Saturday, November 8, 2008

110% better


Morning class was taught by Troy from New York. He seriously had the best and most incredible energy I have seen or heard in a class. In posture clinics we have been told over and over again about using too much body movement in class because we won’t be able to last the entire class like that. I don’t think whoever told us that has ever taken one of Troy’s classes. Seriously the guy was like the energizer bunny that didn’t stop, just when I didn’t think I had anything left to give he would give us the encouragement we needed. I felt it was exactly what we needed after yesterday.
During class I felt nutrient depleted like I needed more than just water. So after class for the first time since training started I had some pedialyte. It was exactly what I needed after doing a triple yesterday.
We were told after class that we didn’t have to sign in until 1:30pm that gave us an extra hour. I was not in the mood for Chula Vista buffet so I ate my left over sandwich and took an hour nap, just what I needed. Afternoon lecture was more posture clinic with Bikram. We moved onto the floor series which is pretty good for the number of stories Bikram told us throughout the afternoon.
Evening class was taught by Ren again. Zia received her luggage so she was able to take class. Class was good and I felt a lot better and I powered right through it. Again the teacher makes such a difference and Ren is the biggest breath of fresh air you can find in a teacher. Love how he teaches in the moment in every class.
Zia came over for supper, for a gourmet rice cooker Italian feast. After supper we made our way down to the lecture hall. Before Zia arrived I asked Monali if she is allowed to listen in on the lectures. Monali gave her full permission and said absolutely so she joined us last night and tonight.
The night first started with us talking about teachers opening their own studios. We were allowed to ask any questions we wanted to inquire about opening a studio. I never realized that Bikram had such a close hands on approach on studio’s opening. He personally goes through every studio proposal himself and looks at every floor plan with his own eyes. After everyone had filled their boots with as much studio information as they could handle it basically turned into open mike night. We were allowed to ask Bikram any questions we wanted to. I seriously could have sat their and listen to him talk openly like that until morning class started. I was hanging onto every word he was saying and couldn’t get enough. I was hoping people would keep asking him questions so we could hear his hour answer. I love the way he has a story for every answer and just when you wonder how that has anything to do with the question, he links it all together, unbelievable. But than again it doesn’t surprise me because apparently Shirley McLean told Bikram he could sell ice to Eskimos, lol.
I love how this process and training brings out people’s true personalities. There are some people which I or other students have seen right through since the beginning. Some try to keep a low profile as to not be noticed by the staff. I think no matter what though it all ends up coming out. For example, Bikram started talking about a girl he threw out of training just yesterday. I had heard numerous stories from other trainees about how this girl has treated them personally or talked to staff. I personally witnessed her interaction with Bikram the other night in the lobby after class, going after Bikram with her lips just a going. She was going off the hook so Bikram had hotel staff take her back to her room, pack her bag and she was gone within an hour. Bikram started talking about different personalities and the process of the training and how well this yoga works. That is how he got on the subject of this girl he kicked out. He clarified why she got kicked out and told us how patient he and the staff have been with her this entire time. He told us that Rajashree wanted to kick her out when she was here because she had an interaction with her as well. He felt bad because this yoga could not help her. At the same time is glad it happened because he doesn’t want someone like that to represent him and his name as a teacher.
After talking about her, he called out someone else in the training, ‘another bitch’, as he put it. This girl had an interaction with Monali during our third class on Thursday. When the girl left the room, Monali made sure she was okay (her job) and faced some resistance. Monali told Bikram about this interaction and Bikram called her out about it yesterday in front of everyone. Bikram brought her to the front and asked her a couple questions about her life and why she decided to come here. I wanted Bikram to talk to her one on one but he was fired up so he did it in front of the entire class.
At midnight Bikram asked us if we wanted to watch a movie, in which we all screamed NOOOOOOOOOOO. He immediately started laughing and talking about the movie we should watch. We all groaned and he laughed more. He asked what we wanted to do and everyone shouted ‘BEDDDDDDDD’. He found that even more funny and responded with a “fuck you, LOL”. He loves to get a reaction out of us because he knows how much we enjoy our sleep.
After that he started talking about us and this teacher training saying he likes everything about us except that we like to sleep so much. He said the teacher trainees get a little bit better every year, and this year we are 110% better than the last teacher training. The staff was blown away with how fast we went through our dialogue, finishing one week earlier than last year and two weeks earlier than other years. We were lucky in the sense that it gave us more time with Bikram. Every training there is a mid-term evaluation where the teachers get together and talk about the students who are having more difficulty. It is than that some students are given a report card of sorts and basically told to pull it together if they want to graduate. This year the teachers had a meeting about that and they didn’t have to give an evaluation to anyone. Bikram said everyone that was in that lecture hall tonight was graduating (unless they break one of his rules before that). Having every single person who is here graduate has never happened before. He told us that this is the last teacher training where he plans to spend so much time with the trainees and he doesn’t want to teach so many classes. He started to talk about how fast his kids grew up and how he wants time for himself now. I think knowing that having this much time with Bikram is so rare made it kind of sad. I don’t know how much more one on one time we are going to have with him before the end of training. This weekend a bunch of senior teachers and guests start showing up. To think that it is all coming to an end pretty soon makes it so surreal, I am actually going to miss the late night talks and him making fun of us. We are now moving onto our week of the lasts, and it all began tonight with ‘our last Friday night lecture with Bikram’. He let us go to bed just after 1am without a movie.
This is for you Brit: Teacher training is going to be Palm Springs. He is talking to three different hotels right now to figure out accommodations. None of the hotels want to include a meal in the fee right now so that is where they are at with negotiations. Bikram figures it will more than likely be at the JD Marriott though.

The picture is after our triple on Thursday. We are not allowed to leave the room before the teacher does. At the end of class Bikram played one of his songs from his cd. As he made his way to the back of the room the song was not over yet so he started to sing and dance inside the room. This picture shows all the people waiting for Bikram to leave the room so they could get the hell out of there.

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