A Sweaty Adventure: A great weekend in the learning pool of knowledge

Perth was very blessed this past weekend and extremely happy to host Bikram senior instructor Craig Villani. Craig first visited us last March for an epic one day seminar and class. It was a long, long day and class was not in the heated room, making things a little less authentic. This year each of the four studios were hosting their own 2 hour comprehensive master class. Open to all levels of students of course.

Luckily I managed not to get myself in the same state of sickness as last year, ie. migraine brought on by sheer over excitement & bad hydration. I was a lot more centred but very eager for the event in hand.

This year I was so honored to be part of the teacher's workshop & question/answer session that was held the day before the workshop. This man has so much experience & knowledge of Bikram yoga I was ready to tap into it. I'd pulled a crazy again, teaching the 7:30pm Thursday and then the 5:45am Friday. Slight fatigue might have helped calm me down but lead to a not so good practice.

We were killed. In a happy, smiling way of course & I actually am hugely thankful for the ass kicking, I needed it. Half Moon lasted about 5 minutes each side or so it felt like. I think I went through every emotion in that two plus something hours. I was quite grateful for my dysfunctional tear ducts at one point, as I quite possibly could have shed a few, especially after my abysmal Awkward Part 2 for which I was called out for, had corrections directed at but then failed completely. I felt I was letting down all my students and I was no way in possession of a strong enough practice to be calling myself a teacher.

I got over it, kind of, once we were in the change rooms slugging Powerade & all looking wrecked. Relief it wasn't just me holding my heart in my sweaty hand. Especially as I know deep down & I tell the students this, it is a PRACTICE not a PERFECT. I managed to redeem myself in the Q & A by asking some posture questions that I needed clarifying. Kicking myself now for not actually preparing for this session by writing them down before hand. I have so many questions & of course when put on the spot one's mind goes blank.

The student workshop on Saturday morning at BYJ was great also. I hid in the back row in a great spot near the air vent (well not really hiding, Craig could still see us all). Nice packed room of 50 something teachers & students. It was steamy, humid and highly energised. Loved it! Every muscle was burning from the previous day's class. I tried my best but still failed at Awkward, I now have a blockage on that posture I need to let go of. I could blame the calcified sesamoid bone in my right foot but it's an old injury that doesn't flair up that often, even though it can cause me pain in this posture.

It was brilliant to be a teacher at this workshop. To be fair I wasn't 100% focused on my practice as I was paying close at to the corrections the students were receiving. I was thinking 'great that's really helping Jane, I needed to know how to help her get to the next stage in that posture, will look out for this next time I teach her.' The way Craig dealt with small issues like hands on hips or racing ahead of the instructions was great, something I will try & adopt. I know I'll be reviewing my notes from this weekend most often!

The students had a ball. No one was disappointed. We sold a lot of Coconut water after class. I learned so, so much. The students learned so, so much. I feel so blessed to be part of an amazing local community of yogis as well as an International one. Excellent weekend all round!

Here's some photos....