The Bhagava Gita...

It's actually a great story/poem [I have it on CD], but watching the movie until 3:30 this morning, it is really hard to read the English subtitles with your eyes closed and the rest of you curled up on two chairs pushed together.

Just stay on the mat and don't puke!

That was my mantra for this evening's class!! It was the first time EVER, at the 2-minute savasana [dead-body pose] that I needed to just lay there for the rest of the class. I should have known better than to have a NutriiVeda protein shake at 4:30 just before the 5 o'clock class.

Until this class, there has been problems with the heat - like, there hasn't been any!! Temperature was, I'm guessing, around +30 C. You could break out into a little sweat, but for Eagle pose, your ankle just sticks to your leg instead of wrapping around. You had to be very careful how far you go into postures.

Bikram decided he wanted to scare the hotel management, so last night after the 5 pm class, he announced he was cancelling the 8:30 am class and we would party all night [ie watch a Bollywood movie!] and then sleep in in the morning! So that's what we did!! We got to bed at 3 this morning. It has begun... :)

He told us today that the hotel owner fired the manager, and now one of Bikram's buddy's of 20 years in managing the hotel. So the temperature in the room tonight was +140 F.!!! I just checked online and that translates to +60 Celsius! This new guy really, reallllllly wants to keep his job!! lol

Anyway, I made it through the class, and felt good about not puking lol and learned that for the evening class, because we don't get out of lecture until 4 pm, that I don't have time to digest anything like the shake. Have it after the class, Shirley!

That's all for now. Gotta run and listen to another 100 people recite dialogue...unless there's another movie...yes!

Half Moon Pose DONE!!!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the process, we are required to recite Half Moon Pose, the first posture, up on the stage in front of Bikram. That started Tuesday afternoon. And then another session, Tuesday evening. That's when Lisa, Leanne, and Aimee did theirs, and they all did great! Like them, I just wanted to get it over with so I got to the lecture tent early on Wednesday afternoon, and jumped in the queue as soon as they said 'go!' and was 5th in line. Below are pictures of me as I went through the process, from being on the side waiting [and ready to puke!] to walking across the stage and announcing myself and where I am from, doing the dialogue, then waiting for the verdict. Once you are done, you move into the line and demonstate for the next one.

I started off really good, went totally blank about 1/2 way through, and stood there frozen! Luckily, the crowd yells out the next line, and I had a good finish. Bikram's verdict..."You did good, really good. You are nice, people will like you." Whew! I felt so good!

Thank God that's over with now, I can now move on and get to memorizing other postures.

The Circus Tents

Thought you all might like to see our home for the next 9 weeks. This picture was taken from the glass elevator we get to ride every day, several times a day! Note that 'elevator' is not plural! Yes, only one elevator for 302 students.

On the right is the Yoga Tent where we practice twice a day for 90 minutes each. On the left is the Lecture Tent, and behind it are the port-a-potty trailers! You can't get much better than that! lol Bikram mentioned in class tonight he was going to be in Vegas for the whole three months because they are building a permanent studio here where the tennis courts now are, and he needs to be here to supervise the construction. How lucky for us. :)

First Class - Yay!!

It was a pretty relaxing day today. They are taking it easy on us this first week to let us get settled in. We didn't have to be at the lecture tent until 10 am and met THE MAN himself today - Bikram Choudhury! He is wise, witty, irreverent, entertaining, crude, and...brilliant! How can you not like him?!?!

We were out of the lecture by 1 pm, so we [myself, Aimee, Natasha - Aimee's roommate, Leanne, Sharon] to take a quick trip to Walmart's Super Center to get some groceries before our first yoga class at 5 pm. And yes, I broke my rule of not shopping at Walmart!! We were in & out of there by 2:30 and back to the hotel by 3...I am sooo glad I have my Escape here.

Bikram taught the first class. I believe that is a tradition. They are still doing adjustments to the heating system, so it was not very hot in there. In fact, once you started doing some of the poses, it actually felt cold. At orientation, they tell us to take it easy the first few classes to ease into it. That advise was easy to follow today!

No lecture after class today, so Aimee came up to my room and we studied dialogue.

Registration & Orientation

All that build-up for registration, and we walk in to the lecture tent [and I mean tent!] and at one desk, you sign your name, at another you get a binder, at another you get a book, and done! Wow, that was easy :) That was at 1 pm on Sunday. We went back at 3 pm for an introductory orientation session led by Rajashree, Bikram's wife. What a beautiful woman, inside and out. I'd post a picture, but it is against the rules, so I won't!

That evening, the hotel hosted a banquet for the 300 of us in one of the ballrooms. VERY nice - our last chance at a free meal! From now on it's illicit rice pots [thanks, Mel!] and cookers...shhhhh!

Pictures

Viva Las Vegas!

My first stop before the hotel was the Radio Shack at the Meadows Mall. I had pre-entered the address in my GPS, as it was the place to get a WiFi for my laptop. $60 for the gizmo, $35 setup, and $40/mo unlimited internet use! It is soooo worth it for me to be able to use the computer in my room and not have to go find a hotspot somewhere.

Next stop...the Hilton, my home for the next 9 weeks. I pulled up to the valet parking and let the dudes unload my car. My valet ticket said 15 pieces!! lol That's hilarious, a record for me! In all fairness, not all of that was mine. I brought Aimee and Lisa's yoga mats and some of their heavier stuff with me so they could lighten their load for the plane.

I checked in with no problem, except they didn't have the Bikram package ready for me yet. Apparently, we are getting a $600 gift card to use towards restaurants here in the Hilton. That will be a big help.

So my room is on the 20th floor and it is great! I have posted some pictures below. Beautiful view of the mountains and golf course. I found Leanne and Aimee and they came up to my room for a visit while we waited for Sharon, Lisa and Michelle to arrive. We kept saying "I can't believe I'm here!"

We are all here now. Michelle and Lisa crashed with me and Leanne, Aimee & Sharon are staying together until registration on Sunday and they all get their assigned rooms. Leanne & Sharon will be roommates.

So that's it for now. Today is Registration Day!! Getting butterfies in my stomach...

Nice day for a drive

Well, I managed to get away from Westlock by 11 am on Thursday. I had my last Tim Horton's coffee in Red Deer, and was at friends Leslie & Jim's in Claresholm by 4:30ish. We hadn't seen each other for probably 20 years, but we picked up the conversation like it was only a couple of years ago...funny how that works with "old" friends. And the other funny thing is we look exactly like we did twenty years ago - other than the different coloured hair and the reading glasses! lol It was a great little fast visit for an hour. I had my last glass of wine for 9 weeks. [Bikram rule - no alcohol].

My next stop was for a sleep-over at friends Laura-Marie & Bruce in Warner [about an hour north of the Coutts border]. The last time I was at their place, we decided, was in 1988! Again, a wonderful, albeit fast visit. I was up and gone by 8:30 and at the US border by 9:30. There was hardly a line-up at all, maybe ten vehicles ahead of me. When it came to my turn, I breezed right through! They didn't even open up the back. When asked what I would be doing in the US, I replied that I was going for yoga training. The Customs guy laughed and said "that's a first for me!"

Now I feel like I am really on the road - 18 hours ahead of me!! I folded the dialogue for Standing Bow Pulling Pose in half and propped it in front of my speedometer. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Bikram, we need to memorize the dialogue for all 26 postures, with each dialogue being about a page long. And believe me, that is not that easy for a mental-pausal brain!!

So I memorized Standing Bow Pulling Pose through Montana and 1/2 of Balancing Stick through Idaho and part of Utah before it started getting dark. I popped in a CD book [thanks Colleen & Phyllis for lending them to me] and drove until my eyes said it was time to stop at 8 pm...and that was in Ogden, Utah - about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City.

On the road Saturday morning by 9 am. I finished Balancing Stick by the time I hit the Arizona border, and propped up Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose. And then I was in Las Vegas - wha-hooooo!