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.