Back in 1998 when I lived in Louisville, Kentucky, I began doing yoga and training at night to do massage therapy. I quickly noticed that one can accomplish the same thing with either of these. (Certain massage techniques correspond to particular yoga poses.) They have complimented each other very well over the years, because my massage clients benefit from my knowledge of yoga and vice versa. (I taught yoga for several years after I moved to Flower Mound in 2001.) When I began my yoga journey, fitness centers had just begun to embrace yoga, and the YMCA where I belonged brought in yoga instructors from a local yoga studio. As a result, I paid virtually nothing for instructors who had been doing yoga for twenty five or thirty years. I felt very fortunate to have had such a solid foundation for my journey. I was hooked on yoga from the beginning being attracted to its non-competitive nature and how different it is from traditional forms of exercise. This is significant because I believe that asana is only important as a means to an end…that being peace of mind.
Over the years I have explored many types of yoga, but lately have settled on Bikram as my practice of choice. Eventually, I would like to teach yoga again, but I have always said that I enjoy being a student just as much as teaching. When I first came to Bikram, I dabbled with it, sometimes going to class as little as once a week. Going almost daily now, I realize that what we hear in class is true…it's better the more often you come. I do yoga for several reasons the most important being the three beautiful girls in my life pictured above. I want to live a long and healthy life with them. Secondly, yoga brings me equanimity and keeps the stiffness in my left knee at bay. Oh yeah, then there's the hot yoga body that we all want although some may not admit it. This summer I combined weight training with Bikram for some awesome results…lost 21 pounds and my body fat dropped from seventeen to nine percent. Here are some of the thoughts I have collected over time from my yoga path that struck a cord with me. Perhaps they will with you as well. "Yoga awakens our true nature – to be peaceful." "One doesn't do an aggressive form of exercise, because of how one feels doing it." And perhaps the most important to me, an Iyengar instructor I encountered used to say, "Could you do less?" This immediately had meaning for me; however the meaning is fulfilled in Bikram as I ask myself, "Could you do less? struggling? Could you do less? fidgeting? Could you do less? thinking? Could you do less? wiping?" And the list goes on.
Here is my modus operandi for Bikram yoga these days….if I have the opportunity to go to a class then I should. If I can do the fullest expression of a posture then I should. Bikram is truly a meditation where I let my body dictate where it will go that day and the cueing from instructors is only a guide. I have found that progress comes from listening to that cueing every class as if it's the first time I have ever heard it. And lastly, I don't think about tomorrow's class and yesterday's is history. Bikram yoga is a microcosm that informs my life. It's like going to a therapist and getting your head screwed on straight, except daily. Namaste. Al
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