Where Did Sunday Go??

Suddenly it's Sunday evening and I don't understand where the day went. I went down to brunch this morning and the Veranda was closed. To catch you up, we have a brunch buffet every day in the Chula Vista restaurant. By Friday we are sick of the food there so it's nice to have the Veranda available on weekends. It's similar but has slightly different food and linen tablecloths. Well, this morning the Veranda was closed. Big bummer! I went to the Chula Vista, met up with Clemma, my new friend, and proceeded to go through the buffet line filling my plate with lunch stuff, since they didn't have pancakes and smoked salmon, my favorite weekend meal at the Veranda. I sat down, took a bite and couldn't deal. I'm not so good at eating real food for breakfast. It usually has to be specifically breakfast food for me. I dumped the plate, went back and got some fruit, yogurt and some bread. Better than nothing. This food thing is a real issue here.
Last night's party was good. The food was great and it was a beautiful evening on the beach. There were fireworks and marshmallows being toasted over a hug bonfire. Clemma and I left around 9:00. When I came back to the room, Sheila wasn't there. I went to bed assuming that she was out for a walk. As time passed and I was nodding off, I had this realization that she might be in the infirmary since she was complaining about stomach pains earlier. I got dressed and walked down to there and there she was. She was lying there on the exam table all curled up and looking miserable. She seemed to be in good hands so I went back to bed. I heard her come in, very vaguely, around midnight and when I woke up this morning, she was gone again.
I went down to the infirmary again and she was hooked up to an IV. Poor kid, she has been through hell with her stomach. Rusto, her boyfriend, showed up around noon and I had to take him in to see her. He took care of her the rest of the day.
I met Clemma on the beach around 1:00 PM and we studied on the beach and learned most of Head to Knee with Stretching post. It is a really tough one. Later, I came back to the room and hammered out Half Tortoise and got Camel fairly well in the old bean. That means, I only have Rabbit and Final Spinal to do. I feel good about what I got done, but I wish I had done more because I have a feeling we are going to finish up with dialogue this week. Five hours of studying is as much as I think I have in me today.
I found out that Bikram isn't coming back until the Monday after Halloween. That is good news. It means we get sleep this week.
OK, I'm going to start a continuing list of things that I love and things that I don't:
Loves:
Sheila
A handful of new friends that have become really close: Clemma, Dawn, Vickie and Carolyn come to mind first
Doing the yoga
Being in Acapulco when it's colder than hell in Bend
Trying to speak Spanish
Learning the reality of the mind-body connection ~ first hand experience
Doing the yoga
Meeting people from all over the world who become instant family
Putting myself "out there" and dealing with the consequences ~ some good, some bad
Doing the yoga
Going to new places in my postures
The "good guy" posture clinic instructors

Don't loves:
The humidity
The food
This damned hotel, with its damned Mariachi band
The lack of internet in my room
The lack of phone communication, other than the half-assed Skype
The "bad guy" posture clinic instructors
Missing friends and family

I might continue this since it lets me get everything out, good and bad. As long as the good outweighs the bad, I guess I'm still OK!
Love to all and I'll let you know on Saturday how this week goes. Wish me luck!

Week 6 ~ In The Past!

It's really hard to believe we are starting week 7! It still seems like we have another lifetime to go, but 3 weeks sounds OK to me.
This week can only be characterized by the arrival of Rajashree (Bikram's wife). She floated into our world like Glenda the good witch of the north (from the Wizard of Oz) in a giant pink bubble, waved her magic wand and all was well. We were all stressed to the max after last week's excessive number of posture clinics. Her classes are soothing and calming. Not easy, mind you, but not aggro. Just really perfect. We had lectures and posture discussions all week. I actually only performed 3 postures last week ~ a far cry from the week before. We spent two afternoon sessions going over each posture. The trainees would come up to the stage and she would discuss the posture and give her assessment and corrections. It was extremely educational and we got invaluable information for use in teaching. For some reason, however, it seemed that everyone was extremely tired. Even though it was a much easier week overall than the past few weeks. We got to bed by 11:30 every night. Seven and 1/2 hours sleep is a major luxury here! I think the tiredness was a result of the cumulative effect of the whole training. We all made it through though with 11 more classes under our belts. We have now had 65 classes! Wow! I told John this morning, on the phone, that it seems like doing two classes a day has become a part of life. Get up, brush your teeth, go to class, etc. Of course, when I get home, I might sleep for two days, I don't know!
I think things will heat up again next week because Bikram is coming back into town and Rajashree left yesterday. That means those 2:00 AM bedtimes. Sandra, you asked me what he talks about until 2:00 in the morning. "You have no idea" (said with thick Indian accent) is the only way I can describe it. He says that all the time. He was right when he said that to us in the beginning of training. We definitely had NO IDEA! He talks about life in general, yoga philosophy, etc., all peppered with those outrageous stories of his. I have never heard anyone that can tell a story like him. Half the time you are laughing so hard you can't breathe! Also, you wanted to know how you stay awake. Believe me, plenty of people don't. They have to keep rousting people from sleep because Bikram considers it very rude when people fall asleep when he's lecturing (I suppose that's a reasonable assessment), so the teacher assistants go around waking them up. Also, I've never known anyone who can talk for four solid hours and seem to be just getting warmed up. He is an amazing human being. His genius is only exceeded by his wackiness!
Oh, and your other comment, San, was that I need to eat to keep up my health. Well, I am doing that but believe me, it's not easy. I am never hungry. I only eat because I have to eat for energy and strength. It's not just me though. Everyone says the same thing. Doing so much yoga just does that to you. I am eating when I need to eat and that's about it. I am also craving strange stuff that I haven't eaten in 30 years, like Cokes and potato chips. I just eat them when I crave them and I don't worry about it. Basically, I'm feeding my body what it craves. I also crave fish, vegetables and rice so it's not all junk food. It's a really interesting process because I got a sore throat last week and in each class I would lose tons of mucous (sorry) until finally after three days the whole thing was out of my system. I've never seen anything like it!

Michael showed a video of a news show on KOHD in Bend. It was an interview with Rajashree when she was there doing a seminar. I was sooooo homesick watching it. I got a glimpse of my wonderful teacher and friend Tricia. I almost cried! Also, it featured a lot of shots of Kathy doing some of her perfect postures. She looked so beautiful and graceful. I wanted to be there and give her a hug. I was looking for others in the crowd that I might recognize. I saw Jerry Lopez but I couldn't pick out anyone else.
I am getting ready to start memorizing Half Tortoise Pose. I have memorized 20 so far and I have 5 more to go. We aren't going to perform Final Breathing, I don't think. Rumor has it that Bikram is going to do the breathing exercises with us separately. Not in posture clinic, that is.
It's kind of scary to think what might be in store for us in the next 3 weeks, so I guess I'll just relax and take it one day at a time. Tonight the hotel is throwing a barbeque for us at 7:00 PM. I'm going to go for a short while, but as usual, I want to do my Saturday night Rip Van Winkle imitation.
I'm going to go to Mega for supplies, then come back to the room for a rest before the party tonight. So I guess I'll end for now. Hopefully, I can do a Sunday evening post tomorrow. If not, I'll be back next week. Bye for now!

Week 5, Terminado

Here is a photo of all the women over 50 in training! Super girls! I love them all.

The weeks go by fast here because we get up in the morning and go to yoga class, then we have lunch and practice our dialogue. Next it's posture clinic for 3 hours, then yoga class again. Afterwards, it's dinner and practice our dialogue. Then it's 9:00 and time for lecture or another posture clinic until 11:00 PM. When Bikram lectures, of course, it is anywhere from 12:00 t0 2:30 AM. Weekends are the only time I have to stop and think where I am, what day it is, what month it is, etc.

As for week 5, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times", to quote Dickens. A roller coaster ride is the analogy that comes to mind.

Monday started out with Michael Harris, my studio owner arriving in town. He stood up to introduce himself to all the trainees on Monday night at the lecture hall. He then proceeded to introduce me as the only trainee from Bend. He went on to say that I was a rock climber, owner of the premier rock climbing shop and guide service at Smith Rock. He also said that he wouldn't be doing the yoga today if it weren't for me. He said I was his inspiration, at 63 years of age and still climbing and doing Bikram yoga regularly. Wow!! That felt really good. I really wasn't expecting that from Michael. He's not one to express himself as to where you stand with him. I wasn't sure. At the same time, I'm glad to know, that his opinion of me is positive.

OK, well that was Monday. Tuesday, he taught the evening class and what a class it was!! It was full of fun and energy and everyone here is in love with him. Now for the really interesting part. Picture the yoga studio....I can't even guess as to how big it is, but it comfortably holds over 300 people. The podium is about 15 feet off the floor. We had just finished Awkward when Michael said, "Carol, come up here please." Well, you can imagine my state of panic and sheer terror when he said that! I thought he wanted to show everyone what not to do in Awkward, because my Awkward is so bad! I went up there and he took his Madonna style head mike off and put it on my head. He said, "Do Eagle, right side". I didn't have time to totally freak out, I instantly knew that I had no choice. As Bikram says, "Lock the knee, no choice!!!!" Michael left me up there by myself and there I was with my mike on looking over a sea of over 300 people looking up at me. I have no idea what came over me, but I just said, "Arms over your head sideways (the beginning of the dialogue for Eagle) and when everyone brought their arms up, it was such a feeling of, well, a combination of power and total adrenalization (is that a word?!), that I just kept going. The dialogue came out and I have no idea where it came from. It just came. At the end, when I said "change", I had a rush of adrenaline like I had just climbed to the top of a grueling 5.10 crack at Yosemite Valley! I wasn't myself again until the standing series was over!

People came up to me for days congratulating me and I felt so good. They said I was up there doing it from them. "One of us, up there teaching." It was truly an amazing experience. Yeah, it was and I thanked Michael for giving me that opportunity, although if he had asked me I would have said, "Absolutely NO!!!!!" As it turned out, I didn't have time to even think what was happening, let alone to get nervous.

But, as it goes in teacher training from hell, the next day I blanked in Tree Pose at posture clinic. That was my first experience blanking. It really sucks. You are up there doing your best with teachers grading you and everyone watching and you blow it. After I blanked and finally remembered where I was in the dialogue, the rest of Tree and the whole of Toe Stand was pathetic. I never regained my confidence. I got a mediocre review and for the rest of the day I was feeling down and frustrated. That's what I mean by the roller coaster ride. Kimberly, I'm wondering if this might have been a "psychosomatic sympathy connection" with you because you told me about your experience blanking on Tree Pose!! Whatever, it was good in the end because I got shot down and I believe you need to get shot down occasionally in order to learn from it. I have tried ever since to really concentrate on the pose and what they are doing in the pose so I don't get lost. It really helps to go through the body parts as you are telling them what to do with with each body part one at a time.

Friday was another story. We were working on Cobra for Friday. Well, I figured that I'd coast through afternoon posture clinic and deliver Cobra on Friday night since I barely had it memorized. Sooooo, at lunch some of my fellow trainees were saying that we would probably get through Cobra at the afternoon clinic. I got really stressed about it, knowing that I'd have to memorize Cobra completely in about one hour, that is if I skipped lunch. I didn't want to skip lunch since you really need food to keep you going here. I filled my plate at the buffet and took two bites and that was it. I couldn't even force myself to eat cause I was so nervous. Bad move. Sheila and I went outside to practice Cobra and we did it for each other a few times. Needless to say, I wasn't prepared in class but I went up there and actually got through the posture. Not bad. I got a pretty good review and it was over. Since we go directly from posture clinic to afternoon yoga class, I had a really tough class and nearly blacked out on my way out of the room afterwards. A direct result of having no food for lunch. The saga continues........Friday night at posture clinic, I knew I could coast and wait until Monday to do Locust. When I got to posture clinic, everyone was telling me that they weren't ready for Locust......YIKES!!! That meant that I'd better learn it because if nobody volunteers, they call you up. About 3 people (the rock stars) did Locust and the rest of us were all sitting there like deer in the headlights, hoping beyond hope that our names weren't called. First they called David Ryan, a guy from New York. David went up timidly and actually did a really good job even thought he didn't really know the dialogue too well. The whole time this is going on, I'm trying to memorize the lines as people did them. Thank goodness I did because they called me next! BAM! Just like that. Same as when Michael called me up to the podium, only difference being that I knew the dialogue for Eagle. I told them that I didn't know the dialogue very well, I had only started learning it that evening but I'd do the best I can. He asked me how long I'd been practicing and I said 4 and 1/2 years. He said to just deliver the posture the way I remember having been told how to do it in class for all this time. That really clicked, so I channeled my inner Tricia, Kate, Michael, Delana, Molly, (my homies) and of course, Kimberly and just went with it. I got the best review I've had yet!!! Knock me over with a feather. They said I sounded like I really knew the dialogue. Well, I guess I can learn a lesson from that whole experience. I was really lucky that time, but I'd better stop figuring that I won't have to do a posture in posture clinic. I have to go into posture clinic ready to do whatever posture they ask for. Also, now I have to go back and memorize Locust because I want to know it when I'm actually teaching. That would truly suck to have to teach it when the dialogue isn't in my hard drive. I'm realizing what a great tool the dialogue is.

Saturday, glorious Saturday. Mark taught the class and he is so cool it's beyond belief. He is great in posture clinic too. He made us laugh, the temp wasn't too hot and he didn't push us too hard. Perfect for a Saturday. Afterwards Clemma, Vickie, Patty, Denise and I all went "off campus" and into Acapulco to shop at Zarra. This is a store that has great clothing for cheap prices. I'd never heard of it. Anyway, our cabbie was named Tao and he spoke very little English. I am feeling so much better about my Spanish here. I'm able to communicate so much more than I could before. I think it's just being immersed that helps. I think if I lived here for 6 or 8 months, I could get up to the level of a 5 year old speaking English. Right now, I'm about age 2 or 3. I can communicate but very basically. I was the only one in the cab that spoke ANY Spanish at all, so I had to tell him where to take us and all that. It was really fun! Zarra was a blast! Just the girls out shopping. Such a nice change from yoga camp. I spent $100 and got 6 items. Unreal! It's nice to have some new stuff to wear to posture clinic. I'm really sick of my same old stuff. I know it will be a morale booster!

Afterwards, we went to Mega to stock up on basics and back to the hotel. Sheila's boyfriend, Rusto, is here and they got another room. I had the night to myself and went to sleep at about 9:00 after a delicious room service meal.

This morning I had brunch with Clemma, Rennet and Lindsay. They're all from Minneapolis. I really love the people I've met here. It's so nice to have each other for support.

It's now 6:30 and I have been studying since 1:00 PM. It's just what I have to do, rest day or not. I ordered room service again....just because. I hope everyone is doing well. I miss everyone in the "real world"!

It's on to week 6!

Beautiful Sunday

Here is Lucky #13, our group! That's me top center in the red shirt with my arms flying,

in case you can't tell. It's a little fuzzy.

Sundays are definitely my favorite days. Hands down. I slept 11 hours and woke up at 10:45 AM! Body talking to me. I felt like a million bucks and went down to brunch. I met up with Denise from New York and Walter from B.C. They are favorites. We had a terrific breakfast and then I went for my massage and pedicure. OOOOOOOOhhh boy the massage was expensive but I think I would have given my last dime for the hour with Victor. He was so strong, and he DUG DEEP!!!!! I was a pile of mush when I walked out of that room. The pedicure is essential here because in so many of the postures, for example Padahastasana, Hands to Feet pose, you are staring at your toes. If they're grungy it's not such a good experience. Now I can bend over and admire them with my "smiling happy face" (A Bikramism).

Later I went out to the pool with Sheila and we practiced Triangle til we dropped. I have it really solid in my hard drive now, so I feel pretty good about it. It is one of those postures that hurts like hell if the teacher keeps you in it too long and the dialogue is like a novel. It goes on forever so you have to talk really fast. Some of these New Yorkers are going to rock this one! My southern roots mean that I talk a bit slower, so I have to put it in overdrive.

How great to get a comment from Kimberly, my very first Bikram yoga teacher and still in my "top 3 teachers" list. She's so strong but, at the same time, one of the most compassionate teachers I've had. She's the one I have to thank for introducing me to this practice. I was only 6 weeks out from bi-lateral knee surgery when I took her class and she was so patient with me, helping me get through Fixed Firm, a posture that it murder on the knees at first but really, really good for them. Thanks Kimberly!

I suppose I'll try to go to sleep around 8:30 or 9:00 cause starting tomorrow sleep is going to be hard to come by. Oh, and sorry for the lack of pictures. I just haven't been taking them. No excuses. Jennifer took these two and emailed them to all of us. I promise I'll try to get around to taking some shots. Meanwhile, good night all!

Week 5 Begins

It's so great to get comments from my pals at the Bikram Yoga Bend studio!! Thanks so much guys for your encouragement and I want you to know how much it does for my spirits to hear from you. BYB has the best people on the planet practicing yoga together! Oh, and to Christen, I have solved my phone dilemma with Skype. It is awesome!

Week 4 was a tough one. Lots of highs and lows. Monday, Bikram stormed out of the room right before Camel posture. He said we were lazy and worthless and he didn't want to waste his time anymore (sparing you the expletives). That night he came to lecture and told us that one of the teachers told him that the room is ridiculously humid and had no air. Well, duh, it's been like that for 4 weeks. No wonder people are still passing out and being carried out of class. But thank goodness she told him that because he realized that the air in that room is unbearable since this is the rainy season in Acapulco (humid as hell) and also the studio is in a basement. Honestly there is no air in there. Well, no oxygen. You are breathing carbon dioxide and that's it. He said he had called the engineers that designed the system and they were flying in that night. Well, OK, Bikram exaggerates sometimes. I couldn't picture a bunch of engineers stopping their lives and flying to Mexico to fix a system that has long since been paid for. Being in the business world for nearly 30 years teaches you that that ain't happenin'! But at any rate, thank you Marlin (I hope I'm spelling it right)! She is the teacher from headquarters who told Bikram that she had a hard class because of all the air problems.
She is one of his most senior teachers so he listens to her. OK, so now we have fans all over the room and they open the doors. Now it's like a normal studio and breathing is an option. I thought it was really good that Bikram listened to her and immediately did something about the situation. He never told us that we WEREN'T lazy slobs but at least he took care of the problem!
He taught class again on Thursday evening and he was screaming at us and driving us like I've never been driven before. I had a GREAT class and worked harder than I thought possible. His tough love approach is pretty interesting. Unfortunately, last night he taught again and I had the worst class yet. I think I didn't have enough sugar in my system and I had low blood pressure. I nearly passed out in Triangle, but I'll tell you why I didn't. He told us that he was sick and tired of us lazy, worthless pieces of *!*! ~ "I HATE LAZY PEOPLE!!" he keeps saying. Anyway, he wanted to make a deal with us. If no one left the room and no one sat out a posture we could have the night off!! Let me tell you THAT is some motivation. I wouldn't have quit unless I blacked out. I did every posture (pathetically) and got through the class. Each and every person in there did the same thing. Nobody wanted to be responsible for others losing their night off! I think he proved his point.
As for my posture clinics.........I have been to the depths and to the mountaintop! The first two postures that I presented after learning to find my "loud voice" were a disaster. I was talking loudly but because of that I was forgetting the dialogue. It's so hard to concentrate on everything at once. I was getting feedback like, "Are you having trouble memorizing the dialogue?" Damn, that made me mad because I know the dialogue like the back of my hand. I just said that I will practice more and left it at that. Actually, I did start doing the dialogue with groups of trainees and it helped me on future postures. It's really funny around here because you see yoga trainees everywhere, divided up into groups and practicing the dialogue with 3 or 4 trainees doing the postures. I'm sure that new hotel guests think they've landed in the land of crazy people.
Anyway, when I got to Balancing Stick I found my stride. Of course, Balancing Stick is a posture where you can really blow it out. "Body down, leg up, come down, leg up", and of course at the end "Stretch and stretch and stretch and stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch, stretch!!!!"
I got good reviews and felt 100% better. Yesterday was Standing Separate Leg Stretching (one of my favorite postures) and when I finished the teacher said she would take a class from me anytime. What a great feeling to get such positive feedback. One thing I have learned is that you need to get up and JUST DO your dialogue. If you wait until tons of people have gone before you, it just makes you more and more nervous. Monday we are going to do Triangle and that pose is so long it's unbelievable. It's going to be a tough one. If my feedback is not as good as the past two, I'm not going to worry about it. Just take what they say and work on it. I have found that what they tell you is really good, "spot on" information. These guys know what they're doing.
I have to say a few words about the people here. I am the oldest person in the training, boo hoo!! :( Well, I'm kidding actually. It's kind of cool to be the oldest because I feel like I can be an inspiration for all the young women. I think it's my responsibility to be an example for them, showing them that can keep pushing themselves and growing throughout their lives. "I'm too old" is NO EXCUSE. Jim, from San Diego, one of the many great teachers here, says, "If you argue your limitations, you'll win the argument every time and you'll always have your limitations." Emmy is in her 80s and could be my mother but she is stronger than most of the 30 year olds. Hell, maybe even 20 year olds!
Back to my train of thought... there are at least a dozen of us girls over 50 and they have become my best friends. We are all like minded and fit and really have no concept of how old we actually are!
I hope to be friends with them from here on out.
I'm not saying that only the older women are cool, because I've met so many young people of both genders who are amazing. It's just that common denominator of the yoga that brings us closer. Well, also being in the torture chamber for 9 weeks together. That too.
Well, gotta go to Wally World (sorry, there's no choice here) for supplies and then it's relaxing, reinforcing Triangle in my mind, room service, many hours of sleep and looking forward to happy Sunday.

Sunday Update

I have had a pretty terrific day, although it has been composed of lots of work! Not physical but mental. I ran into a fellow trainee last night that I instantly adored. She is a stage actress, opera singer and teaches voice at Columbia University. She said she was going to be doing some voice coaching in her room today at noon. I went there and discovered how much work I have to do to learn to project. She said I am tensing up and need to relax. Her observation was that I'm trying too hard.....trying to do everything perfectly. There's that perpetual, green monster, perfection, rearing it's ugly head again. She worked with us for two hours (3 of us) and we each came out with the basic concept of projecting through your abdomen and face (who knew??!!) instead of your vocal cords. It's going to take a lot of practice for me, but I know that eventually I'll get it. Also, she emphasized that we move our mouths more when we talk. She said Americans, especially, talk with their mouths barely open and hardly moving.
Later, Sheila and I studied for the Anatomy test tomorrow. Sheila woke up feeling good. That girl is made of steel. She just keeps bouncing back! There's no way she isn't going to make it through this training. The doc said he suspects that she has a hernia or an ulcer!
Later I went down to the beach to buy some sarongs. They are beautiful and colorful and make great cover ups for your yoga clothes when you are walking through the lobby. I got ripped off, of course, because I paid full price and you are supposed to bargain with them. I've never been a good bargainer because I always want to help them out since they make so little money and have families to feed. The old bleeding heart liberal side coming out.
We just ordered room service (again!) and we're going to chill and enjoy the evening. I'm excited to try my dialogue tomorrow and see if I get a little better feedback on the loudness factor. I'm not going to try to be perfect, I'm not going to try to be perfect, I'm not going to try to be perfect..........

Week 3 Complete!

Yay!! Week 3 is over and we are 1/3 of the way through. Hard to believe. We had our 32nd class this morning. Whoddathunk I could ever do that many yoga classes in 3 weeks! One of the senior teachers, Jim, from San Diego said, "Never, ever, ever, ever, underestimate yourself!" Great advice.
Let's see, where do I begin. OK, Monday. I don't even remember that far back, so I'll just do an overview. This week was the last week with Dr. T and the Anatomy lectures. We will be tested on Monday and then it's completely concentrating on posture clinics and learning the dialogue from here on out. I missed one question on the test and was beating myself up for it. Well, gee, I'm not perfect! I'm proud of myself for admitting it here on my blog. I'M NOT PERFECT!!!! My perfectionist ways have caused me a lot of grief in my life. I'm feel like I'm learning to let go of that (I hope). It's so much easier to do the best you can, accept the results and move on. Where did I ever get the idea that I have to excel at everything??!! It causes me to put so much undue pressure on myself! OK, that's my release for the day! My new friend, name withheld, has been crying hysterically during and after each yoga class. On Friday, she was in the fetal position, howling at the top of her voice outside the room. Apparently, she is letting go of tons of pent up emotions. She says she is feeling like a new person.
I took Sheila to the infirmary again today. She started throwing up again this morning. Just when she was getting better. I really hope she can hang in there through all this. I don't want to lose her as a roommate, since she is an ideal one. We lost two more people this week.
So about posture clinics.......We divide up into groups (I'm in lucky 13) and two groups at a time go into separate rooms. You stand up in front and deliver a posture to 3 models. You have senior teachers over in the corner taking notes and when you're finished they give you feedback. So far I have done Backward Bending/Forward Bending, and Awkward pose. I am ready to do Eagle on Monday. It was so amazingly helpful that I memorized all the standing poses before I got here. I wish I had done them all, but I'll take what I can get. The feedback I have gotten is mostly very positive like, you are a natural teacher. One instructor said, "I'd hate to get you mad at me". I like that one. The only negative (they call it homework) I've had is that I'm not loud enough. I have a soft voice naturally so it's hard for me to concentrate on bellowing while I'm trying to do all the other stuff like pay attention to the students, don't screw up the dialogue, what the hell to do with my hands, etc. John suggested that I go online and read up on voice projection. Good idea. I Googled it and there seems to be some good info. The thing is that at my studio we use headsets so I won't have to talk very loud. I suppose they just want you to project. I have to say, it's really scary to get up and perform in front of a room full of people. EVERYONE is scared. Some are shaking visibly! Like I said before though, it's something I want to confront and learn to overcome. The first time with Bikram was terrifying, the second time (in the posture clinics) was a little better but I still had sweaty palms and my heart was thumping out of my chest. The third time was a teeny bit better so I'm really hoping it gets easier and easier. I do notice that once I get up there and get going, I seem to relax and do fine. Some people are frozen and stand there blank. I feel so bad for them. One girl started crying when she finished because she forgot some lines. This is a fascinating study in human nature.
Tonight I'm going to order room service (a weekend treat) and go to sleep early. As usual, on Saturday nights, I plan to sleep as long as possible in la manana. Tomorrow, who knows?? I will do absolutely NOTHING and love every minute of it!!!! Onward to week 4!
Oh, and HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY MACON!!!!! (My grandboy!)