Hey Beginners, Welcome to The Rest of Your Life
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Do you feel super new? I've got thoughts for you, dear beginner. Photo via Coffee and Yoga.
There are so many new faces around the studio.
So many nervous twiddlings of thumbs in the lobby, questions, curiosities. So many new beginners to Bikram yoga at this time of year.
Newbies, welcome!
Secondly, I also encourage you not to hide behind your "beginner" status. In Bikram, we are all beginners. Every day we begin again. Every day we attend "Bikram's beginning yoga class" because we are all starting new.
Be proud to stand at the back of the room. Be proud to sit out the first few reps of Pranayama while you figure out what's going on. Don't be scared to be the only one not doing anything during class -- you need the time to absorb and to watch what's going on around you.
I also have three pieces of advice for you. I know a while back I shared a longer Beginner's Guide to the yoga, but in case you missed it or wanted a shorter version, here you are.
May these three things be top of mind in class -- whether it's your first session in the Torture Chamber, or you've been coming for a long time. Here's to beginning again!
Advice #1: Choose not to suffer.
Advice #2: Fidget, wipe sweat, and drink water before class. Then try to let those things go during your 90-minute meditation because, quite frankly, they are not going to save you.
Advice #3: Breathe.
So here's a little story about piece of advice #1: choose not to suffer. I experienced this the other day, but the same situation seems to be surfacing on a weekly basis, so I feel the need to share. And please, if you see scared people in the studio, reassure them that they are going to be just fine in class!
A girl was walking into the studio with her friend before Saturday's class.
"Aren't you excited?!" her friend asked, pushing the button for the elevator. She stepped on.
"No, I'm scared..." she said, sort of half smiling. I imagine as they rode down to the basement, her friend gave this new girl some reasons not to fear the heat, what to do if she got overwhelmed, how to pace herself in class. Although she had smiled, the girl's voice suggested some legitimate fear lurking behind her words.
Meanwhile, I was bouncing down the stairs, ecstatic for class, thinking, "What is this?! This is yoga. You are going to be OK."
Have people not heard of yoga? It's supposed to relax you. It's supposed to be enjoyable. When did Bikram yoga get this bad rep for being torture?!
(Oh wait, there is that small fact that Bikram does call it the Torture Chamber. Hmm. But I digress.)
You'll be putting that forehead on the floor in no time; trust me. Photo via Coffee and Yoga.
Still, let's be honest people. You're going to be fine. It's just freaking yoga. You're going to be fine -- as long as you breathe.
Which brings us back to piece of advice #3: breathe.
And the in-between stuff -- all that fidgeting, fixing your hair, wiping off the sweat that's actually cooling you down, and checking out your own ass in the mirror? That's just filler. Stuff you make up and bring to class because you don't know how not to yet. That's your Monkey Mind.
And if you keep coming to class, you'll lose that junk. You'll lose the negativity, the wandering thoughts, the twitches during savasana, the giving in to itching an itch or coming out of a posture early just because you feel like it.
Lately I meet a lot of beginners (or people who've never tried Bikram, but who want to get into it) who get wide-eyed at the thought of class in a hot, humid room. They get scared.
I'm not flexible, they tell me. I've never done yoga. I'll pass out, won't I? I'm not skinny enough, or strong enough, or tall enough, or crazy enough, to do yoga. Or to do this type of crazy yoga.
Let me tell you something: you are. You can do that posture. You can get through class. You can even have fun doing it, if you decide to!
Here we are, back again. Advice #1: Choose not to suffer.
Let's change this mindset of bringing fear to class and these mantras about all of the things we "can't" do. Let's encourage beginner's with open-mindedness and patience, and encourage them to be patience with themselves, too.
During crowded classes, be grateful for beginners. Photo via Lululemon's Flickr.
Don't be in a rush to meet certain expectations of yourself. Instead, be glad that you found the yoga.
I highly suggest, beginners, that you be more like my friend who is completing a 60-day challenge right off the bat, never having done the yoga before. Be more like her than the wide-eyed girl who wasn't sure about her first class. Just go for it!
Enjoy yourself. Laugh at how ridiculous Bikram can be sometimes. Laugh at the inanity of the dialogue, at your silly neighbors, at yourself as you fall out of a posture and get right back in.
Sit down when you get overwhelmed.
And come back tomorrow.
You might be scared, you might be crazy, but whoever you are you could really use some of this yoga. And let me tell you, only you can save yourself in the heat. Not the teacher. Not your friend who told you to come try Bikram. Not your neighbor. Not your mom, or your mom's cat, or whoever.
Just you.
So go ahead. Take my advice. Choose not to suffer, and get ready for the rest of your happy yogi life.
Some yogis who know how to enjoy the process! Photo via Lululemon's Flickr.
