The Bikram Update

“You don’t work on the yoga. The yoga works on you.”

To some people, yoga is just yoga. It’s just this bendy stretchy form of exercise, and that’s it. While I admit that I am someone who is inclined to just a wee bit more analysis of things than other people, I have to say:

This yoga practice is changing my life.

It is bringing up everything–physically, mentally, emotionally. I have torrents of resistance to going in the morning, and then afterwards I am never sorry. If I don’t go, my body craves it. It brings up all of my issues around judgement and control. It brings up fear–like–I have a total fear of both “fixed fern” pose and “camel” pose. Here is the fear–that if I lean back, I won’t be able to sit back up and that the tendons around my knee cap will tear and I will have to have knee surgery.

Seriously, that is absolutely my fear–it is crystal clear. Pose = tendons tear in knees = knee surgery = knee permanently damaged.

Why I should have this fear, I don’t know. But I did do “fixed fern” this week for the first time, very slowly, and only when we were doing the second set because it was too scary to do it twice, and it was absolutely fine. My knee cap did not pop off. I keep noticing connections to the practice everywhere. When Jen Louden posted about the “scooped out pumpkin”, the first thing I was thinking of was my experience with Bikram, how there is resting between each posture and how it prepares you to give 150% to the next posture. I keep thinking of my word for 2010: surrender. I keep thinking of how I will go into that hot room and I don’t even fight it anymore. The room is hot; what else is new?

If you are interested in starting Bikram, a few suggestions:

Don’t wear long sleeves or long pants. A poor dear woman showed up for her first class today and was wearing long sleeves. Oh, my. Not in this heat.

Trust that the heat will stop bothering you (eventually).

Bring two bottles of water–one for during class, one for after. The one that is for after can have regular water in it. The one that is for during class, however, should have a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar and a wee bit of lemon juice mixed in, before placing it in the freezer overnight. This will freeze the bottle into a chunk of ice that will rapidly disintegrate once you are in the yoga room. The wee bit of sugar, salt, and lemon will help to keep you hydrated during class (and tastes better, too).

Don’t be put off by the “Bikram talk.” When the instructors say things that sound really arrogant or confrontational, like, “Put your forehead to your knee. For those of you who don’t know, your forehead is that space above your eyebrows and below your hairline,” they are reciting a script. It’s not personal.

Don’t take the bait. My friend Jen said this after she pushed herself too hard in Bikram and reignited a back problem. The instructors are going to say things like, “Push your body harder!” or “Put your forehead to your knee, or the posture hasn’t even begun yet!” Just do what your body can do and stop at that. Don’t push harder if you think it’s not safe. Don’t struggle to put your forehead to your knee and worry that you’re not doing it right. Half the class doesn’t have foreheads to knees, so just do the best you can and leave the rest. After you’ve been practicing regularly for 6 weeks, then start questioning yourself if you’re not pushing. But before then? Focus on just doing what you can.

Arrive early to set up your mat, and if you arrive late and the only spaces left are the super hot ones at the front of the room, then–for the love of christmas–don’t put your mat right in front of someone else’s. Stagger mats so that the person behind you has at least a shot at seeing themselves in the mirror.

Finally, if you notice that you are feeling afraid of “fixed fern” or “camel pose,” I hear ya. ;)