I have a Yoga mat. It has a special space for it. I accept myself and forgive myself every time I step on my mat in my special space. On my mat I get to start again. Priceless.
Today my hamstrings are tighter since I started back to ‘proper job’ (you know… the kind with a desk that pays your ss/tax/mortgage contributions and allows you to have a little extra to treat yourself)… not the Yoga work kind that will keep you stressing for a decade over how you are going to pay your Yoga bricks n’ mortar overheads and ‘am I going to have enough to pay myself so I can pay my bills etc’… My hamstrings are tighter but my bank balance isn’t and I am not so ‘uptight’ now when people don’t pay or we haven’t got great numbers in a class.
You have to TURN UP
You all know that one… You talk about how much you love it and wax lyrical about how amazing it makes you feel but Yoga only works if you turn up. Bikram Yoga is a healing modality. You will get benefit even if you only practice casually but this practice is not just about changing your body. Ultimately it is about changing your life for the better… you don’t want to put that off. COME MORE. Bikram Yoga is not the easy option but nothing worthwhile ever is.
Leave Your Shoes (and your smartwatch) at the Door
Take off your usual lenses, your judgement, your measures, your distractions. Make space and time for a new beautiful ‘uninfluenced by others’ perspectives to come through.
We have had a few judgey people in the last month on the free passes (its been a bit odd; we have had occasional judgey in the past but not for a while.) I am old enough and bold enough to be able to say that now; you see, we ‘see’ them and their agenda standing in our reception. We both have a great radar for it. Frankly Darren and I don’t know why they bother; although convention dictates you cannot say anything… we have to let it play out… but it is a ‘bore’ for us and we can’t be bothered to pit our precious energy against their particular wrong focus; its always a relief when they have finished their reccy and gone; eventually we hear the upshot of it (sometimes it takes a while but it usually comes back to us; Jersey is incredibly small like that).
So when you sign up to come to YM on the free passes please bring your free open mind; Have the Grace try what the teacher instructs (or rest if you feel you can’t) and reserve judgment for after you have tested at least 10 classes in short succession… MUCH later (if at all); why do you have to judge it anyway; if it is not for you… you move along to try the next thing… there will be something else…. Or go back to that space that you felt you needed to take the measure of us from… Similarly we would encourage our own students to be Graceful if they are ever trying out another Yoga school; if it is not for you then be ‘as you were’. Hey! If the sole purpose is to get a confirmation bias you don’t even have to come along to our Yoga school, just read our blogs, there are over 200, it is all there in black and white; they speak frankly to you of who we are and what we do…
STEPPING INTO BIKRAM IS STEPPING OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Care! there is a rule of thumb in the world that says, “do what feels right for you”. Largely, it is a good rule … and we always encourage people to follow their instincts and listen to their little inner guru. BUT. SOMEtimes. You have to question that little inner voice/predisposition that kicks in. Is it trying to mollycoddle us? Truth is we don’t often get what we need by doing what feels easy and in Yoga practice when acquiring technique what is REALLY right is not always easy; what is right is not necessarily down that path of least resistance.
Early days I did a lot of ‘feeling right’ in my practice (not pushing myself and following the existing patterns in my body that I had created over decades of poor posturing/bad habits); those patterns? They are always going to feel easier/right… there I was diligently getting absolutely NOWHERE. Do what you’ve always done, get what you’ve always gotten.
You are retraining your skeletal to hold your body in a more optimal alignment that will put less stress on your skeletal and your internal organs. For most bodies rarely is the transformation path an easy path. The more you do this stuff the smarter you get at it, you refine your instinct for what is right (even when it is hard), you are more discerning, you will just KNOW.. Bikram Yoga Yoga is about Transformation / Change
We don’t use ‘fancy’ extra unnecessary Mudras
We have mixed classes; not all bendy flexy. Primarily Bikram is focused to assist Beginners whilst having all abilities in the room. It is not the easy option but nothing worthwhile ever is. Throw in some fancy extra mudras and that is all new people will focus on; getting the mudra right and not on the actual real work that needs to be done. (Don’t get me wrong; I LOVE Mudras; read my blog about them).
Bikram Yoga is 90 minutes. At the 45 minute mark in our practice (that point when most modern classes are finishing) we are just getting into the nitty gritty of it all, starting to dig really deep and get to the depths where the change will happen. Are you new? Then you ARE going to turn bright red, sweat big and complain a LOT about how hard it is! You are going to debate on any given day about coming to class. Some days you will win, some days you will lose that debate. Bikram Yoga is 90 minutes; if it is not 90 minutes it is not Bikram Yoga and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. That is why the one class we run a week that is 45 minutes is not called Bikram Yoga it is called HOT45 (a maintenance class, one set of everything for those who cannot make the full class; they know they cannot say they have ‘gone to Bikram Yoga’ when they have gone to HOT45).
90 minutes is the deal, the Challenge if you like! 27 years in and Bikram Yoga STILL gives me the right kind of Challenge I need on the day and the joy of knowing ‘I’ CHOSE the Challenge ‘cos I’m up for it! ALWAYS! And I learned to be ‘up for it’ by turning up for it! You want more out of life? Challenge yourself more, You are up for it! Come to class MORE.
Even then some classes feel more ‘yinny’ and some classes will feel more ‘yangy’
Bikram Yoga is a tool that is there to help you live a better more balanced life outside of the Yoga room. But I don’t think you achieve a balanced life whilst STRIVING for a balanced life.
First and foremost in Bikram Yoga you learn to take it as it comes… Some days on the mat it is all more Yin (I am not talking ‘Yin school of Yoga’ here; I am talking about the philosophical concept of Yin as it pertains to what we do) (more Stillness, more laid back, softer; it is important to have those classes where you deliberately do less, do it slowly, Savasana focussed especially that last Savasana!), others more Yang (holding stronger, longer, first one into pose last one out, ‘don’t give up’ kinda classes, MORE of everything, more dynamic).
It is all impossible to control. You know that saying ‘People Plan and God Laughs’? BUT at least in your practice whether you are having a Yin or Yang kinda day you get a chance to revisit baseline, neutral, then you can address whatever practice throws up for you. Some classes your mind will do somersaults for first 15 minutes before that Stillness you turned up for even gets a look in ! That’s ok. Observe and accept it in the moment knowing that all the rest of your world (22.5 hours of it outside of your Yoga mat) is still burning/turning as you left it but when you step back into it YOU will be different, more balanced, better able because you turned up on your mat and gave yourself that Bikram Yoga time out.
Acceptance of what you learn about yourself on your mat is the precursor to loving yourself. True change does not happen until that happens.
NOW I AM 54.5
I have a happy spine. I still eat what I want to eat when I want to eat it (can’t believe I got away with it this long). Haha ok ok ok… I THINK I can still eat what I want when I want (and maybe I’m not getting away with it – speak to my thighs and tummy about that, not me, my appetite ain’t listening). At my age my once taut belly skin has started to hang from my torso in balancing stick no matter how much I engage my abdominal core; occasionally particular styles of Yoga pants help hold things in! Do not believe for one minute what the 20something year old taut tummied Yoga instructor is saying!!!! That aesthetic IS going to change as you age. Stop LOOKING at those pictures; get real! It is about how it makes you FEEL. You wanna feel good? STOP being so mean to yourself now and come to Bikram Yoga.
I live in a body that has other things to do besides Yogasana… It has gardening to do (killer hedge cutting) because we don’t believe we can afford a gardener but we deep down believe if I stop doing that hedge cutting I will have ‘aged’, It has shower cleaning it needs doing, reaching those high bits in the shower (killer), duvet cover changing, inner window cleaning… stuff for my family… so many things it has to do and more besides… and they are priority! I still think I can tackle the big jobs in the house and garden (I will postpone getting a man in to do those jobs for as long as I can (and I don’t mean Darren ‘cos he is on his own mission not getting a man in to do the jobs either). At 54.5 I am still excited about what I might achieve in my years ahead, how I might actually make a difference to something … (little dreams I will keep to myself)…
Right now? I have everything I ever wanted.