Saturday and Sunday classes were both spent laboring away in the hot, humid "small room". I was looking forward to today because I knew that I'd go to 5pm yoga with my favorite (Dray) and it would be in the less humid more tolerable "big room". I will never seek out the big room permanently (odd hour classes are in that room) as I don't want to get complacent, but sometimes, that small room just kicks my ass and I need a break from it.
I found the picture on the right on the Bikram teacher training blog that I followed this spring. Its actually a t-shirt they were selling at training. I think its cute! Camel is a posture that I both love and hate. Love because it was the first posture I could get into, hate because of the way it makes me feel sometimes (nauseous!). Anyway, I digress. I posted the pic because I had a breakthrough in camel today. The dialog in camel talks about holding tightly to your heels so you don't fling forward. I've never really understood that concept, as I was still putting some weight on my heels via my arms. I always push my hips forward, but never enough to shift the weight. Today, I pushed my hips forward to the point I normally do, then out of nowhere, I found myself really listening to the teacher and pushing my hips forward even more and more and more until suddenly I was gripping my heels for dear life or I would fling forward! Wow! What a feeling! It was literally exhilarating!
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI had my Camel epiphany back Oct. 13, 2007...This is a excerpt from my post - it is a complex and amazing posture!
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October 13, 2007
Today, during the pose Camel - (you're up on your knees, put your hands on your back as if you were going to put your hands in your back pocket. Then, you lean back, ultimately placing your hands on your heels and doing a pretty deep back bend. Push your hips forward, pull your chest up to the ceiling. Oy, it's one of the two "crowning" poses of the series....see photo) Robert, the instructor, said, "If you're an introvert, this pose is...um, good for you." Not being an introvert, I still perked up to hear why as I'm semi-obsessed with introvert/extrovert dynamics, mainly because I'm a banner extrovert (I know, shocking!). He went on, "This pose forces you to extrovert - it makes you lean back into an unknown you can't see and put yourself out there...and that requires a lot of trust." Huh.
Well, this extrovert is here to say at that moment, the whole posture made more sense to me too! What's funny is I LOVED Camel before my plastic surgery; since, I've hardly been able to let myself do it. Fear. Afraid I can't, or that I will crack in half, or some other excuse... On the second set (he made this comment after the first), I just let myself trust it.
My stomach will not tear in half.
I will not fall backwards.
I will not blackout (completely, anyhow)
I am super flexible.
I used to be able to do this really well.
I can hold it.
I can get back up.
And you know what, I did.
I think my point is that being in touch with your body, and connecting it to what is going on for you emotionally, is a challenge whether introvert or extrovert I think - the difference is where that processing occurs. Yoga - and Bikram in particular - is proving to become serious practice for me working out so much shit in my life, because somehow it makes you think about the bigger picture, even though all you really have to do is lean back and grab your heels; it really is a much bigger thing than that - if you're not afraid of it and let it happen. How much in your life does that apply to? I can list about 20 right here, right now...
That's what I'll be working on for the next bit. Eventually, I want weight loss/maintenance to be the by-product of doing Bikram, not my driving force getting me there. It'll be interesting to see where it takes me once I get to that point. Meanwhile, the weight loss drive is getting me there - and whatever works, I'm going with it!