Uh...wait a minute. Let me change that thought. Maybe it was an extraordinary week. Let's see...
I should say that I started the week on Monday by talking to myself on the way to the elevator (yes, out loud...no big deal here as it IS Vegas and people are walking around talking to themselves all the time at all hours, so I fit right in even though I am not drunk) and down to the yoga "compound" and telling myself it was going to be a good week. Telling myself that I was not going to have any issues this week that were out of the ordinary. No intestinal issues. Just normal aches and pains and tiredness. I was trying the "mind over the matter" trick. If I just tell myself it is going to be a good week, then it WILL be a good week.
And Monday went well. I was rested. I think all Mondays will go pretty well compared to the remaining days of the week. I woke up with a bit of a funny feeling in my head that morning, though. Having just recovered from the "intestinal issues" of the previous week, I was a bit concerned. During Monday's two yoga classes when my head went upside-down on a few occasions I felt a lot of sinus pressure in my head.
"My head feels funny...what do you think is wrong with me?" I said to my friend on Monday night. All day I had been worrying about what his headachey feeling meant. I was thinking that now that my intestinal issues are seemingly past...is this the next "thing" for me to have trouble with? Is this a sign of dehydration? Malnutrition? Hormonal imbalance? Gas? Stress? Reflux? Indigestion? Emotional problems? I was thinking of all sorts of horrible things and wondering how I could possibly fix myself so I could survive the week to come. Thinking that I had solved one physical issue and now was gearing up to deal with another one, OH NO! "Will I ever feel normal again??"
"Maybe you're having some sinus issues?" she said, just sort of calmly and matter-of-factly. (?)
"Oh!"
Revelation!!!!
I'm thinking in my head now..."yes...during class this morning I did feel sinus pressure! Could it really be that simple? Sinus pressure in my head? Oh my gosh! Maybe it's NOT any of those awful things I have made up. Maybe it's just sinus congestion. Simple as that. JUST my sinuses! It's dry here in Vegas. My nose is dry, throat dry. I have congestion which is making my head feel funny. OF COURSE THAT IS WHAT IT IS!!!!"
And you know what?
Almost immediately...I felt better. My headachey feeling went away. Gone. Just like that.
Power of the mind. Bikram has been lecturing about the "mind over the matter" for the past week. How your mind can control your body and you have to be the master of your thoughts.Hmmmm. Could he actually have a point? (And no, they are not serving Kool Aid at the lectures, so get that out of your heads, all of you I-know-who-you-are people!)
He showed us some video clips of yogis (himself, his guru, his friend) who were on episodes of "That's Incredible" back in the 1970's. There were clips of yogis lying on a bed of nails, motorcycles driving over the top of their bodies, or elephants walking over the chest of a yogi lying on the ground on a mattress with a board over the top of his chest. And more. Many more seemingly impossible feats of strength. It was all pretty incredible, and we are anxiously waiting for the explanation of "how" the yogis perform these amazing feats. Is it all mind over matter?? Positioning of the body? How do they do it? Still waiting for the answer. Will have to report back to you on that one.
So, good news, bottom line there is that this week I had a completely "normal" week as far as physical issues go. No intestinal problems. No headache. Just the sinus thing and of course the sleepiness at the end of the week due to Bikram's return and also return of the late-night lectures on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Nice. Week Four. I survived. No emotional releases this week, no physical issues...just doing my job this week, one day at a time, getting more and more tired. Week Four, better than week three. Yipeee!
So, oh my gosh, now I can't help but worry that "since my 4th week was good, then my 5th week might suck." No no no...have to push that thought out of my head! Mind over matter.
Posture clinic on Monday night...Bikram had "something else to do" we were told, so we didn't have his lecture on that night. Instead we had posture clinic and I presented Eagle pose and was told to focus more on the "bold words" in the dialogue and emphasize them more. I should add here that in the next posture clinic, the next set of teachers then tell me to "smooth it out" more. Don't be so bold. It's interesting, watching how posture clinic works. I guess you go to one extreme, then the other, then back and forth until you meet in the middle eventually, finding your personal "style."
More visiting teachers this week during the week and it's great to see all the different styles of teaching, how some teachers have great energy for some trainees and not for others. We had a grueling class one morning with a teacher who is nicknamed "Two Hour Ted." We were all weary from late-night lecture the evening before and NO ONE I talked with had many good things to say about that morning class. We were cranky.
Had posture clinic with Diane Ducharme on Friday and I must say that is was the highlight of my entire week. She gave us all excellent feedback and I learned SO much about yoga, about life, about myself. She is incredible. I find myself wishing that everyone could experience a posture clinic with her. She helped me to relax before I presented my balancing stick by talking with me about my name. "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" finally came up here. Took four weeks for someone to say it. Have to love it that it was Diane, someone so "famous." I had to smile and think of Jackie who always calls me this at home. Diane had me (and everyone else) laughing for a few minutes before I did my dialogue and then it just sort of flowed out of me. No problem. She has an amazing gift of making everyone feel at ease and special. Even the people in my group are closer as a result of the way she worked with us and helped us to get to know each other and support each other. Three hours. Pretty great gift she has.
Friday night's class was hot, hot, HOT. The teachers who are here for recertification attended class with us, bumping up the number in the tent from 360-ish to 500-ish. Amazing class. I was so thankful for the PROTEIN which I have been consuming in mass quantities this week, as it is giving my body strength to get through class. I have figured out that I need to eat a lot of protein after morning class and it carries me through the day and through evening class feeling pretty strong. Red meat. Eggs. Cheese. Yum.
No, I am not losing weight. But, at least I am not throwing up and/or dehydrated and/or having intestinal issues. (At this point, that seems more important than my weight.)
At least not this week. I make no predictions for next week.
The weekend was great as Karen and Pavida arrived on Friday. It was great to see them and feel like I had a little bit of home. Pavida brought a package to me from Mark and Maggie with a Hello Kitty lovingly made at the Build-A-Bear store, complete with Mother's Day sash, T-shirt with a photo of Maggie hugging Hello Kitty, poetry and cards made by Maggie, and chocolate covered banana chips from Fresh Market. HELLO!!! Wonderful surprises! I miss them so much and I am pretty excited that we are at the HALFWAY POINT!!!
I had a daytime slumber party with Pavida on Saturday during a break from theirrecertification classes and we watched TV and caught up on funny teacher training stories, mostly about the kinds of people here and the different teachers we've had. After Pavida and Karen went to their afternoon lecture, I had a nice nap on the bed. Luxury...hour and a half of sleep! Karen came to Friday night's lecture (at least up until the projector started warming up...smart girl!) and I was thrilled that she was there for Bikram's rendition of how he invented disco by removing the "-teque" part from some night club somewhere back in nineteen seventy-something. Classic Bikram.
On Sunday I am heading to the grocery store to stock up for the next couple of weeks, then to a buffet with Karen and Pavida before they have to leave. More studying is required tomorrow, as we are having our anatomy final on Monday and were told that posture clinic would be stepping up this week, so there is a lot to learn about the next four, five, or six postures. I am so tired during the week that my brain just doesn't function well for studying, so I find that getting as much as possible in on the weekends makes for a less stressful week.
I will post this now (Saturday night my time) and probably not post again until next weekend unless something really exciting happens this week. Bikram is in Vegas, I think, so I'm sure I'll be tired and not have a lot of time for blogging.
Please keep sending good thoughts my way. I miss you all and I am longing for "regular life" as I truly feel so far removed from normal stuff here in the yoga bubble. No news, no outside contact, nothing. It's odd. Can't imagine how much farther "out" I'll feel after another 5 weeks! It must be such a free feeling to be done at the end. I can only imagine, of course.
So...week four. I have been thinking all week of an assignment to give to everyone (teacher in me coming out, both the former teacher and the about to be teacher) who might be reading this. I guess since I had my "oh...it's just my sinuses and I'm not going to die this week" revelation, and sort of my theme is "mind over the matter" this week, why don't you guys try it this week with something? Anything. You've got nothing to lose. You don't even have to tell anyone that you're trying my assignment.
I was in class next to a young guy this week and we were talking prior to class about how things were going, how tired we were, which staff members were bugging us and how, all the usual stuff. He was very calm and collected. Peaceful, I would say. He said that one day when a staff member asked him to do something and he didn't understand the reason why and started to get that pissed-0ff feeling and wanting to argue, instead he just said, "okay." That was it. He just said "okay" and let go of whatever he was going to get upset about. And then...this is the cool part. He said he was going to just add that to his list of things he is learning here. He just got to have an extra little personal "practice" in managing his feelings of anger and frustration (in this case). Pretty cool. Nice use of his energy. His name was Tyler. I had never seen him before and I recall thinking that he must always be on the opposite side of the room or something. I was amazed at his positivity! Young kid. Pretty mature. Nice to see a young kid with such good insight and positivity. He reminded me of Karen. A male version.
So...then Karen shows up on Friday for the teacher recertification and she's in class and we are chatting beforehand and she says...
"Have you met the guy who is here from Austin?" Austin is where she lives now.
"No...I don't think so...what's his name?"
Seriously.
You know it, don't you?
"Tyler!"
Now how about THAT? I'll have to find him and tell him the story.
But I am getting off track...
So...assignment.
Here it is.
Humor me.
Tell yourself something about what's bugging you. A body ache or pain. A thought that you have that might be negative. Someone who is bugging you for some reason...change the thought in your mind and see if it makes a difference. Yes, even if it's a physical pain that you can FEEL and not just a thought about someone or something. Try to change your thought. Direct your thoughts and energy to something more positive. Then let me know. Email me or comment here. You yogis can try something like, "I'm going to do a kick-ass triangle today, all four sides, no matter what...my triangle is going to be better than the one I did in my previous class." Or, if the entire triangle posture is too much, just think something like, "I'm going to breathe through triangle posture today." That's all. You don't have to say it out loud like a crazed Vegas tourist. Just to yourself. If it doesn't seem to be working, don't give up. Try it again next class. Non yogis try it with something else in your daytime process. A coworker who is making you crazy. A kid. The grocery store that ran out of the item you needed. Just try it. Change your mind. You have the capability to do it. Report back to me.
In my mind, I'm thinking that lots of you will try it. I can't wait to hear from you!
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