Tenacity

Bikram Yoga retreat in Manzanillo, Mexico

My wife, Wendy, and I just returned from a week’s Bikram Yoga retreat at the beautiful Punta Serena Spa and Resort in Manzanillo, Mexico. The retreat was hosted by Bruce Kessler and featured international yoga champion Courtney Mace and Leticia, owner of the Bikram Yoga studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

We had a great time in Mexico – and it was nice for me to be able to put aside (at least some of the time) the court struggles I’ve had with my stepmother for custody of my father (who has later stages Alzheimer’s). I did 2 classes a day four of the days and Wendy, did them 3 of the days – and we both did at least one class every day. Wendy and I both took lots of sodium tablets and drank tomato juices laced with salt (and lime), so our hydration & minerals were much more in balance than the week of advanced training we took last June in Las Vegas.

 
    There were 22 students, but only 3 men so we were really outnumbered. One of the guys won the hula contest one night at the resort. He also won the Most Improved Award – and probably dropped a good 10 pounds during the week. He invited us all to his place for Mexican food in NY, so we may take him up on that some time. I was probably the 3rd oldest person there, but as you can tell from the photo – even though I turn 54 this month, I still have the body of a 52 year old.

   It was an amazingly beautiful place with quite good food, though some of the amenities were not quite up to U.S. standards. And despite covering myself with both Deet-based and natural insect repellents, I single-handedly fed most of the area’s mosquito population.  Even though Wendy didn’t use any repellent of either kind, she only donated a drop of blood to two tiny mosquitoes that were already full from feasting on me.

 
   Although Wendy is far, far more competitive than me in these types of things, I think everyone who attended would agree that my yoga percentage improvement was higher than hers. For those of you who know Bikram, you can see my posture is one of the 26: the Awkward Pose. This is my best posture, although I admit I don’t quite do it correctly.  Still, at least I did a real posture. Wendy’s posture on the other hand, is clearly just a fancy gymnastics split while holding her hands in prayer position. The Bikram instructors were impressed, but they’ve probably been too busy with yoga to ever watch gymnastics.

Courtney Mace performed some phenomonal postures for us. She got distracted in her final class, though, because she could see the naked men out by the pool. It was clothing optional, but I did manage to convince Wendy to keep her bathing suit on (at least while I was around). During our last class, a few dolphins were swimming in the waves outside and visible from the studio room which was a really cool way to end a fantastic week.

Bikram Yoga - 1 year later

I took my first Bikram Yoga Beginners’ Class on my birthday one year ago today. Bikram kind of reminds me of wrestling practice – but without the pain. Still, 90 minutes of nearly continuous yoga postures in 105⁰ (F) temperature and 40% humidity is grueling. The studio sometimes smells of sweat and is frequently very crowded. And even after 100 classes, I still am unable to do almost any pose correctly (I even struggle with the breathing exercise). Still, I’m keeping at it – here’s why:

1)   I’m improving. You wouldn’t know it from watching me, but I’m slowly getting better at the postures and a little more flexible in the process. The flexibility not only makes me feel good, but makes me feel younger.

2)   My blood pressure is dropping. After being on medication for a decade, I’m now down to about 1/3^rd of my former dosage. If I do a lot of Bikram classes in a week, I can sometimes get off the pills altogether.

3)   It’s a nice way for my wife and me to hang out together. We started at the same time, but now she’s one of the best (if not the best) in any class. She’s a former gymnast so I don’t resent her even though I go to more classes than she does. I plan to pass her up by my 102^nd birthday.

4)   My back feels way better. I cracked my spine in high school wrestling and even daily stretching over the years didn’t eliminate severe pain flare ups at times. Yoga hasn’t completely eliminated my back problems, but I feel better physically than I have in decades.

5)   I do better in the heat. This sounds funny, but it’s really true. Even when we went trekking in the Sapa Mountains of Vietnam last summer, the pounding heat didn’t bother me much.

6)   I don’t seem to get sick. Although I haven’t often gotten sick over the years, I haven’t gotten so much as a sore throat since starting Bikram.

7)   My allergies are much lighter. I never even had allergies until a few years ago, but riding my bike up in the Benicia hills caused me to get all the classic allergy systems. Dropping about 4 lbs (literally) of sweat in the 90 minute Bikram classes, though, seems to eliminate the allergens from my system.

8)   I’ve lost around eight pounds in the past year, and I seem to have firmed up quite a bit. I never thought I was really out of shape before, but my good friend assures me I was “doughy” whereas now I actually have visible stomach muscles.

9)   My stamina has increased. I went mountain biking with my younger, by seven years, brother in Tahoe over the summer and, I beat him up several of the hills along the 25 mile Flume trail ride. In all the many years we’ve ridden together, it is a very rare thing for me to even be able to keep up with him let alone waiting for him to catch up.

10)   I’m eating better. Somehow consistently torturing my body gives me more will power to put less junk into it.

11)  I can relax easier (see #2). The more you do Bikram, the more you realize it's really all about breathing. I've also used the breathing techniques before public speaking engagements, and that has been surprisingly effective.

   

Year 2

I’ve memorized the Sanskrit names for the first five poses, and plan to learn the names of the remaining 21 during year two. I still may not be able to do them very well, but at least I’ll be one of the few students who can say them in the original language. And remarkably, I’ve had a couple of Bikram classes recently where I actually had a brief moment or two where I enjoyed myself. This may have been a fluke, but I’m looking forward to seeing if the trend continues.

Day 1 of the Advanced Bikram Yoga Training in Palm Desert, CA

Day One at Bikram Yoga Advanced Training

Yesterday evening, our scheduled 6:00 p.m. orientation didn't start until 8:00. At one point before the start, I noticed an Indian gentleman with a fedora wearing a tight shirt and long hair yelling loudly at the hotel staff. I assumed he worked for Bikram.

When the Indian gentleman later entered the conference room, the attention lavished upon him left no doubt that he was Bikram Choudhury. We had heard a second-hand report from another yoga instructor that he had an off-putting large ego – but I dismissed that as being unlikely given his extraordinary background of success. Bikram was the national Indian yoga champion four years in a row (until his guru asked him to retire), and he's built a worldwide hot yoga movement that is reputed to be the world's fastest growing yoga (and undoubtedly true). Bikram certainly is not shy about showing off his abs (which are pretty darned impressive for anyone let alone for a 63 year old) or discussing his many other accomplishments. He told us he was so late to the orientation because he was taking care of himself by working out in compensation for his over eating during a recent trip to India. Still, he also exudes a charm and clearly has a sincere passion to help others benefit from yoga.

Prior to the orientation, we had heard complaints from some of the attendees that no permission had been given to open new Bikram studios since last October. During the orientation, Bikram announced that after working with five different law firms and spending nearly "every last dollar" in the process, he has established a franchise program for the studios. I presume they'll now have to pay him royalties rather than just pay for instructor training. Bikram says that despite the bad economy, Bikram yoga sales are up 60%. There are reputedly 500 Bikram studios across the globe.

The 90 minute beginners class this morning was held for all 300 students in a large tent-like structure assembled for the event. It is quite a nice structure and includes carpeted floors, mirrored walls and a high podium where Bikram sits in a big yellow chair overlooking the class and shouting out instructions.

Bikram was tough on the class this morning, berating the students as not being ready for the advanced class – and questioning how the teachers (which comprise 60% of the group) could instruct their students correctly when they can't do the postures right themselves. In the two hour advanced class, though, Bikram took a much more genial posture. He complimented the class highly and said that the first couple of days are always rough.

So how did I do? Well, the advanced class was pretty hopeless. There were few postures I could do at all. During the beginners' session, though, I felt I did pretty good – at least when compared to my previous 50 classes. I probably worked harder than I ever did before – partly because I'm getting in reasonable shape. Having Bikram himself instructing also gave me some extra incentive. On the Supta Vajrasna (fixed firm) pose, he singled me out because I couldn't go backward (the pose involves sitting Japanese style between your ankles and then laying backwards). I gave it a good try under his instruction, and he complimented my effort.

Another student didn't fare as well. Later in the class he was not even able to sit Japanese style. Bikram told him he should go home. So despite the Walnut Creek studio owner's prediction relayed in my earlier blog, I figure I'm not the worst student at the training after all. Assuming that one guy stays, I'm #299.

My Adventures In Bikram Yoga (1)

Even though I was in my 7th Bikram Yoga class, I was used to being the worst student regardless of the studio.  In this class, though, the instructor kept correcting someone named Paul.  So I'm thinking to myself, "Hey, there's actually someone in this class who is worse than me".  But then the instructor came over and asked, "Your name is Paul, isn't it?"

For those of you not familiar with Bikram, it's a 90 minute session of 26 yoga poses done in rapid procession in 105 F heat.  It's a grueling class that founder, Yogiaj Bikram Choudhury describes as a "torture chamber".  Art, who introduced me to Bikram says he loses about 6 lbs. per session just in sweat (and he probably weighs under 150 lbs to start).

As crazy as this whole thing sounds, Bikram yoga is the fastest-growing yoga in the world, and it seems to do some wild things.  My brother started liking to cook.  My son started to work out regularly after his first class.  Art didn't need to sleep as much.  My wife toned up amazingly quickly.  And me, I got all of these benefits and more (except for the cooking thing) including allergy relief - probably from sweating out all the allergens.  And as inflexible as I am, I've gotten a lot better since starting Bikram 6 months ago, even though I've only managed to squeeze in 36 classes (I track everything).  Getting more flexible makes me feel a lot younger, even though I was never that flexible to start.  I think Bikram yoga also brings back fond memories of my heated high school wrestling room.

Bikram himself is teaching an advanced week course geared to instructors in Palm Desert next month with 2 sessions per day.  The owner of our favorite Bikram yoga studio is encouraging me to go.  "You will be the worst student in the whole class," she said in her Chinese accent.  "But Bikram will single you out and give you special attention".  Little does she know I hate special attention - for one thing it's harder for me to sluff off.  But what the heck, I'm going anyway.