Day 32: Yoga Community and Brandy Believes

I found another blog (listed below, 60 in 60) and the woman doing the challenge started the same day as me!  What is even more cool, if you go back to my "love your camel" post you will remember I mentioned a t-shirt that was being sold at teacher training and I included a photo of the logo.  Well, the person writing the blog I found goes to the studio that came up with the shirt design and sells them.  Not only that, she has been reading Jenn's teacher training blog (the other blog listed below) just like me.  She also is going to teacher training someday like me.  She is going sooner (next spring- good luck K!).  The bikram yoga community is awesome.  Anywhere you go to practice the people are amazing, the teachers are amazing, I just love it.

So back to my challenge.  Today was 5pm with Brandy.  For those of you new to my blog, Brandy is one of our best teachers.  She has an amazing practice herself and really lays it on us when she is teaching.  She is young, beautiful, nice and a HARDASS.  The thing is, she brings tough love to the room with kindness.  She teaches how I would picture Rajasharee teaching, you get your ass kicked but at the end of the class you still love the teacher.  Brandy also teaches the advanced class, is involved with preparing people for the yoga regional championships and just got back from helping out at the last teacher training.  

So tonight I got a good dose of Brandy, and boy did I need it.  I worked as hard as I could and really pushed it to the edge.  I kicked out in standing head to knee and she coached me to start bending my elbows down.  I was thinking "really? I'm just starting to kick out, and not every time".  Then I realized after class what was so wonderful about that.  Brandy believes I will bend my elbows down and touch my head to my knee.  I don't believe that.  I can't see it.  I don't have that kind of faith in myself.  That's what Brandy brings into that room, belief in each and every one of us, even when we don't believe in ourselves.  In standing bow pulling pose she coached me to get my body down, touch the mirror, body down Michelle, body down.  Here I am thinking "wait, I am just trying to see if I can beat my norm of staying in this thing for 15 to 20 seconds, I didn't think I should be trying to find my edge yet."  Again, I get all stuck in my mind and in my habits.  So I did what she said and went to my edge.....and fell forward!  I have never fallen forward out of standing bow.  Always to the side or to the back.  She said "good, that's what you want".  There were only 10 of us tonight, no newbies, so we were all getting this kind of coaching from her all while she is doing perfect dialog.  It was amazing.  

Laying in the 2 minute savasana, wiped out from the standing series, I was thinking to myself "hmmm, my post can be labeled something like 'feeling like a wet rag' or 'beat up' or 'wiped out'" but that is not how I felt after class.  I felt....rejuvenated.