Saturday, November 15, 2008

The last day

Rajashree taught the last morning class of training. It would have been Bikram’s Dad’s 100th birthday today so we did a moment of silence for him at the end of class. Monali was very sad today and said she couldn’t smile all day because she just thinks about him. The class was good and at a ‘normal’ Bikram room temperature. I had my strong New Mexico girl Noel beside me today, for some reason over the last two weeks we keep finding ourselves beside each other. So today we energized our way through the entire thing.
I met Mom, Dad, and Auntie Shirley for lunch. After lunch all the trainees made their way to the lecture hall. Today the afternoon lecture ended up being a free forum. Rajashree, Emmy, and Craig were on stage and we were allowed to ask them any questions we wanted. After about an hour of that Rajashree asked students to come up and tell their story. Over twenty students went on stage with these amazing inspirational stories of how Bikram yoga has saved or changed their life. I have mentioned before that I love to hear these stories, and when four o’clock rolled around I was not ready to leave yet. I could have sat there all day and listened to the stories.
It's so easy to judge someone and turn your nose up at someone; sooo easy, but you never know what someone has faced in their life. People who shouldn’t be alive, have one kidney, addicted, spinal problems, abuse, depression, multiple operations, etc surround us every day and you never know it. I use to be an expert at judging people, thinking I knew everything about them by the way they walked, talked or smiled. It is so easy to find things wrong with someone else when you can’t even look at your own eyes in mirror. If I have learnt one thing over this time here it is to let people be who they are, treat them like a human being. Though I am still a huge believer in first impressions.
After lecture we quickly made our way back to our rooms to get ready for our last class as a teacher trainee. Me, Damian and Eleni set up right in front of the podium, side by side. I walked to the back of the room to put my stuff away and there was Mom and Dad dressed in yoga gear, standing on a mat with a bottle of water. They were going to try their first ever Bikram yoga class. Wow, talk about an experience, the energy in there was unreal and the room was so loud with all the chit chat. I was so excited to see Mom and Dad, they looked so cute and excited.
“Check check 1 2 3 4 check, everyone on the line please”, Bikram walked in and it was go time. I felt like an elastic band in there tonight. Everyone was working together and I just did the yoga and it was amazing. I got my first correction ever from Bikram in balancing stick; “Miss Glasses. Miss glasses, head up. Yes, now you are T, loooook at thaaaat”.
At toe stand Bikram decided to go the washroom and told us all to hold the posture until he got back, yah that didn’t last. Then at stretching posture he started to walk around and stand on people’s backs. He was giving out numbers to people who could touch their head to their toes. He was enjoying it way to much as he did various poses; statue of liberty, flex, cowboy, world, etc, it was very entertaining to say the least. He stood on about ten backs which surpassed into the 800’s for head to feet touching. I think at the very first training over ten years ago was when he started countingm though it is much more common now but the counting still continues. To top it off Mom and Dad made it through their very first Bikram yoga class, how lucky are they to have Bikram teach it.
After class we rushed to shower and change beccause we were told to meet in the lecture hall at 7:30 for snacks provided by Bikram. We did just that and the snack turned out to be pizza, which was fabulous. At 8:30 our guests and teachers started to arrive for the talent show. The talent show started at 9:00 and everyone was just a buzzing, waiting in anticipation.
A little after 9:00, the lights went down and the show began. Abigaliah, JC, and Isaac were the mc’s for the evening. They made the entire show and I can’t even begin to explain how completely hilarious they were. They had inside jokes that only us trainee’s would understand and appreciate. They thanked the teachers in such a way that was funny yet totally sincere and appreciative at the same time. The performers were beyond amazing from poetry, dancing, singing, musical instruments, and skits. Having a talent show is such a great idea, it gives a little glimpse into people’s other world outside of the yoga. At the end, Bikram’s daughter came up and did a stomach muscle example with a few helpers (JC and Dominique). The end of the night was topped off with a slide show that Hillary and Cristine put together from pictures they had compiled throughout the nine weeks. They put it to music and just totally capped off the evening, it was great. At the end of the slideshow Todd built onto that by handing out the year books and thanking each of the pivotal staff one by one.

No comments: