Monday started out in grand fashion as I actually felt pretty good taking into consideration that we did not participate in a class yesterday and several of my body parts are a bit creaky and stiff! Again the thought crosses my mind that I should be taking the Sunday class and this week I intend on doing my best to motivate myself to do just that. We’ll see how that works out later in the week.
There seemed to be a buzz in the air in anticipation of Bikram’s return sometime today, if the rumors were correct. Would Bikram be teaching the evening class, would he lecture tonight or would we have posture clinics and what would he think about the condition of the group as a whole since he had not seen us in a couple of weeks? One never knows what is next and I gave up some time ago trying to anticipate what was around the corner. ”Stop attempting to steer the boat and just enjoy the ride” is what someone had already suggested. While that is sound advise, it’s easier said than done.
Class was strong and went at a great pace. Just before final savasana (the last posture of class), Craig came up to the podium and announced that a death had occurred in Bishnu Gosh’s family (Bikram’s guru) several hours earlier. Bikram had called and relayed the information that Biswanath Ghosh (Bisu), son of the late Bishnu Charan Ghosh, who was apparently instrumental in Bikram’s early training and development, as well as a close friend, had passed away. At Bikram’s request the announcement was made prior to final savasana and we were not to have class or lectures for the remainder of the day. Everyone was sort of stunned and I can’t tell you how glad I was that some psycho didn’t start to applaud because he/she was relieved that they did not have to participate in a second class this day. We all stayed a bit longer in savasana and attempted to send Bikram, Rajashee and the family members of this gentleman our sincerest condolences and best wishes.
There’s a rather odd dichotomy at work here. On one hand your body rejoices at the opportunity to heal, both with nutrition as well as rest, and yet at the same time it’s like being announced the winner in some sporting event against your rival via default because he was injured and unable to perform. No true competitor wants to win like that. I myself would much rather see Bikram here, tonight, teaching our class and jumping around on his platform as he urges us on. He’s quite the showman and no one teaches a class like he does! I’ll take every one I can get from him during these 9 weeks regardless of how tough they are or what he asks us to do. I picture him in my minds eye treating us to demonstrations like standing on his two big toes prior to Awkward or regaling us with stories about his past feats. What does this do to Bikram’s return? Will he be flying around the world to attend whatever final arrangements the family has planned and will that delay his return here to Acapulco? No one knows or at least that information was not immediately shared with us. We have been spoiled up to this point with the amount of time we have had to interact with him. I believe I wrote earlier that Bikram himself reminded us he normally does not spend this much time with the teacher trainees and certainly had not taught as many classes in the opening weeks before. I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that we all hope his return is not to far off in the future. We miss him greatly!
Happy birthday Judy...
