Eh.....hold on to nothing, gain everything.

Week 3 complete! It dragged on a bit, but such is the nature of time when your mind is flip flopping like a freshly caught fish. It's been a week of taking notes, enough sweat to fill your neighbor's swimming pool, and nerves. Classes were good, not too terribly rough for me, hot as hell. I can feel my body changing, floor bow's a dream and standing head to knee's a bitch. Weird. Bikram wasn't here this week, needless to say I was in bed by midnight Mon-Fri and the old brain was able to re-orient itself in time and space. Lots of visiting teachers this week from all over the country who taught us classes and helped with posture clinics. There are some bad-ass, very powerful people in this yoga community, and I'm grateful to have taken class from all of them. They all get that little glimmer in their eye when they talk about their getting through teacher training. They know we're going through hell, but the only choice is to keep on going. Kill pain with pain, transform, shed those pesky layers, grow into a teacher.
One of these nights, either Marcie or I, is going to wake up from a nightmare screaming "Dr. Tripani!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Crimeny. Everyday this week we sat through lecture with this fellow. I'll be frank, this was like anatomy with your Grandpa, who happens to be religious (son of a), and who feels the need to fill your head with depressing information regarding the food we eat, meat, dairy, hormones and antibiotics, cancer, death, viruses, bacteria, dirty little secrets of the food industry, leaving you sick to your stomach and paranoid. Although I shouldn't complain, I did walk away with some interesting tid bits. Basically, add Omega 3 fatty acids to your daily diet if you don't want to die of heart disease. He's aged, he's healthy, and he practices Bikram yoga so I respect and listen. Bless his heart. Two anatomy tests, piece of cake.....

mmmm. cake. cheesecake?Posture clinics started this week, which are essentially the guts of teacher training. Nerve-wrecking as all hell, we split up into groups at night and one-by-one recite a posture to everybody and the teachers with their clipboards and pens. Very American Idol like, ugh. So far I've done well with memorization, just need to work on my voice. I'm up to Eagle Pose, yay!


One third of the way through. 34 classes done. 66 classes to go. Bikram returns next week, as does, I assume, my demonic friend, sleep deprivation. We're taught to make our weakness our biggest strength, our worst enemy our best friend. I don't believe in anything that I don't actually believe in, therefore I'll never say I believe in god, or any sort of spiritual mickey mouse crap. What I do know is that the changes I'm going through are nothing short of what every human being is capable of. Turning inwards over and over again, deeper and deeper into the monkey mind, clearing out old thought patterns, scaring away destructive mindsets in the face of real mental challenges, sweating and clearing out old toxins and scar tissue, strengthening every fiber of the body, re-vitalizing every single little cell. That's real. That's Bikram Yoga. I'm all about it.

I'm also all about these guys, who eat right out of my hand. Ah goodness, now that's bliss.



oh son of a buttered biscuit, 6 more weeks. WTF!