Monday, June 29, 2009

Bikram Blast weekend retreat! AWESOME!!

It's Monday morning and I'm back at work, which feels kind of sad to me. I'm actually looking forward to training so much now. I had a blast at the bikram retreat this weekend and completed five classes. My body feels... GREAT!!!

Friday night - class 20: Arrived at the retreat and took my first class in a foreign studio, which is always interesting. You learn a lot about the way the air works... and the heating situation. I had one of the hardest classes of my life. During the floor poses I wanted to jump out of my skin and find some relief from the heat. I was pouring my water on my face and neck to find relief!

Saturday morning class 21: I felt strong in the morning. Some have trouble with morning classes - me I love them. I had so much strength. I didn't kill myself in the class as I was worried about feeling like I did Friday night. I'm being honest here, I know that's not the proper approach. But you do your best.

Saturday night class 22: for many at the retreat, this was the first double class they had ever experienced. For me it was old hat - it was my second double ever (ha ha.) I knew enough to really conserve my energy on Saturday, between classes catching a nap and reading quietly, hydrating, and making sure I was properly fueled. The class was great for me. I made it through 99% of the postures. I was tired but I made it.

Sunday am class - I HAD FUN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE 30 DAY CHALLENGE IN CLASS. I don't think the heat was cranked as much as it could have been, and I chose to be in the back of the room. By this point, we'd had a nice discussion about practice, and about the anger that comes up, and the suffering mentality, and how it's just a phase, and you move through it as you get that junk out of your body. Pent up emotions and injuries and soreness.

Sunday pm class - this was not technically a class but instead a six hour posture clinic with Esak Garcia. It was simply an amazing experience. I went deeper in triangle than I ever have. I learned so much about my poses and many others poses. One could say this technically wasn't a class but I am calling it a class as I'm more sore than I am after a class, and learned more than I could in like 50 classes. He showed us the basic series executed perfectly, he and his wife demonstrated some amazing advanced postures, and then we clinic-ed the basic series. We went through every pose, he talked about each one, we did each one as he wanted us to... (holy burning quads! he really challenged our technique!) then answered questions.

It was an amazing experience. I can't say enough. I feel so supercharged. I can't wait to practice tonight. I'm really ready to step up my practice. I can't believe how much better my triangle is going to be, and how much easier it is to be in the pose as it's supposed to be done. It kills when I come out of it but while I'm in it I can feel that my body is holding a solid asana.

Goals for today - thighs and whole lower body on fire during pranayama
go all the way into triangle and hold it
find the sensation of kicking equally in floor bow
see what my practice brings!

I can't wait to practice. I feel like I had a major breakthrough yesterday and that I am most certainly capable of giving a lot more than I've been giving the last two weeks. I had to be where I was, which was a major struggle. Now I'm in a new place!

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