All shook up

The participants are so helpful and caring here. I’m still struggling with names, but people you don’t even know are honestly pulling for you. They know exactly what you are experiencing and really, really want you to succeed. I can see where they say you make lifelong friends here. I stop and think that there were 3oo people in the world that decided to undertake this challenge and each and every day, regardless of the language you speak or your country of origin, these people are pulling for you. It’s funny, at one point in week 2 we had a voice coach speak and she had people come up on stage and talk. When I got up I said that I had decided to seek out struggling people so I could give them a kind word and a touch because a couple of people had done that for me and I could not believe the difference it made. Now, if an instance where I struggle arises (which seems to be getting further and further apart), it seems that from somewhere I’ll get a simple touch on the arm or leg from some direction that refocuses my efforts. It’s really cool that people responded in that fashion! I wonder if people are touching each other like that all over the yoga room? I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that after my last cramping episode, Patrice noticed how zapped I was at breakfast and gave me a little coin about the size of a quarter. It was a very sweet gesture as the coin had an angel on one side and the words “you’re never alone” on the other side. It seemed like I held it in my clinched fist for several hours after she had given it to me. She said several days later at dinner that I should feel free to pass it on and that is exactly what I intend on doing the next time I see someone experiencing what I was going through! Thanks Patrice!

Mary read my blog and said that the toilet in their room was not the way that I had described the one in our room. While studying dialogue I noticed she was indeed correct in her observation and we called guest services. The one in our room was fixed and now works great. I do not want to give Mexico a bad reputation when it comes to “the flush”. Speaking of the toilet, my stomach seems to have settled down quite a bit and while I don’t want to put the whammy on myself, I feel as if I may be over the hump in this regard.

We took Craig’s class again on Saturday morning and everyone sort of had a look of dread and fear on their faces as he entered the room to begin class. They were already anticipating his extra long rendition of awkward pose and his military like pace. I told Mary and Patrice last night at dinner that Craig can’t break me in this posture. I actually held his awkward for the entire time on the first set and fell out just prior to him saying change on the second. He seems to hold the second part of the pose the longest and as people fall out he then “strongly encourages” you to get back in the posture and keep your hands up. He’ll wait and wait and wait before he moves on. It seems like it takes forever and at some point before we leave here I would like to take the opportunity to ask him exactly what his thinking is behind the way he teaches this posture. In all honestly, awkward is the only pose I have ever felt like I could do half way decent even from the time I first stared to practice. My thighs are quite strong and I’m hoping to be able to hold this posture for him a number of times by the completion of our training here.

I’m going to try to get ahead here this weekend with postures and we still have the second half of our anatomy test to complete on Monday, so again anatomy and memorization are on the schedule for Sunday. I would like to have 3 more postures down and know the anatomy fairly well. Incidentally, I only missed 2 questions on the first half so I have a bit of a cushion here on the second part. I did however struggle this week during lectures so I have to study a bit harder. Memorizing the dialogue has been a bit tough and I want to emphasize to anyone who is looking into Bikram’s teacher training what a different experience you will have should you be well versed in the dialogue prior to your arrival. I’m still attempting to find the learning method I respond best to. I am quite fortunate that my “delivery” is something that I don’t have to worry too much about. It’s getting it into my head where I struggle. Everyone who has commented on my dialogue seems to think I have done just great, but when you are standing up there, seconds feel like hours and you are just certain you have missed huge chunks of the dialogue. They say it gets easier and again I am putting faith in the process and have decided to let it go and not get myself all work up. I feel like I’m in high school again and feel quite uncomfortable with the whole “learning process”.

I ate like a horse again this weekend both at dinner on Saturday evening as well as breakfast on Sunday morning. I drank a lot of fluids as well and hope that it works out better for me this week than it did on the second weekend heading into week 3! We shall see what the future holds but for now I actually feel pretty good. I slept very heavy last night (Saturday) and woke up somewhat in a daze with a bit of a sore body that was relieved a bit after a hot shower and a shave. I can’t tell you how good shaving feels after “letting yourself go” for several days. At home I shave in the shower and can’t wait to have the warm water soften my beard and then glide the blade over my skin to clean away the facial hair and leave my skin as soft as a babies bottom! It’s weird to describe shaving like that but it feels quite odd when your regular routine gets disturbed. Standing in front of a mirror and shaving after your shower is just not as good when it comes to getting a smooth, clean shave. Perhaps I’ll talk to our maid tomorrow. We had a chat with her last week and after we tipped her she brought us in some clothesline and pins from her house to hang our wet laundry on out on the balcony. It works great! Perhaps she has a mirror for my shower as well. For now, I’m just letting the gray grow and if I really feel I need a shave I use my electric!

I was informed at breakfast this morning that another defection has taken place. A girl just suddenly disappeared without word. She just packed her bags and left without talking to anyone. Someone who knew her but was not rooming with her was the first to discover what had happened. I can’t imagine many more people bolting as this starts the fourth week of our training here, but you never know what people are thinking. Everyone here has their own demons to grapple with and they can be extremely frightening and at the same time rather convincing. While I feel for her and hope everything works out for her, I simply cannot get to involved in the drama of another person’s experience. I have enough of my own to handle without overloading which it seems is always just one fragile moment away.

I was just talking to Robin on the phone here Sunday night (19:15) and we experienced for the second time during my stay here another earthquake. This felt as if it lasted much longer than the first one we experienced but seemed to me to be about the same in it’s intensity. I was also told that an early morning tremor hit Saturday around 3:00 am, which I did not feel. Here’s the official word:

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A moderate earthquake has rattled Mexico, but no major injuries or damages have been reported. The U.S. Geological Center has given the quake a preliminary magnitude of 5.8. It was centered 96 miles (154 kilometers) north of Acapulco. Sunday's quake caused office buildings to sway and sent many frightened residents into the streets of the capital, Mexico City.