Monday, May 30, 2011

Week Six Yo!

Another week is behind us at BYTT. It entailed not only the usual 11 classes but also enough posture clinics to cover five postures and two lectures on Fascia (please don't ask me to elaborate on the latter, after nearly 6 hours of lecture on the topic I am still a bit unclear as to what exactly it is). This week I came out of my Week 5 Funk only to find that I am still utterly terrified of getting in front of 40 or so people to deliver posture dialogue. Again, my homework was to get out of my comfort zone, release from my "shell" and to get out of my own head. Specifically, I was assigned the task of delivering Locust pose as a gangster rapper. When practicing this posture in my room I barely could get the dialogue straight as myself never mind in character as a thug but I was a good sport and, when delivering, threw in some 'biothes' and 'yo's' and 'sheeeeeit' after the lines to enhance my delivery and fulfill my required homework assignment. I was probably beet red while doing so but it got a laugh out of my group. I was certainly out of my comfort zone but whether it achieved the goal of permanently bringing me out of my own head while delivering remains to be seen.
Although Bow Pose did not go as I would have preferred I ended the week with strong deliveries of Fixed Firm and Half Tortoise. I attribute this partially to the fact that these postures are slower and I didn't feel pressured to spit out all the lines as quickly and energetically as the previous four from the spine-strengthening series but also to the fact that I am actually starting to not give a s---t anymore about what I look like up there. I suppose this is, indeed, 'getting out of my own head' . . .
Week 7 promises to be drastically different than Week 6 as Bikram is back from his travels and will undoubtedly be keeping us up until the wee hours watching Bollywood films. This means that the pressure of delivering our memorized dialogue lines will be exacerbated by sleep deprivation and added fatigue from the harder and hotter classes that Bikram will surely teach this week. The temperature rise in the hot room and the time we spend horizontal under the covers will fall. So, although we have only three weeks left, some of the most challenging classes and moments await us in Weeks 7-9. All I can say is "Bring it, biotch!"

Monday, May 23, 2011

H2Overdose


64 ounces per every 24 hours is the daily recommended dose of water for the "average" person. A little more if you drink coffee, tea, soda or alcohol, of course and definitely more if you exercise. That sounds about right. Rarely do people actually fulfill this recommended prescription though. But, we all love a nice ice cold glass of agua now and then, right? Well, here at training, you had better love it . . a lot. Staying hydrated has been a major theme here at BYTT and rightly so. Practicing twice a day in temperatures of 110 and higher can really drain one of vital nutrients, electrolytes and moisture. In order to maintain proper hydration and electrolyte balance, the staff at training has urged us to drink 5+ liters of water throughout the day (more or less depending on our personal needs and weight), to put salt, lemon, sugar and/or honey in our water to replace nutrients lost through sweat, and to consume copious amounts of coconut water and Gatorade as well. That's a lotta liquid. On a daily basis, it feels as though I am drinking some beverage at all moments and if I'm not I'm in the bathroom peeing. In sum, I'm in H2Overdose. Which one also has to be careful of as well because drinking too much water can flush the nutrients right out your system and deplete you of energy. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. The effects of too much water (or simply a really hard class) hit me last week when I returned to my room after morning class and literally projectile vomited nothing but water all over my hotel floor (your loving this visual image I'm sure). That was a less than pleasant experience (as was explaining to my roommate, who was in the shower at the time, why there was a towel spread out across the hotel room floor). Ah, just another day at BYTT . . but I definitely learned my lesson regarding consuming too much water.
One beverage I haven't sacrificed through all this is my morning coffee. I generally don't check e-mail, put my contacts in or even open my eyes fully until I have my morning cup of jo and I wasn't planning on altering that routine for training. As mentioned in a previous post, I purchased an inexpensive coffee maker from the local CVS just to facilitate my morning java addiction. Some mornings, after having watched the a Hindi film with Bikram until 3 a.m., it is my saving grace. Of course, that also means more water to balance out the dehydrating effect of my coffee. I can live with that.
However, I, like all of the other trainees have sacrificed one type of beverage throughout this training: alcohol. Initially, I must admit, I thought it would be tough not enjoying an ice cold beer or soothing glass of wine for 63 days. However, I have not even thought about imbibing since I arrived and am not even tempted to do so . . . after all, doing so would just mean drinking more water and, like I said, I'm already in H2Overdose.

Week Five Funk

Today is the first day of Week 6 but I have yet to post a blog entry for Week 5 partially because it was a less than stellar week for me and partially because my weekend was consumed by studying the spine strengthening series . . so here goes . . . all in all I had a rough week. I fell behind in postures and had to scramble to learn Tree and Toe the same day I delivered them which ended up being a bit of a debacle. I got the demonstrators in and out of the posture and hit some of the actual dialogue but overall I was dissatisfied with my performance. My homework from the previous posture clinic had been to go "over the top" . . to "get out of my comfort zone" and, specifically to add some body movements to the words in Tree Pose and Toe Stand, one that resembled Elvis's hip gyrating dance moves. Now, I'm generally an outgoing person when I am confident and comfortable and amongst friends but when I'm in a new group of strangers I tend to be less so. The very thought of shoving my hips forward obnoxiously while delivering the dialogue was enough to catapult me into my shell for good here at training . . of course, I could also have used it as an opportunity to bring me out of that shell and take it for what it was, a silly assignment from posture clinic that, at the end of the day, no one would remember anyway. Had I been confident in the posture's dialogue I probably wouldn't have minded embellishing my delivery with an over the top hip pulsating move but feeling the way I was I was not into it. Anyway, that was that but it was the "highlight" of a week in which I was feeling over it all already. I was missing Rory . . a lot . . along with my family, my apartment and New York in general. I also have a lot of other things on my mind, like starting the PhD program in a new place in the fall and worrying about my husband finding employment in Colorado. The yoga has actually been my saving grace throughout this whole experience. It has been the one constant in a situation in which we never know what our schedule entails or what's coming next . . Posture clinic or lecture? Who will teach class? Will there be a movie until 2:30 a.m.? How hot will the room be? With all of these unknowns it is nice to have the 26 and 2 to rely on (26 postures, 2 breathing exercises) as stable factors. However, in my Week Five Funk, I grew to resent even the yoga. I found it hard to push myself in Half Moon which usually provides me with the energy and motivation for the remainder of class. All of this is normal, of course, and I'm neither surprised nor upset with myself for being human and feeling less than exuberant about the yoga and about dialogue delivery. This week I am going to work on letting go of my perfectionism a bit and aiming to do the best I can within the time frame I have. That is all I can ask of myself. So with my Week Five Funk behind me I begin Week 6 this morning . . .with a smile;)

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

All Ears

A mid-week blog is definitely not my norm as my schedule barely allowed for time to call my husband today on our anniversary, but c

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Power Nap 101


Week 4 is behind us and one survival skill that I have yet to master is the art of the powernap. Ah those oh-so-necessary, 15-20 minute cat naps that serve the dual function of providing relaxation and powering us through the next arduous task ahead of us. One can imagine that the ability to powernap is as necessary as a good yoga mat around here these days and it's true. However, while my roommate seems to be able to doze off in increments as small as 10 minutes and then pop out of bed refreshed and rejuvenated, I, on the other hand, fall into deep REM sleep in seconds complete with animated dreams and drool and when awoke look like I have luggage for a trip to Europe under my eyes and enough sleeping lines on my face and body that one might think a train plowed through my bed. I usually awake from a powernap with confusion regarding what day it is and have even run around my room frantically trying to determine whether the time is a.m. or p.m. and what the date is from fear that I missed class, lecture or posture clinic. Meanwhile, when my roommate wakes up from her dabbles in sleep she calmly continues on to the next task ahead of her with grace and dignity. The bottom line is if I'm down, I'm good for an easy 2 hour period and no less. Unfortunately, our schedule at BYTT simply doesn't afford me the luxury of sneaking in a 2-hour doze here and there which is why I had better learn quickly how my roommate's head hits and leaves the pillow all within 12 minutes flat. Sure she requires an alarm to jar her out of her zzzz's but I require a crowbar to pry my eyes open and a double espresso to return my brain back to normal operation. But, today is Sunday and even though I am as much a weekend warrior as the rest of em' (in other words, my weekends are packed with maximum anatomy and dialogue review), I am known to doze off from time to time, taking advantage of the fact that, for once, there is nowhere I must be. In the middle of studying my cardiovascular system flashcards, I felt my eyelids turn into 50-ton weights and my eyesight start to sway . . it was clearly time for a quick shut eye. Well wouldn't you know it I woke up 2 hours later to my roommate commenting "well good morning" . . powernap 101: don't sleep longer than 20 minutes at a time. Oops . . Well, Bikram is back and Week 5 is sure to be full of late nights and sleep deprivation so I had better brush up on my powernap 101 . .

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

All Ears

A mid-week blog is definitely not my norm as my schedule barely allowed for time to call my husband today on our anniversary, but c

All Ears


A mid-week blog is definitely not my norm as my schedule barely allowed for time to call my husband today on our anniversary, but my circumstances are a bit unusual at the moment so I have decided to post an entry quickly. Since approximately last Thursday, I have been suffering from an inability to hear to my normal capacity. The feeling has ranged from one resembling that of water trapped in one's ear canal to actual pain. Not only is this a nuisance to my day to day life but it has made interactions with others a bit awkward as I have had to ask people to repeat themselves numerous times. Not to mention the fact that one of the crucial elements to the Bikram series is the set of balancing postures for which one requires, at the very least, an equilibrium that is fully intact. Over the weekend, my roommate and I were at CVS so I asked the pharmacist for a recommendation for an over-the-counter medication to alleviate my suffering. I walked out with an ear wax removal kit but was skeptical, if I do say so myself, of his diagnosis (I clean my ears daily, thank you very much). By Monday I was not only in severe pain, but was hearing a ringing vibration from both sides of my head. I could barely make it through posture clinic and each yoga class felt like the longest 90 minutes of my life. By the time our 9:30 p.m. Anatomy lecture rolled around I had reached a breaking point and went in search of the staff nurse. And then it happened. I turned into one of the many (many) girls who have lost all control of their emotions here and let it all out in tears (this is very common for BYTT). The second I was in the nurse's presence I found myself crying "I can't hear anything!" and then it was a waterworks show from there . . . she assured me that crying over a physical ailment here at training is very normal and that I needed to see a doctor asap because I probably had an ear infection. "I can't believe I am crying about a f'n ear infection!" I said to her; yet inside I could believe it because of all the stress we have been under and how hard it had been to function under these circumstances. The crying subsided but the aching feeling that I just wanted my mom didn't and I had to remind myself that I am 31 years old and that there are only 6 weeks left of the training (although that wasn't much of a comfort). The nurse excused me from morning class the following day so I could go to the urgent care center down the street. That is where I learned that I did, indeed, have a double ear infection and was prescribed drops, nasal spray and a z-pack. Lovely. I was also excused from class from Tuesday to Friday morning which is IONS in our yoga bubble world. This means that I miss 6 classes (but am still responsible for signing in)!! Although I know my body needs it, I am a bit concerned about how I will feel once I return to my mat on Friday morning. But for now, I have some free time while everyone else is in class. I have been responsibly using this time to study dialogue and have refrained from taking an oh-so-tempting nap in the evening but today I decided to cut myself some slack and blog while my ear drops work their magic. I'm not certain how I even picked up infections in both ears- aren't kids' ears supposed to get infected? I hope it doesn't have anything to do with sweat from class getting trapped in my ear (I know, eew) because I don't see how I can avoid this scenario in the near future . . but if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

All Ears

A mid-week blog is definitely not my norm as my schedule barely allowed for time to call my husband today on our anniversary, but c

Sunday, May 8, 2011

This Ain't No 9-5 . . .


Well Week 3 is done and we are definitely in the thick of it and like I said above, this ain't no 9-5 . . and it ain't no picnic either . . . for those who are curious, here is my typical day: alarm goes off at 7 a.m. so I can make coffee in my room (I actually bought a coffee maker because I was investing way too much in the lobby Starbucks), leave a little before 8 for 8 a.m. sign in and class at 8:30-10 . . then we are "free", a term I use with great sarcasm because there is no such thing as "free" time in this yoga boot camp (hence, my infrequency of blog posts), until 12 when we sign in for 12:30 p.m. lecture or posture clinic which runs until 4 when we are dismissed to get ready for 4:30 sign in for 5-6:30 p.m. class . . after which we are "free" again until 9 p.m. when we sign in for 9:30 lecture or posture clinic which runs until approximately 12 a.m. . . and after that we may or may not be watching a Bollywood movie until the wee hours of the morning (this depends entirely on whether Bikram is here, which right now, I hate to say it but fortunately he is not and we are able to get to bed at a respectable hour) . . so that is a day in my life at BYTT. We are now well into the dialogue and moving along at a fast pace through the postures. We are up to Standing Head to Knee and are pretty much at a pace to memorize and practice delivering a posture every 1-2 days. We also are well into our Anatomy lectures and have our first exam on Monday covering the Skeletal, Muscular and Nervous Systems. Talk about flashbacks from 8th Grade, Strong School, Mrs. Conforto's Science class! She must have done a pretty good job drilling in those bones to us because I easily recalled the tibia, fibula and mandible to name a few. As far as memorizing the dialogue goes, I am a phenomenal memorizer when I can write things down but reciting the postures out loud is another story and I freeze up . . add to that my stage fright and it's a bad combination. I was the first in my posture clinic to deliver Back Bending and Padahastasana (Sanskrit for 'Head to Feet' pose) and did well but it was a complete blur to me, I remember nothing from being up there and, honestly, don't think I should be held responsible for anything that came out of my mouth since I was totally on auto pilot . . next was Awkward Pose (Utkatasana) . .which, despite it being one of the longest and trickiest poses, went fairly well . . then there was Eagle Pose (Garurasana) . . I went totally blank in front of the 40 or so other people in our posture clinic and then quickly went into panic mode . .I could feel my knee caps (patellas, by the way;) sweating and my face turning beat red and the more I pushed my mind to recall the next line in the posture the more I saw a blank, white, vast chasm in space . . it is a pretty awful feeling and I vowed never to experience it again (which is precisely why I should be studying and not blogging at the moment). I managed to get them out of the posture which is our ultimate goal: "get them in and get them out" because, as teachers, even if we forget the dialogue we MUST finish the class and so our job is to get them in and out of all the postures . . some f'n how . .some f'n way . . even when the words are GONE . . I am now working on Standing Head to Knee and although I feel relatively confident in my ability to deliver it there is no telling what will happen when I am in front of everyone in Posture Clinic . . so I am nervous and I am hoping these nerves will dissipate as we move through the dialogue.

All that said, I am off to shower and STUDY for the rest of the day, both Anatomy for the exam and dialogue for Posture Clinics . . because times' a tickin' . . .