Advanced Seminar - Day 1

I'll get this out of the way first.  I signed up for Bikram's Advanced training one night with the encouragement of my husband. It was the time of night that most infomercials are on the TV and they trick you into giving your credit card number and buying a lifetime supply of some make-your-life-better potion.

I was hesitant but my husband was very persistent..... "just do it" - "you keep talking about going, so just sign up and go" - so I did.  Then the next day I had "buyer's remorse".  I turned into a big chicken and all of those fears and excuses bombarded my brain.  You know the kind..... my triangle sucks, I'm not strong enough, what if I die, etc.  I've seriously been working myself into a tizzy with all these crazy thoughts for the last couple of months.

Now, I'm here and I have finished Day 1 of Advanced training. AND I'M STILL ALIVE!  From about 8:30 until 1:30 we were under Bikram's direction.  To be quite honest, the Beginning Series was harder than the Advanced for me today.  With 3 sets of triangle and a couple of corrections from Boss himself, it was one of my hardest classes to date.  I know I say that a lot but I'm serious this time.

With all of the scary thoughts, and thinking I'm going to die in class.... I really am glad I'm here.  Wanna know why???
Reason 1:  I can do more than I think I can.  Example:  just when I was ready to sit down and give up (there were a couple of people down already and I was thinking this was a great idea), Bikram said that anyone who sits down again would be out of Advanced seminar and could not come back.  People, I don't know where the strength came from but I was in the 3rd set of triangle like nobody's business.  I know he just said this to make us dig deep and keep going - he really wouldn't have kicked anyone out (would he?).  I wouldn't have wanted to test it.
Reason 2:  Ruth and Paul.  I met Ruth in Dallas while she was visiting Dallas and teaching for BYD for a few weeks about 3 years ago.  Then I met her again when she came out to support her boyfriend, Paul, who was in my group at Teacher Training.  Paul was at Teacher Training because the yoga helped him with his back after a horrific construction accident where he fell 80 feet and broke his back.  Well, he has cancer now and is in hospice.  Although it was a very sad reunion for me and Ruth, I'm glad we are both here this week.

I'll have more reasons tomorrow...... like seeing some more of my friends from Teacher Training.  Stay tuned!