Monday, March 1, 2010

But who's counting?

Apparently it is now Day 60 of this 101 Day Yoga Challenge thingie.  Who knew?!  I've been mindlessly updating my little counter on the side of the page, but time has sort of been flying past me lately.

If I haven't been counting UP to the yoga challenge, maybe it's because I've finally started counting DOWN to teacher training.  Back in October, when I decided to go in the Spring, teacher training was just a blurry blob on the horizon, "about six months away."  Now the blur has started to take on a shape and an outline, and I woke up yesterday knowing that orientation was exactly seven weeks away.  I was in a cranky mood all morning, feeling totally pissed off about the existence of those seven unnecessary weeks, until I took myself out for brunch and read a hilarious book, which made me feel much better.

Today was the first day of March, which also means that teacher training is next month (and starts in six weeks and six days.)  Holy guacamole, Batman!

Today was also a nice, yoga-filled day.  I drove down to L.A. before 7am (go me!), took the 9am class, and spent an hour across the street at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf trying to help my friend Balwan learn his dialogue.  He's an awesome dude, and I'm really excited that we're going to the same training.  He's also going to be the absolute DEATH of me, but at least I'll die laughing.  We concluded today that he has trouble learning the dialogue because he is too LAZY.  He's also easily distracted; he'll stop me in the middle of a posture because he needs to ask me a question about the meaning of life.  Amazing.  Also, I think we are becoming the best source of Monday morning entertainment on La Cienega Blvd, since we've been doing our dialogue practice (complete with postures) right out in front of the Coffee Bean.  Today while Balwan was giving me the dialogue for backbending (or trying to), a man came out of the McDonald's and started asking us about what we were doing, because he'd been thinking about starting some kind of exercise program and liked the look of what we were doing.  We pointed at the big blue BIKRAM YOGA COLLEGE OF INDIA sign right across the street and told him the class schedule.  He was quite interested - he said that since his dad has gotten older and started walking with a cane, he's gotten more concerned about his own health.  I told him that many of the symptoms of aging are really just the results of physical inactivity, and that he should totally come to class!  I might as well walk about with a sign on my back that says, "Ask me about Bikram Yoga!'

We then went back across the street just in time for the 12:15 advanced class (not led by Emmy, since she's in Barcelona!), which was fast paced and fun.  I didn't impress myself, but it always feels good to roll through my full range of motion.  Must try to get back there more often!  According to my counter, I've made it to 5 advanced classes in the last 8 weeks, which is less frequent than I'd like, but a lot more frequent than last fall!  And then I met up with another friend who wanted to help me with my dialogue, and she was actually super helpful, because she basically said, "cool, you know the dialogue" (for standing series), and then helped me work on phrasing, tone, and breathing.  Sweet.

So today, I loved my life.  I drove for 4 hours (augh ow), practiced yoga for 3 hours (plus change), worked on dialogue for 3 hours (counting the practice I did in the car - multitasking!), and saw a seriously amazing pink and purple sunset on the drive home.

And there are 48 days left until teacher training...

13 comments:

Jules said...

Wow! Time really flies. I can't wait to hear stories from TT. I am sure you will be amazing. You are so devoted to Bikram; it'll shine through!
-Bikram Believer

Beth said...

Oh, I'm so excited for you! I love Balwan, he's such a sweet and funny man. When I was at TT he pulled me aside one day and said, "you know, you are exactly like Diane." I said, "why? because I'm a woman and I have short brown hair?" and he said "yes, exactly." So funny - he and Deepak manned the water tent cracked us all up several times a day. It's important to have a buddy, or several, that you can be silly with at TT.

Anonymous said...

Goodness i love your blog!! Thank you so much for sharing with us :-)
Don't know when and how (i live in Australia), but "taking thedancingj's class" is on my List of Things to Do. You are going to be one amazing teacher :-)

Virginie from Brisbane, Australia

hannahjustbreathe said...

That is quite the yoga-filled day! So lovely. And, um, SOOOO unbelievable that teacher training is so close! Wow!!!

Unknown said...

You are going to be so great. Unfortunately, for the rest of us mere mortals... learning dialogue kinda takes a back seat to living before training. You dabble. But then... you realize what posture clinics are really like and you CRAM CRAM CRAM. Then you realize that posture clinics are there to put you through your paces and at about week seven you start judging the teachers panel for the feedback they're giving instead of fretting about the postures.

What a process. Oh yeah. Trust the process. Hahahaha you'll hear that about sixty million times. I'm so glad I don't have to hear that phrase again. Not till I go back... in a few years.

Duffy Pratt said...

Ditto about the blog. Just promise us that you will keep it up, as time permits of course, during training.

Lindy B said...

J, you are such an inspiration! I'm coming to SB in July - maybe if you're teaching, I can take your class and you can kick my ass, and then we could get lunch! But really - reading this makes me want to jump right back into the studio. You'll be an amazing instructor. :-)

bikramyogicheryl said...

What a great & inspiring blog post! I always wondered what teachers actually go through to learn all of that dialogue!! Hope you'll tell us more about it!

And I love the idea of having "Ask me About Bikram Yoga" shirts. I'd buy one!!

bikramyogachick said...

Ah....yoga filled days! I know I have crossed over into total yoga dorkness because I was totally jealous reading this post. To me, it sounds like the perfect day! :)

Lady Yogaga said...

okay, ditto bikramyogicheryl- i want a shirt too!

and ditto bikramyogachick- sounds like the perfect day to me too! i'm so jeal.

J- i cannot wait to hear all about your adventures at TT! you're going to be fabulous!

thedancingj said...

Thanks everyone, and yes, I will try to blog weekly from training. :)

Beth - You just made me laugh SO HARD. In fact, I read your comment right before I took class this morning, and I was so sore during half moon, but I kept thinking of your story and it made me laugh instead of cry. "Yes, exactly." HYSTERICAL. I think we'll be a good team at training, cause I can yell at him until he does his work, and then he can make me laugh until I cry, and we both will get through!!

Virginie - Thanks!! Maybe one of these days I'll get to come visit down under... but in a year or two, once I've actually gotten GOOD! ;-)

hannah - Um, yeah. It's insane.

ariella - Mere mortals? Oh, please... I was just clever enough to quit my "job" (i.e. grad school) back in December and have only been working part time since then, so I've had PLENTY of time to geek out over yoga!! By the way... TRUST THE PROCESS.

LB - HOORAY! You HAVE to look me up. Of course I will be teaching!!

cheryl - Take the shirt idea and run with it! Hehe. So many good ideas, so little time!

BYC - Yep - you are a yoga dork. It's a done deal. Sorry bout that. ;-)

ladyyogaga - I will keep you in the loop, and I so can't wait to come back and visit NoHo as a teacher!

cirita said...

TT just around the corner :-) I'd also buy the "Ask me About Bikram Yoga" shirt. Looking forward to your postings from TT.

KatieO said...

You radiate. You should get the tee shirts made up but you don't need one. Someone else doing yoga on the sidewalk might get people to walk in a careful wide circle around them. For you, you are a magnet. You, m'dear, are a natural leader. I mean, even people who haven't met you, even someone in Australia, for goodness sake, want to be in your class. You make a mama proud.
Are you in the high school this week? A trickier audience!!!