Bikram 101

Day 1: Every now and then, remind yourself that you're not trying to "kill yourself" by being better than the other guy, by being more aggressive, or by suffering the most. You're trying to "kill your Self" and find the Divine part of you.

Day 2: No. That truck doesn't care who you are, what you have eaten, how hydrated you are or how long you have been practicing. It will run you over occasionally.

Day 3: And that is how classes go sometimes. "Lifetime practice," they call it. You can practice for many years, and you're going to have days where you struggle.

Day 4: "You abuse your body, eventually it will correct you on what it likes and does not like."

Day 5: The Bikram community lost one of its own in the last hours of 2009. A deeply fabulous senior teacher, seminar leader, and true Bikram yogi by the name of Ren Soriano...Across the board, there is one sentiment that keeps being repeated: he is still with us. He still lives in us. We won't forget him. We honor him by living our lives the way he would have wanted us to live. He is with us.

Day 6: Slowly but surely we, as a group, started to get into the groove. We started to open, like a flower petal blooming.

Day 7: I've told myself, "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 8: This is the upshot to the cumulative: Bikram claims that once you've stored up enough points, you can cut down to two or three classes a week or even "lay off for whole month", and just live on interest.

Day 9: It's a marathon, not a sprint. Just get there. Just go to the studio, lay down your mat and let the teacher guide you through the class.

Day 10: Trust yourself. Know you will be ok. Breathe. See what happens when you get out of your own way. Surrender.

Day 11: "NOOOOO!" I screamed. I walked to the door and looked from him down into the darkness of the descending stairwell. "DAMMIT!"

Day 12: I am so amused and delighted that the "twenty-six and two" can still surprise the heck out of me.

Day 13: When you have a class where you are one with the dialog you know it. It's the best feeling in the world. This is why I fell in love with Bikram yoga and no other.....it's a beautiful 90 minute moving meditation.

Day 14: "No," I said back, loudly. "It's my ass muscles! They burn!" She laughed. I think other people did too. It was hot. I don't exactly remember other people.

Day 15: We get so excited for every single person who taps into the power of Bikram's yoga. They all matter to us. Everyone is cheering, everyone cares.

Day 16: “Who are we, not to shine?”

Day 17: We've all been there; we've all experienced the negative spiral of emotions that sometimes ensues in the yoga room.

Day 18: And already my body is showing the signs of a Bikram Yoga Challenge...the piece de resistance... My Bikram Stigmata!

Day 19: We know that we're investing in our futures, and the investment is a solid one.

Day 20: Can you transform your whole life in 60 days?

Day 21: ...endurance is coming back. It's been great. I'm seeing my poses stabilize right before my own eyes.

Day 22: "Do your practice and all is coming." I always loved that.

Day 23: There are some teachers that are commonly known throughout the Bikram community. Diane Ducharme. Craig Villani. Mary Jarvis. Lynn Whitlow. These are amazing senior teachers that are very well respected and well loved in our wonderful little community.

Day 24: I started to argue that bulls are much stronger than yoga, but that’s not true. When you put 33 students in a yoga studio, yoga just gets stronger.

Day 25: I love that simply changing where I put my mat offered a new challenge in my practice.

Day 26: Yes, "fresh oxygenated blood"! No kidding.

Day 27: The series of 26 and 2 is really all your body needs.

Day 28: You know what they say...family first, then yoga & iPhone are simultaneous, equal, 50-50.

Day 29: Tomorrow as we lay our mats down and honor our challenge by hitting our 30 day milestone, it would be wonderful if you could think of my friend and send light, love and healing her way.......

Day 30: Feeling good? I bet you are!

Day 31: It doesn't matter how beautiful you are. How much money you have. How people look up to you. How many friends you have. How successful your career is. How much power you have. All those things that might seem important "out there" are worth nothing inside Bikram’s torture chamber.

Day 32: I found myself BAWLING in the floor series. Not because I was in pain. But because I was suddenly sad. I don't know why... But my body wanted me to cry. So I did.

Day 33: The room is too hot, the room is too cold, the room is too empty, the room is too crowded, the carpet stinks, the lights are too bright, your water bottle is heating up, and that dude really needs a shower.

Day 34: So it's OK if you cry. And it doesn't even have to be after Camel. Let it out!

Day 35: The opportunity is there, but one must have the courage, tenacity and desire to take it.

Day 36: We compress. We extend. We flex. We point. We stretch. We SWEAT. We move our bodies in ways that nature intended. No props. No modifications. Just you. Just your body, your determination. Your guts. Your glory.

Day 37: The only thing people in the hot room really have in common is that they showed up that day. But for all of us those same 90 minutes are completely different.

Day 38: How far my journey down the path of yoga will lead I can't tell. But today I caught a rear glimpse at how far ago this journey started and I feel blessed.

Day 39: I promise, I'm no wizard.

Day 40: I'd rather talk about yoga than myself, but today I will talk about myself. And yoga.

Day 41: Continuers come back. Once a day, once a week or something in between. They come regularly. They have an open mind and want to learn. They continue. They do their yoga continually.

Day 42: Some things are gonna' hurt like hell--don't be scared.

Day 43: When good people compete with each other - not against, but with - without malice or pettiness, everyone improves from it.

Day 44: After all, you are doing this for yourself and not to prove anything or receive some sort of award.

Day 45: Don't even get me started on what it feels like to do rabbit with my DD's and with this gut that used to be a 6-pack. "Stop judging and breathe normal." Breathe normal? It sounds like I'm motor-boating myself!

Day 46: When I do certain poses, certain memories come back. Not bad memories. Just random ones.

Day 47: It was a wild, disorganized, and wonderful weekend, all in true Bikram style.

Day 48: Now I don't know about you, but doing yoga so many days in a row sometimes the dialog can sound like the teacher on charlie brown "wah, wah, wah, waaaa" That's no good. We need to listen to the dialog like we are hearing it for the first time.

Day 49: Resist the urge to take that habitual sip of water right before Fixed Firm (ummmm...yes, I'm talking to you).

Day 50: Take my hand, and we'll make it, I swear!