class!! This type of hydration in not necessary for one 90 minute class!
One way or another I ended up truly inspired here at least once a week. Every week different Bikram teachers from around the world visit the training and help out giving their feedback in posture clinics and they alternate teaching the yoga classes. They are all saying the same exact 90 minute dialogue we are learning and each teacher still has a different style and creates a different energy in the room. Joseph Encinia was one of those visiting teachers. I had heard of Joseph. He is well known in the yoga world for winning multiple national and international yoga competitions. He teaches at the Bikram Grand Central Station Studio in NYC and travels to other studios doing yoga posture demonstrations. I wasn’t sure what to think of him when I saw him around the hotel. I thought he was just a guy with some flexibility. Joseph taught our class last Friday. It was the best class I have ever experienced. You can hear and feel Joseph’s smile and passion for yoga come through his words. His energy was absolutely contagious through the room. All of a sudden the postures I hated were my strongest. The constant drip of sweat from every pore in my body didn’t bother me. After class I found out more about Joseph. He was diagnosed at an early age with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis and subsequently had a heart attack at the age of 13. After years of living with pain and physical limitations he started practicing Bikram yoga and it has changed his life, enabling him to do things he never dreamed of. Truly, truly inspired by him. Once again the bar has been raised!
Another source of inspiration came in a more round about, tough love kind of way. At the beginning of Week 5 I was FRONT and CENTER again. Just in time for Bikram to return and I was ready to BRING IT! At the beginning of week there were some problems with the heat in the yoga room. I decided to wear longer capris and a long sleeved white shirt to keep a little warmer. I set up my mat in the front row about 15’ from the stage that Bikram teaches from. I was directly in his line of vision, or more appropriately, his line of fire. Me and my long sleeved shirt in a sea of half naked bodies. Can you see where I’m going with this? He called me out 1 time, 2 times, 3 times, and than I lost count. I wasn’t locking my knee on a posture. 5 Weeks in and I was still doing it incorrectly. I had 101 reasons running through my head why. I’m tired, I can’t balance, I’m not as steady as the person next to me, my hamstrings are tight and too short! The bottom line was, Bikram was right. I could do it but my bargaining mind was getting in the way. Still, I was definitely NOT a fan of him leaving the room that night. Wouldn’t you know the next night in class was my strongest class since I have been here. Lesson learned, if something or someone doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you. Always find your new edge.
Week 6…HERE WE GO!
