Bikram 101

"Beyond the mountains, there are mountains." ~ Haitian proverb

~~~

Well, here we are.  One hundred days of yoga, plus one more at the end for good measure.  We did it!

And who are we, these crazy people who took on this enormous task?  We are people from all walks of life.  Our youngest participants were in their teens, and our oldest were in their sixties (or older).  We are lawyers, dancers, bankers, engineers, artists, and bull riders.  We are professional athletes and semi-professional couch potatoes.  We live in Canada, New York, Malaysia, Las Vegas, Sweden, California, London, Australia, and many other cities and countries.  We practice at busy urban studios, and we practice with CDs and space heaters in rural areas.  Some of us have overcome crippling medical conditions, and some of us are just holding our heads a little higher these days.  Some of us have been practicing Bikram yoga for many years now, and some of us have been doing practicing for precisely 101 days.  Some of us are teachers, but we are all students.

We are yogis.

Imagine if we could all occupy the same space for a while.  Imagine if there were more of us.  Imagine if we could fill a city.  What kind of a place would we create?  What would that world look like?

~~~

When you started this challenge, it was probably something that you were doing for yourself (or rather your Self).  And I'm certain that you've seen changes.  You're not the same person you were a few months ago.  You are transforming.  You may not be at the butterfly stage yet, but at the very least you are spinning your chrysalis.  (These things don't happen overnight.)  You are taking care of your Self, and it shows.  The people around you are starting to see the difference.  Maybe they've noticed a glow.

I don't think I've used my favorite yoga class metaphor yet.  And it's not "yoga class is a gas station," although that is a very good one.  It's "yoga class is an oxygen mask."  It's one of those silly yellow oxygen masks that's supposed to drop down from the ceiling of the plane if there is an emergency.  You remember the instructions that they give you about those oxygen masks, right?  (They go over this at the beginning of every airplane flight, in every country, so it must be important.)  They tell you that if there is an emergency, you must secure your own oxygen mask before you can think about helping others.  Before you can save the person sitting in the neighboring seat, you must be able to breathe.

So yoga class is your oxygen mask, in every possible sense.  And you've finally gotten your oxygen mask on.  That fresh, high-speed oxygen is now rushing through your body, waking up the cells that were on the brink of death, bringing life and energy to every part of you.  Re-energizing, revitalizing, re-organizing.  You've saved yourself.  You're starting to breathe again.  You're going to be fine.

Now what about that person who is sitting next to you?

~~~

It has been a pure joy to watch all of you during the challenge and hear all of your voices.  It's been a gift.  I hope this little community doesn't disperse too much.  All the websites will still exist, and maybe we can come up with some creative ways to keep using them.  It's up to all of you!  You can take control now, I think.

For me, there's only one thing more powerful than doing this yoga myself: sharing the yoga with others.  This can be such a simple thing to do.  Say a few encouraging words to a new student after class; let them know how well they did, tell them about your favorite post-class snack, encourage them to come back tomorrow.  Sit outside the room for a few minutes and compare notes on postures with another regular.  Trick your co-workers into coming to class with you and see if they ever forgive you for it.  Smile at someone in the mirror (but not in a creepy way).  Be a source of calm in stressful situations, when you're the only person in the room who is still breathing normal(ly).  Be a source of support for a friend who's going through a hard time; you developed the strength for this when you stood with your toes on the line every day and looked at your own eyes in the mirror.

The more you give, the more you receive.  As it turns out, this is how the world works.

And if you're really nuts, like me, you might one day find yourself living in a hotel room for nine weeks with 300 other yogis and some crazy 60-something year old Indian dude who still thinks that white disco suits are the height of fashion.  I'm referring, of course, to the nine week long Bikram yoga teacher training program.  I'm going to the next session.  It starts in exactly one week.  It's something that I've wanted to do for years.  For me, this choice was obvious and inevitable.  I'm going to teacher training because sharing Bikram yoga with the world feels more right to me than anything I've ever known.  There are plenty of other things that I could be doing with my life right now, but this yoga thing trumped them all.  At the end of the day, I just couldn't think of anything that was more important or worthwhile.

So that's my journey.  It started years ago (or maybe before I was born), and I'm certain that it's only just begun to unfold.  Your journey will be different, because we all live different lives.  But wherever you path leads you, I hope that yoga will remain in your life as a source of strength, joy, and love.

This is my last post in the challenge.

by Diedre Rose DiBlasi

Day 51: %$@! happens (no post)

Day 52: You can't stop progress!

Day 53: Dreaming of being late represents fear and running out of time. Classrooms represent the need or desire to earn something.

Day 54: Because what is the yoga class (and especially the standing head to knee part of the yoga class), if not one big, long "character building" exercise?

Day 55: We are doing this challenge for a reason. Don't forget that. In the midst of the grind of laundry, logistics, work, family, life and just trying to make it into that room everyday, don't forget that there is a higher purpose to this whole thing.

Day 56: Point yourself in the direction you want to go and one day you'll get there. Progress happens gradually, then suddenly. If you don't show up, you might just miss it.

Day 57: (Wow, nine weeks. Can anyone think of something else that's nine weeks long?! Nine weeks can go by fast.)

Day 58: Yes, we get 90 minutes everyday to get away from all of this while in the hot room. But is that enough?

Day 59: When we come out of that room, we should all realize we have given ourselves another chance for a better life, a new appreciation of ourselves and a way to open up our minds and our hearts to those in our lives- for that we all deserve a gold medal.

Day 60: There's no (more) crying in Bikram.

Day 61: There will always be hard days, fun days, killer days, and rock star days, no matter how long you do this stuff!

Day 62: %$@! happens again, sometimes.

Day 63: I love the kind of people who love yoga.

Day 64: There is really only one rule for Bikram yoga: breathe.

Day 65: Bikram’s advanced series...or how to scare people aware when trying to motivate them!

Day 66: And that's not the point of this yoga. The point is to progress. To go for it. No fear.

Day 67: "You're getting something out," as one of my studio owners told me in my last really bad class. "This is good."

Day 68: Yoga class is a gas station, remember? (Maybe you don't? Maybe I should talk about that next time.) Take my word for it - yoga class is a gas station.

Day 69: You see, while I like those other forms, it's just not the same as the 26 and 2 of Bikram. The dialog, the room conditions, the teachers, the sequence....put together it's magic.

Day 70: ...it's detoxification & intoxication.

Day 71: When was the last time you saw your body as a whole, instead of seeing bits and pieces of things that you like or things that you want to change?

Day 72: The teacher teaching, though, knew I was half-assing it... She knew I was surrendering to the absence of energy into my mind. Yet, instead of verbally calling me out on it in class, in the second set she did something that helped me get back into line with my energy and pose...

Day 73: “Open your knees, keep 6 inches between your toes, heels knees and hands” - *snigger. Sorry, that line just sounds really dirty [well, ahem, to ME at least. No really, TINK OF IT!]

Day 74: There have been plenty of days where I did not want to be in the hot room. But I use my English bulldog determination to make myself go and throw my mat on the line.

Day 75: It's a lifetime practice, and it's a lifestyle, too.

Day 76: Do not have green shorts or top on. Do not bring a green mat. Do not have a green towel, hand towel, washcloth, water bottle, hair tie. In fact, if you have green eyes, close 'em!

Day 77: pleasure of the pain.

Day 78: Yoga teaches you to love yourself now. Perfection is not the goal. It's not even part of the equation.

Day 79: This is our journey and we are so incredibly lucky to have found this path and to be able to experience its wonders together.

Day 80: Although sometimes we need a little distraction to lift us and get us through a tough moment, it’s important to try and come back and focus on the present, no matter what we may be feeling.

Day 81: I don't even notice the heat anymore.

Day 82: Our yoga is similar in so many ways. It's the same everywhere you go, and it speaks through a universal language - movement - that can bring people together regardless of age, race, gender, or anything else!

Day 83: I don't know how my body will react to each posture, or if the room feels too hot or cold that day, or if the person next me is wandering around their mat. I can control if I'm in the room and focused and if I do that, it's a smooth ride for the whole class.

Day 84: Just get to the room. That is all you have to do. Get to the room. Your body will know where to take it from there for today.

Day 85: And I think the yoga works the same way. At first, we are all just strangers. Then we come to honor and respect one another. Eventually, we are bound together by our sweat (thicker than blood) and become like family. It's strange and wonderful, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Day 86: "You’re here...that's all that matters. It doesn't matter how well you do the poses. All that matters is that you are here and you try."

Day 87: Each new day is a clean slate; I rise up from sleep and I am in some sense, reborn. Ninety minutes of daily practice teaches me that I have a chance to connect to myself and connect to the Divine. Each new day, I have an opportunity to try again, to reach further, to dig deeper.

Day 88: I would love nothing more than to get over whatever is holding me back and keeping me at my current progress state. I just don't know if I will be able to do it before the challenge ends.

Day 89: We find out how much of the stuff we've been carrying around with us is completely unnecessary. And when we get rid of all that stuff, it feels so much better. It feels great every day!

Day 90: Yoga is the gift that brings us closer to that peace.

Day 91: This Bikram 101 challenge has changed. my. life. period.

Day 92: It means to celebrate each step towards freedom as if it were enough, then to start on the next step.

Day 93: I've developed the patience to recognize that all the things I wish I had are what keeps this yoga challenging for me each day.

Day 94: For the low-low price of $5 a class, I am healing my body in incredible ways.

Day 95: We are each our own creators. What are you going to create with the seven days you have left?

Day 96: We can't control the events that surround us, but we can control the way we respond. And that is what yoga teaches us. We learn that it doesn't matter what environment we're in, what other people say to us, or what happens around us. We can breathe through all of it.

Day 97: Thank you, Bikram.

by Kim Corbett Johnson

I’m lying on the couch debating on going to class or not (in extreme pain, two aspirin and a hot, Epsom salt pack providing no relief) when I recall another blogger’s post about using the class to heal.

I had just completed a double the day before, first time ever doing a back-to-back. I’d experienced lower back pain before, but nothing like this. Not sure if it’s a sciatic nerve issue or not, nonetheless, it wasn’t pleasant.

The day was filled with lots of sad news. Two close friends of mine were dealing with their mom’s failing health. One dealing with newly appointed hospice staff, the other taking her mother to chemo treatments daily. Another friend had been taken to the hospital to spend his last moments fighting with pancreatic cancer. My heart was heavy with sadness and overwhelm with all of this.

As I lay there on the couch, covered with my warm blanket and purring cat, groaning in pain, it struck me that all of these hardships these people were dealing with could perhaps been prevented if they had a regular practice of Bikram yoga. I immediately sprung to my feet, had 5 minutes to get out the door and headed to my class.

My intention for the class was to heal, inspired by my suffering friends. As I lay there on the mat in pain, anxiously waiting for the bright lights to come on, I thought...

“I want more than healing. I want more than what I came for, like when I go to Trader Joes for that one thing and leave with a bag full.”

I didn’t perform to my usual 100%, but I was relieved from pain and left with that centered stillness, came home content and rested, ready to be there for my loved ones dealing with their great pain and sorrow. Thank you, Bikram.

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Kim Corbett Johnson, is new to Bikram Yoga, and practices at Bikram Yoga St. Charles. She began 101 day Challenge January 2, 2010, and had attended one class before this. She started with the intention of completing a 30 day Challenge, which looked impossible… And now is thinking about completing a 365 day challenge. She’s the President of a company she started, Enhanced Lifeskills Solutions. She teaches participants proven principles for successful living anchored in the science of synergetics.

It's incredible how little control we have over our lives.

I mean, so many of the things that affect us every day are completely out of our hands.  We don't control the weather. We don't control the tectonic plates.  We don't control the people in our lives - our bosses, our employees, our friends, our family.  Anytime we apply for a job, join a class, or even just step out into the road, we can set off a chain of events that is completely out of our hands.

And we certainly can't control our yoga classes.  We can't control the teacher.  We can't control the temperature of the room.  We can't control the actions of other people in the room.  We can't even control our own bodies, not fully.  They change from day-to-day in ways that we can't perceive or understand.  We might do everything "right" and still get run over by the yoga truck, or we might do everything "wrong" and end up feeling great in class.  Some days, it seems as random as a coin toss.

I purposely didn't describe this as a "loss of control."  I'm talking about the crystal-clear realization that we never even had control at all.

So... so what?  What do we do?

We breathe.

We can't control the events that surround us, but we can control the way we respond.  And that is what yoga teaches us.  We learn that it doesn't matter what environment we're in, what other people say to us, or what happens around us.  We can breathe through all of it.  That's the part that we can control.  Sometimes, it's the only part that we can control.

But it makes all the difference in the world.

That's all we have left, folks. Just seven days.

Bikram yoga really isn't that expensive.

Over the past 93 days of practicing this yoga... I have begun to pay attention to my body and the role each limb plays in helping me execute my poses. And as a result, I have some bodily short-comings.

Earlier this week, JoJo wrote this very cool post which connected the Bikram Yoga practice to the spirituality of Lent and Palm Sunday.  She wrote beautifully about yoga in connection with prayer, penitence, almsgiving, and self-denial.

Shortly after I read that post, I was a participant in a ritual from a different religion tradition, when I attended a Passover dinner at the home of some family friends.  Passover is a Jewish holiday that takes place in the spring, right around the same time as Easter.  The Passover dinner is called a Seder, and it follows a specific structure and order where we read certain passages, sing certain songs, eat certain foods, and retell the story of the Jews' exodus from slavery Egypt - the story that includes Moses, a burning bush, the cruel Pharaoh, the ten plagues, the hasty flight from Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and forty years of wandering in the desert.  As the Italian proverb says, "Even if it's not true, it's a good story."  I grew up in a sort of agnostic Jewish/Christian hybrid household, so I've never taken these stories to be precisely true, but the Seders were a regular part of my childhood.

Of all the Jewish holidays, Passover is one of my favorites, because it revolves around a simple and powerful theme: liberation.

At the beginning of the night, we read, "It is said that every person, in every generation, must regard him or herself as having been personally freed from bondage in Mitzraim, the biblical land of Egypt."  We are reminded to be grateful for our freedom, and we honor all people who have struggled or are struggling for freedom.

This theme doesn't just apply to the people of Israel, but to all people.  Bondage and liberation come in all different forms.  Bondage can mean literal slavery, but it can also mean slavery to society, to habit, to other people, and to your own mind.  Liberation can involve a flight from Mitzraim, with the miraculous parting of the seas, or it can involve killing your self (your ego) for 90 minutes in a hot room, until the mental chatter miraculously fades away.  The seas part, the veil lifts, and you glimpse your true Self.

One of my favorite Passover songs is Dayenu.  Dayenu is sung after the telling of the Exodus story, and the word means, "It would have been enough."  Here's a passage from my own (very secular, Unitarian Universalist) Haggadah (book):

"What does this mean, 'It would have been enough'?  Surely no one of these [steps] would have been enough for us.  It means to celebrate each step towards freedom as if it were enough, then to start on the next step.  It means that if we reject each step because it is not the whole liberation, we will never be able to achieve the whole liberation.  It means to sing each verse as if it were the whole song - and then sing the next verse!"

That's "dayenu."  So...

When you stand on the line, toes and heels together, and meet your own eyes in the mirror... dayenu.

Social Media serves many purposes. I find it interesting because I feel like I'm getting a peek inside of my friends heads. Take facebook and twitter for instance. People type in thoughts and hit enter, many times before thinking it through. "Do I really want to post THIS?" Twitter is almost like a strange little collective stream of consciousness. One hundred and forty characters at a time of disjointed thoughts, ideas, opinions, and emotions. If we could truly get into each others heads and hear what goes on in there for a full day we'd probably think our friends crazy and they in turn would be appalled at what goes on in ours!
We are not our thoughts though. That stream of consciousness that flows during the day is not truly who you are. Good thoughts, bad thoughts, songs that rattle through your mind, all of the "noise" is not you.
Yoga helps us to tap into that deeper layer of consciousness. I like to think of it as the ocean. The top of the water is choppy, churning, sometimes violent, always moving. At the bottom of the ocean, where all is still, quiet and deep, lays "the watcher". This is the other part of us that observes. This is the part that takes over during the 90 minute moving meditation that is Bikram. The watcher is what pulls us through a tough class. Our minds, like children, will start to wander. "It's hot in here. My shorts are riding up. That girl has amazing postures. Man she's keeping us in postures forever today. My contacts are jacked up today. Crap I can't balance today. Look at mr. cutie in the back row....." The watcher interrupts the chatter and reminds you to breathe. You are brought back to the room, your focus returns and your mind quiets. If you are like me, the mind does not stay quiet. The 90 minutes is an exercise in constantly returning to focus. When it's all over, we lay in savasana, quiet, sated. If we are lucky, we are able to take that gift and use it the rest of the day. Able to stay calm and focused in other segments of our day, not just yoga.
The mind chatter is what makes us human. The watcher is what reminds us we are also spiritual beings, able to connect with something beautiful and powerful. Able to get out of our own head and find peace, even if just for a moment. Yoga is the gift that brings us closer to that peace.


"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained."
Mark Twain

~~Bikramyogachick completed 74 days of the 101 day challenge. Due to unforeseen changes in her life, she had to drop out of the challenge, but will never drop out of Bikram Yoga. She has been practicing in Las Vegas for 3 years, blogging for 2 and has completed several 60 day challenges and a 99 day last year. She will post her full bio this coming Saturday. She is VERY proud of all that are continuing down the road to day 101 and is your biggest cheerleader!

Is a theme developing?  Yes, I think so.  But I'm just gonna go with it...

Today I changed my appearance.  I now have very short hair - pixie cut!  I did a "transition" hair cut last month, when I got my hair cut to a short-but-curly length.  (It had been almost down to the middle of my back.)  I loved the shorter hair, but it was still long enough that it moved around and I needed a headband for yoga, and it grew out really fast!  So today I went back to my hairdresser, Nolan, and told him "SHORT," and he agreed.  It is now completely different from how it was at the beginning of February, and I like it.

I said two things today that Nolan appreciated.  First, when I was talking about taking off the remaining length, I told him, "Now it just feels like I have all this unnecessary stuff!"  Then, when I was describing how much I've been enjoying my shorter hair, I said that "I love it every day!"

This is not a bad metaphor for yoga.

We find out how much of the stuff we've been carrying around with us is completely unnecessary.  And when we get rid of all that stuff, it feels so much better.  It feels great every day!  Like snakes - cobras, maybe - we shed our old, used up skins, discard them, and never even give them a second thought.  A snake never misses its old skin after it's gone.  There's no sadness for the passing, no regret, only joy and lightness.

I love it every day.

From the first time I practiced this yoga, I had quirks and habits in class.

by: Action JoJo

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of the end of the season of Lent. As I walked out of church clutching my palms, I recalled Deacon Greg’s homily:

“They are a reminder - and an indictment. While we were standing here, crying out "Crucify him!," we were clutching the branches that we used to sing out "Hosanna." The palms reveal our very human duplicity. How easily we turn. How quickly we pivot from faithful, to faithless...from belief to doubt...from being disciples to being betrayers.”

My spiritual journey these last forty days of Lent have been a continuation of what I started 77 days ago when I started my Bikram 101 challenge (I began on January 9th). In fact, there are so many parallels between practicing Bikram yoga and my Catholic faith.

No matter where I go in the world, even if I don’t understand a lick of what is being said, I can still participate in the 26 plus 2 or the Mass. Some days, I am totally disconnected or distracted while other days I walk out feeling sheer exhilaration, heightened awareness, and pure inspiration. I hear the words uttered from the person in the front yet I am certain that I internalize those words differently from the person next to me. I move as one in the crowd yet we are all at different points in our journey. As things draw to a close and I find myself on my knees – in camel or after receiving the Eucharist – I feel the most vulnerable yet the most connected to the Divine.

And at the end, I receive a blessing: Namaste! May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

It is advised that Lent be spent in prayer, penitence, almsgiving, and self-denial. This year, I found it easier to do these acts since I’ve been practicing them for 90 minutes in the sweat box daily.

Prayer? A 90-minute moving meditation.

Penitence? As I work my way through the tightness and 18-years of scar tissue in my knees in fixed firm, I find myself saying, pleading, “Please knees, forgive me for what I’ve put you through. I promise, I won’t abuse you in the way I used to. Please open up, please release, please heal.”

Almsgiving? I may not be giving wealth but I certainly give my energy and focus to those around me. “Oh no neighbor, please don’t sit down! Stay strong! Here, I have some energy, take it! Come join us when you are ready.”

Self-denial? “No mat. No water. No towel. No hair. No costume. No fidgeting. These things are all irrelevant to your practice. All you need is breathe and stillness,” one teacher always tells us in between postures.

When I first started practicing, I thought she was certifiably insane but now I’ve come to realize that she’s right. I’ve discovered a pattern with myself: when I’m uncomfortable – too hot, too weak, too frustrated – I am not still. Denying the body to move in mountain pose and savasana helps to still the mind and strengthen the spirit.

I am reminded daily of my humanity: my imperfections, my shortcomings, my inabilities. How is it that in the span of a day my body is different, my mind is different, my practice is different? How is it that I can balance on one leg today and fall out of it tomorrow? How come I touched my forehead to my knee in Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee pose yesterday but I can barely graze the tip of my nose to my knee today? Whaaaaat?! I have become aware of how easily I do pivot from praising myself to berating myself, from believing in myself to doubting myself. It’s really incredible how quickly my mind turns on me.

“Your mind is like a rabid dog,” one teacher said. Yes, I see that now.

Yet despite these quick turns of my mind, I have also discovered daily the one constant that never changes. Inevitably, at some point in the 90 minutes, I experience doubt, panic, or weakness. I find that despite these feelings, I still have the mental clarity to search into my dark eyes in the mirror, to take a deep breath, and reach into the deep well within myself, and access the power that I know I have but don’t always believe in. It is the Divine within me, the Spirit that is greater than my humanity. When I tap into this well, I know that everything will be alright, that everything happening in this moment is all that is supposed to be happening, and to accept and be at peace with it even if it is not happening the way I want it to happen.

Next Sunday, the season of Lent culminates with the celebration of Easter, my favorite holy day. The period of fasting and waiting is over. At Easter, I rejoice in the message of mercy, hope, love, and renewal. Easter reminds me that I have to go through suffering, tragedy, and pain before I can be renewed.

Bikram says, “In order to get to heaven you have to go through hell.”

In order to kill my “self” as thedancingj wrote earlier, I have to peel the layers away like the skin of an onion. Each new day is a clean slate; I rise up from sleep and I am in some sense, reborn. Ninety minutes of daily practice teaches me that I have a chance to connect to myself and connect to the Divine. Each new day, I have an opportunity to try again, to reach further, to dig deeper.

Yoga means union of mind, body, and spirit; communion with God and communion with each other. Faith is the same no matter how you practice it. So whether my hands are in prayer at church or in half tortoise, I ask for grace from the Divine so that I may be compassionate, merciful, loving, and at peace towards others but most especially, towards myself.

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ActionJoJo has been a practicing Catholic all her life (except for that momentary lapse in college when she thoroughly questioned and eventually reaffirmed her faith) and a regular practitioner of Bikram since March 2009. A native New Yorker, she practices regularly at Bikram Yoga Union Square and is welcomed on the weekends at Bikram Yoga Astoria. Outside of the sweatbox, she enjoys eating, cooking, traveling, and spending time with her family. She dreams of hosting her own travel show and becoming a bikram teacher one day. Find out how she stays out of trouble at http://actionjojo.blogspot.com and check out some of her travel videos at http://www.tripfilms.com/users/thank_you_guppy.

"... That's all that matters. It doesn't matter how well you do the poses. All that matters is that you are here and you try."

"The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family..."
 - Balti proverb **

There are many traditions around the world where the sharing of food and drink is the ritual that turns strangers into friends.  This is just as true in the modern "first world" as it is in the remote mountain town of central Asia.  How many relationships have you developed over cups of coffee, glasses of wine, or lunchtime sandwiches?  Some of my most precious friendships were sealed over pickle spears and potato chips (although "Three Bags of Potato Chips" has not caught on as a proverb or book title yet.)

So what about shared sweat?  What about that strange intimacy that you develop with the stranger who stands next to you as you spill your guts out for 90 minutes, as you tell the story of your life through your movement and your struggle and your sweat?

Sometimes we practice our yoga next to strangers for years, without ever knowing their names.  Sometimes we know the name of everyone in the room.  Regardless, there have been so many people who I felt that I came to know through our shared time in the yoga room.  Sometimes I would never even know them by their first name.  But I knew their body, their breath, their focus.  I read a quote from Emmy once where she said, "If you ever want to get to know someone, bring them to a Bikram yoga class.  By the end of half moon, you'll have found out everything that you'll ever need to know about them."  What a thought!  We are so exposed, all of us nearly-naked together, doing our best.  Sometimes we don't even notice the other people in the room because we are so focused on our own practice (and those days are great).  But we're all on the same boat!

I like that Balti proverb, because it lays out the path from stranger to family.  And I think the yoga works the same way.  At first, we are all just strangers.  Then we come to honor and respect one another.  Eventually, we are bound together by our sweat (thicker than blood) and become like family.  It's strange and wonderful, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

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** This quote is taken from the title of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson.  It's a phenomenal book, and if you haven't read it, you should.  It's about this hiker-turned-humanitarian who builds schools for kids, especially girls, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  This guy was just one person, with nothing to his name, and he ended up achieving something huge and important.  Incredible story.