It's Yoga's Fault!

By H.J. Klingman

Yoga stressed me out. Yoga made me bloated. Yoga hurts my hips. Yoga took up too much of my day. Yoga made me feel not good about myself. Yoga did this, yoga did that….. It's yoga's FAULT!! These are the thoughts that raced through my head while practicing in yoga classes over the past few months. Having maintained a very consistent practice for years, I was beginning to actually HEAR myself during the 90 minute class. Once I began hearing myself, I wanted to smack myself in the face. How could my subtle mind really be so negative, and BLAMING yoga for everything I was thinking and feeling? Well, in my shock I began to be quiet. And still. And listen more closely. And what I heard then shocked me even more: “It’s not YOGA’s fault…. YOGA didn’t do anything…. YOU did these things to yourself. You just need something/someone outside of you to blame for these things…..”  WHOA.

Ok, slow down, I thought. This is heavy. When I was first open to receiving this truth I immediately became defensive. “But… but… but…” Then I began to relax, letting go of judgement of this truth… and I began to let it be the truth, and to sit with it. During the next several weeks of yoga classes after this happened, I slowly began to allow myself to see it, both inside of the yoga room and out. I realized that it wasn't only yoga I blamed. I blamed people in my life and things happening around me all throughout the day! I blamed people for the way I felt, for my happiness or lack thereof. I blamed the yoga teacher, the heat, the food I ate, and even the postures for the pain in my body. Reflecting openly and honestly, it was my own ego that made me push into the posture incorrectly further than it was ready to go. The yoga never hurt me, I hurt me.

Then I decided to stop. JUST STOP IT, I thought. Start taking responsibility for the decisions I make, the food I eat, the way I do the posture, the way I react to the teacher, the way I choose to feel or react to my loved ones….

This has been a very difficult lesson to learn, and at times it leaves me feeling like having a downright temper tantrum. It has also empowered me on a new level that I did not know possible. I can now be responsible for the life I want to live, without making everyone and everything else around me the blame. While circumstances will ALWAYS happen, we have a CHOICE how to react to them. For years my teachers told me this, and I finally heard it. I felt it. I continue to try to apply it. It isn’t always easy, being the one that has to accept responsibility for feeling crappy, or hurting myself. Sometimes I want to just blame someone else! But, realizing this has allowed me to free the ones I love from the responsibility of making me happy. If I want to be happy, it’s up to me. If I want to be healthy, it’s up to me…. My dad always had this mantra he would repeat to me, and now I can finally hear it’s importance:

If it is to be, it’s up to me.

I can now say that "it's yoga's fault" that I am more awake, more aware, and more alive than ever. And it's up to me to remember this and continue to strive for the best life I can live.

Love & Bikram

By Erin Wall My favorite movie as a teenager was “Love & Basketball” mainly because I played basketball and so did my boyfriend at the time. So naturally when I fell in love with Bikram Yoga, I expected my husband would be a yogi too! Not so much…

 One of the hardest parts of Bikram Yoga for me is getting my husband to take class on a regular basis and by regular, I mean once every two or three months. He “hates” it and I can’t blame him all that much because I hate it some days too. What keeps me coming back day in and day out even when I hate it because I know how good it is for me. This is why I want it so bad for him - I don’t want to be 80 years old and rockin’ life while he is complaining about back pain- nor do I want to live a day without him. When I was at teacher training, he came to visit a few times and at one point he told me he would do a 30 day challenge with me when I got home. Well, when I first got back from teacher training, I was on a yoga high; it was all I wanted to do, it was all I wanted to talk about, think about, etc. I figured he would hop on my bandwagon and do his challenge then. There always seemed to be some sort of excuse as to why he couldn’t do the challenge; “I’m going to be out of town a lot this month”, “The holidays are too busy”, “How am I supposed to find time to take two hours out of my day every day” etc.  These are the same excuses we have all used at one point or another. It’s easier to make the excuses then it is to make the commitment to coming every day. It’s hot, it’s hard, and it’s brutally honest. But as most of you know the 90 minutes of struggle, pain, and sacrifice is so worth it. After pushing the yoga on him for a while, I finally gave it a rest and came to terms with it that he just isn’t ready for Bikram Yoga in his life. I even had Bikram sign a book for him that said “Do More Yoga” and gave it to him for Christmas. I’m sure you can guess where that book ended up, no not in the trash… just on the book shelf collecting a lot of dust.  I know at some point it will be a part of his weekly, maybe even daily life. I mean he does still owe me a 30 day challenge.

If your significant other just refuses to do yoga with you or thinks you have completely lost your mind, don’t get upset or take it personal, just do your yoga. One of my favorite quotes is, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.” I figure at some point, the yoga glow will catch on and they will want to have it as well.

Your Focus Determines Your Reality

By Nicole Deacon

“I can’t take the heat” “I’m not flexible” “I need to get into shape first”  “I’ll never be able to do that”  “I can’t bend my knee” “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, I won’t I won’t I won’t” As a teacher we hear these words every single day.  Before class students pull us aside and say I wanted to let you know I can’t ________ fill in the blank.  Well, not with that attitude!The beautiful thing about this yoga in my opinion… is quite frankly… it doesn’t matter.  Not to be mean or harsh, but really… it doesn’t matter what you can’t do.  What matters is you try the right way to the best of your ability.  Bikram Yoga has nothing to do with and is not concerned with what you can not do YET!!! The only thing you need to be concerned with is what you CAN do.  Do everything you can to the best of your ability and you will receive the benefits of this yoga.  Maybe all you can do that day is get to class.  Maybe all you can do is breathe.  Maybe all you can do is 10% of the posture.  Great!  Do that!  Come back the next day and do that again!There is a universal law called the "Law of Praise and Increase".  If you want a dollar and have a dime and you curse the 90 cents you don’t have, you won’t get it.  But if you praise the 10 cents you do have, more will come to you.This yoga is designed to heal the body.  It is physical therapy.  You can come when you are injured, sad, depressed, overweight, when you are not at the top of your game.  When you leave class you will feel good.  If you continue to come you will start to improve your body and your well-being.In my experience as a practitioner and a teacher of this yoga I have seen miracles happen.  If you focus on the things you can do, pretty soon you can do things you never thought possible.  If you spend your energy and attention on what you can’t do you get bored, frustrated, injured.  But as you train your mind to focus on what you can do, you will continue to be able to do more and more.

One of most clear examples of this is our student Jeffery Derwallis.  He fell from a 3 story building while serving in the Marine Corps. The result was a "burst fracture"of the 1st lumbar vertebra creating severe damaged to his spinal cord. Soon after complications arose and he became a "complete" paraplegic.  It would have been easy for him and completely justified to come into this room and say I can’t do this yoga.  I can’t balance on one leg, I can’t stand up, these postures are impossible.  No one would have questioned him or blamed him if he felt this way.

That’s not what he did.  Instead all he did was what he COULD do.  In the early stages of the game we looked at postures one by one.  Can you do this?  Great!  How about this?  Not yet, okay well do this.  When he started it was difficult for him to stay seated without falling backwards, the teacher handed him his feet during bow pose, he wasn’t able to sit down in fixed firm.  In 2008 he  began his first 60 day challenge! His circulation had improved so much that the veins started to become visible in his legs and feet. The numbness and pain in his hands was gone. And he lost 36 lbs. Two years after he started the Yoga he was able to touch his hands palms together in Eagle and touch his head to the floor in Fixed Firm. In Feb 2011, he got on to his feet for Pada Hastasana! For the first time in 20 years his legs held his weight without any kind of brace. Little by little he built strength and vitality where for so long there was none.  To quote him, “ Since starting my yoga practice my health has improved 1000% along with just about every aspect of my life. “

Let Jeff be our example.  To quote Star Wars, “Your focus determines your reality.”  So focus on the things you can do.  Can you lock out in standing bow?  No, okay can you grab your foot, can you stretch forward, and can you kick back?  Great!  Do that.  Come back the next day and do that again.   The object of yoga is not the posture.  The object of yoga is you.

Can you control the government, the economy, your parents, your kids, your spouse, your boss, and your ten-year-old high school injury?  NO!!  What can you do?  Can you show up to yoga?  Can you breathe?  Can you focus one spot?  Can you lie still?  Can you be kind to your neighbor?  Can you smile at a stranger?   Can you?  Can you?  Can you?

Just try.

Call to Action

 By H. J. Klingman Most of us do more to care for our automobiles than our bodies.  Would you put sugar in your gas tank? Of course not! But we’ll put sugar in our body’s “tank” day in and day out, though it can not process it as effectively as other fuels. Would you drive for miles on a flat tire and let your wheel rim grind into the ground? NO! But we'll let a persistent pain or injury in the body go untreated for years before taking action?

Taking action to participate in maintaining our health is not a luxury or a burden; it is our duty, a call to action, our Karma Yoga. Karma yoga is our duty to care for our bodies and our health. Bikram reminds us constantly of the importance of caring for YOUR LIFE. Nobody else can take care of your life for you, it is your own effort required to fulfill this aspect of your Karma Yoga.

The word “Karma” translates literally to “action”.  When we begin to practice the physical, or “Hatha” yoga, we are taking action by caring for our bodies, fulfilling our Karma by doing our duty. Taking action to keep your body and mind healthy and functioning, allows you to perform the other kinds of yoga in your life.  Both actions and the results of those actions are Karma. According to Bikram , “Karma Yoga is number one; nothing is more important in your life, in my life or in this world than fulfilling your duty. This is what maintains balance and harmony in the universe.”

By practicing Hatha Yoga (the physical aspect of yoga) and Raja Yoga (the mental aspect of yoga), we prepare the body for Karma Yoga.  When we practice Hatha Yoga we can discover where our Karma lies, and how to carry out our life’s mission. So, if ever you are feeling lost or without direction, all you need to do is roll out your yoga mat and begin practicing Asana (postures) and Pranayama (breath control). When you care for your mind and body your mission will come to you. Through patience, practice, and persistence you can begin to perform your Karma Yoga and fulfill your life’s mission one posture at a time.

What is the Most Important Thing in Your Life?

By Terri Villavaso Seemingly, the good answers to this question are endless….

Well Bikram reminds us, the ONLY answer is in the question…

YOUR LIFE.

My whole adult life I have been mindful to stay fit, and take care of me.  I enjoy running, hiking, cycling used to be big on the list, going to the gym, etc.

In 2004, I had no idea what a yoga class might entail… Union of mind and body, what does that mean? 90 minutes in a HOT room?  Of course, I questioned WHY so long... Do everything twice?  One time should surely be enough? WHAT DOES BREATHING MEAN?

My husband, Guy, started yoga a long time before me.  I had zero interest in going.  Of course I was capable of doing my own thing, and did not need a structured HOT class.  I had so many opinions about it all.  I thought for a long time, people were just sitting around in a room meditating, and there was no work out happening…

So our kids, Evan, Tyler, and Emily, were about 12 and 13 years old and they went to a class before I did with Guy!  THAT, is what got ME to my first class…  hearing them say, "MOM, YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS….  YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE IT... YOU LOVE CHALLENGES."

My first class felt like it lasted about 3 hours… time dragging, no clock, I was in shock, most inflexible person in a room of about 45, some crazy teacher calling me… “hey you, in the red shorts”…

I was literally mad at every person in that yoga room, most especially at my husband for not telling me how it REALLY was going to be.  All these so-called, YOGIS, focused only on their face in the mirror, not even noticing or caring that I was about to puke or pass out!

I could not talk for about 2 hours after class, and sat on the corner of my couch at home wrapped in a towel, unable to move or think.  All kinds of things racing in my head, and I could not get the vision of this pretty chick on the front row doing a beautiful “standing bow pulling pose” out of my head!  How dare her show me up, surely I can learn how to do that???

My family still laughs that I was the most unlikely person to ever go back for a 2^nd class or next, or next, or to out of the blue, in 2007 announce to them, I want to be a teacher!!!!

It was not easy the whole process.  Bikram always says, THE RIGHT WAY IS THE HARD WAY, AND IT’S UP TO YOU TO MAKE IT WORK.

I started noticing right away the effects of the yoga.  I felt more patient, more disciplined with my diet, more tuned in to the inner person in me… the observer.  I started feeling different from the inside of me, deep down.  At the top of the list was something very big- my whole family became much more connected.

Somewhere between classes 8 to 10, I thought I might decide that this practice is for ME.  We all know that moment… the one when you walk out of the studio and you have MORE ENERGY, compared to feeling you have to go home and rest!

I got on a routine pretty quickly and decided more is better!  I have kept it up for a long time.  Following a senior teacher seminar back in 2007, I got all energized and just could not stop thinking about it all.  Craig Villani led the seminar at our studio, and he had such a strong presence and so much warmth and knowledge, and I just knew in my heart that teaching was calling my name!  I could not stay off the Bikram website, and started waking up in the middle of the night, wondering, WHY IS THIS CALLING MY NAME?

I feel blessed I followed my heart.  I have been teaching for 5 years now, and it just keeps getting better.  I learn from watching the students, I keep growing on a daily basis.  The yoga does not change, I enjoy the way I keep changing and I see the way YOU keep changing!

NAMASTE, SEE YOU ON THE MAT.

TERRI