Friendship Is Still Liking the Person After They Torture You

Bikram Yoga, Day 12

I convinced one of my friends that I go hiking with to go to yoga with me today. Since the guy that owns the studio I normally go to also owns one that is closer to my friend (and not too much further from the one I go too in terms of drive time), we went to the one closer to her.

It was a ROUGH day for me at yoga. I don't know if it was because my back has been so awful this week, I haven't been to yoga in a week, this studio seemed WAY hotter than the one I normally go to, I was dehydrated this morning (if you don't know what method I use to figure that out, I'm not telling you in the interests of you probably don't actually want to know), or I seem to have a cold coming on and my nose is stuffed up, but whoa.

It was probably some combination of everything.

The teacher was awesome though--the best female teacher I've had so far.

The good news about today's class was that in eagle pose I actually managed to slightly interlock my fingers for the first time (for those of you unfamiliar, it means that I was able to twist my arms into the pose better).

The bad news is that it was the first time I felt utterly lightheaded and like I just wasn't going to make it through the class. I just sat for awhile, unable to participate in the poses. After a few poses like that, the instructor came by and whispered, "Are you okay?"

One of the things that is REALLY stressed for Bikram yoga is that you STAY. IN. THE. ROOM. I honestly don't know all of the principles behind it, but it is distracting when people leave, it can release the heat of the room, and for yourself, you still get the benefit if you can "hang in there" and rejoin the poses when can.

So my response to the instructor was, "I'm just trying to stay in the room right now."

She smiled at me like I'd given her the right answer and left me alone.

One of the other things about Bikram Yoga is that the instructors don't do the poses or demonstrate anything (usually--I've had one class where an instructor demonstrated a pose and it was mostly because the whole class was falling all over the place and he was demonstrating techniques for adjusting balance on it). Instead of demonstrations, they verbally describe everything you are supposed to do: where to move, where to focus your eyes, what muscles to tighten--everything.

They will offer pose corrections and frequently help out individuals who are struggling, but they don't slow down the class (or speed it up) depending on the skill level. Essentially it is the same exact class, every single time. The only differences are slight in how the instructors relay information or give encouragement. Also, whenever there are brand new students to yoga, they make sure to give them special attention and encouragement (as well as have the whole class clap for them at the end, which is really nice).

Part of what made me like this instructor was that near the end of class, she said, "I bet you two new people are really loving your so-called friends right now for dragging you here."

It got a good laugh--especially from my friend, who did sign up for the one month special.

Afterward, she came over to my home and I gave her a massage. I owed her one. We decided to set up a weekly trade, which we both need.

I gave two other massages later in the day.

I guess I'll know tomorrow if it's giving massages that hurts my back or if I was right to blame it on the laundry the other day.