The Dialogue

The essence of Bikram yoga, and what makes it different from other forms of yoga, is the dialogue. Each class is the same 26 postures and two breathing exercises that follow a set dialogue, in a set order. The instructor does not demonstrate the postures they guide students through verbally, using the dialogue. 

One of the main tasks in teacher training is obviously we have to learn the dialogue and present it to the training staff. How can we expect to be Bikram Yoga teachers if we don't know the dialogue. It's a given, we must get down with it. Some people will find this harder than others, like some with struggle with practice more than others. We are all different & we must not compare or judge. We are all equals in this game with different strengths or weaknesses. We are unique or life would be pretty boring.

Being a girly swat as I am I couldn't wait to get learning it. I am lucky to be academically minded which has helped me so far with studying the vast expanse that is the dialogue. For training we have to know if verbatim, word for word as it is written. Yes the grammar is a little out there, sometimes it doesn't make sense to say the words in the order it is presented but it works for the class. 

Myself and my BYJ training buddy have been having weekly posture clinics with our director as well as having the opportunity to present certain postures to real life classes. This has been invaluable experience.

Yesterday we ran through everything we'd learned so far. I have exceeded my goal of learning all the standing series before the 15th September. Well, I still have to learn tree and toe stand but with 6 and a half weeks to go I think I should have that down. My new target is to get some of the floor learned too. It was great to run straight through from Half Moon to Standing Separate leg Head to Knee pose. I was a little scratchy at the latter as I'd only spent five hours on it. 

My main feedback was to slow down. I am pretty comfortable with the warm up series so was belting it out at top speed. Saying it too fast will have the students in a flap and they'll feel rushed if the words are flying out at them too quickly. As we are not concerned about timing the class yet we need not to stress. We need  to know this verbatim and present with passion and character. Timing is something we will learn on our return under the guidance of our mentors. On the job learning.

It's so exciting! I'm really pleased with my efforts. I just hope everything I've learned doesn't fall out my head come September.

More from the seminar

Now I have come to realise it's all about progression and not striving to be perfect I am happy to map my progress and set intentions. I will try very hard not to get hung up on it and make sure I stay present and enjoy each individual class at a time. Some people may think I should let all this go, stop analysing full stop. But I like it, that's me, that's what I do.

I've just received some more photo's from the March seminar with Craig Villani. Studying these photos is like having a tutorial. I can see where I am going wrong and what I need to focus on so I do the posture in the 100% right way to get the full benefits. We all know the Bikram saying, 90% right is 100% wrong. By visually seeing yourself in a photo you can learn a lot. In class some of the postures are impossible to see if you're doing them correctly as you can't see yourself in the mirror, Rabbit for example. 

Back to Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose. (Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Paschimotthanasa)

This photo shows the correct alignment for this posture. Very inspirational. Even if this is 'perfect' there is more ways of still learning and progressing. People who find this easy are told to bring their feet closer together. Does it get to the point where your feet are only head width apart? My biggest aim, apart from forehead touching the floor, is to keep my forearms and elbows close to my shins, like above.

Here's me again. My main issue is those forearms. My left one looks close but the right isn't. This was the major feedback here. I have to keep trying to pull those arms back, roll my weight forward into my toes and keep pulling to stretch out and flatten my back. Then one day that head will touch with the correct alignment.

 Here those arms have flung forward again. My head isn't too far off touching without my legs being miles and miles apart. My back needs to be flatter too.

I totally lost the plot here at the end. Laughing kicked in when I was told to whistle. It was a great honour to have been picked out for some one of one tuition. Despite being told a record five times to "get my arms back with my shins." Lot's of room for progression.

Perfection or Progression?

So much for leisurely lie in's this public holiday. Monday morning and I was wide awake at 5am, only 20 minutes longer than I would be if it was a work day with 5:45am yoga! I think I am well rested and relaxed enough now that I don't need the extra sleep. Another positive effect of my Bikram practice. This leaves more time to hydrate & eat before the 9am class. And catch up on some writing.

I read some very inspirational words last week from J over at Lock the Knee. The post highlighted our desire to be perfect. J beautifully pointed out a down side to this:   

"Here's one thing about perfect: you have no place to go. You can't get any feedback. You're dead in the water, no place to swim"  

You've reached the peak, you can't get better than perfect and where to go next? Later in the post is a quote from on of J's student; 

"if you think you're "perfect," if you're always "doing it right," then you can't learn, but if you're just "practicing," then you can keep adjusting and taking in new information"

We are always being told yoga practice is a journey and 'it's yoga practice, not yoga perfect.' These quotes reiterate this theory. I couldn't think of anything worse than this journey ending. You've mastered all 26 postures that's it your done, you no longer can do this. I can safely say that will never happen! Every day if so different, you may pull of a near 'perfect' posture today but then tomorrow not come close. 

Instead of getting hung up over being perfect I will enjoy and relish the slow progression I am making in postures. This may be a contradiction now but if I didn't have a focus or an aim I'd just be going through the motions. I need to set targets or I don't push myself hard enough. I need that inner voice telling me I'm close and I can go that inch further. But not towards perfection, just the natural progress.