Those Old Bikram Days

In yoga yesterday the topic of Bikram came up during Eagle pose, and several of us admitted that we had gone through what the teacher called "those old Bikram days." After Dad died, I went to a lot of Bikram, and found great comfort in the super hot room, the always constant set of postures, and the drill sergeant (at least for yoga) style of the teachers. The mirrors (if you've never been, you spend the first 45 minutes of the series watching yourself do poses in the mirror at the front of the class) were also, in a wierd way, good for me. As a woman with some body issues, it was nice to be looking at myself in a mirror positively thinking "look at the cool stuff I can do." But (inevitably, it now seems) one day the class seemed really oppressive, and after that class I've only been back a few times. I guess that there's a time for being in a room where you can only think about yourself, and then there isn't.

That sounds awfully dismissive of the practice, and I don't really mean to be. It's certainly physically challenging, I just wasn't able to make the spiritual connection. I think a good friend just had her falling out with Bikram, and she's asked me to suggest what style to try next. I love introducing people to yoga (I actually took her to her first Bikram class, poor dear), and I'm excited to go down this path with her a bit.

For those of you in the Austin area that are still digging Bikram (and I know there are lots of you, cause man is it hard to get into the 4 pm Saturday class at Yoga Groove), Rajashree is coming back to The Crossings this month.