Posture Clinic

I'll sprinkle in this post some photos of this beautiful place.  Just so you can see that it's certainly not all difficult!  

For the last two weeks, we've spent most of our afternoon lectures with Dr. T, an old friend of Bikram's who is a chiropractor and an author on nutrition and holistic eating.  He's a pretty good guy and although his anatomy classes haven't been the most exciting, his lectures on food and nutrition have been very interesting and entertaining.  It's obviously where his passion lies.  In any event, today was the last lecture from Dr. T, and on monday, we have our second anatomy test.  It's fairly basic stuff, but a good review nonetheless.  

Saturday is shot as far as freedom goes, as I'll be partaking in the CPR class and the anatomy test review.  

We have also started this week our "Posture Clinics".  This is how they work.  Our very large group of over 300 (but that number is becoming reduced, more on that later) has been broken up into smaller groups of 25-30.  After Dr. T's lecture and in the evenings, our groups meet in a designated hotel room that has been cleared out and carpeted.  We all sit on the floor (thank GOD to whomever recommended the back chair, I would be a wreck without it) while one person stands up to delivery the dialogue of a particular posture and 3 others do the posture for the speaker.  It's not long and boring like 300 half

 moons in front of Bikram; 

it's more like a terrifying anticipation of having to go up in front of your peers and deliver a very long poem that you sort of have memorized.  Some people are amazing; others you just want to weep for, they are either so hard on themselves and expect perfection or simply freeze up in fear.  This week we have done the second half of half moon pose, and parts 1, 2, and 3 of awkward pose.  OH, did I mention that the master instructors and visiting instructors watch and listen and provide feedback and make notes in some secret binder about our performance?  Even for this fairly experienced public speaker, it can be nerve racking.  

The best clinic so far has been with Diane, who is from Boston.  First of all, she took time to go over the posture in detail and show us not only how it should look, but also what to look for in people who might do it wrong and injure themselves.  Then her feedback was spot on, kind, and yet firm.  

She asked one woman, "Do you want to be perfect, or do you want to be a great yoga instructor?"  The woman burst into tears as obviously the answer was that she was expecting perfection in herself.  The 2 or 3 other people started to cry also, having similar expectations for themselves.  It was very insightful.  

Each time I prepare for a posture, I have a personal goal.  Initially, it was to just get up there and deliver the dialogue.  Then I wanted to emphasize certain words, which I did, but got nailed for forgetting entire sections of the dialogue.  Today my objective was to focus on getting every line right.  Not necessarily every word in every line, but I did not want to leave out any line.  I accomplished my goal, and of

 course was provided with new feedback.  Which is absolutely fine.  I talked to one woman today who thought she did a great job (she was in a 

different group so I have no opinion), but felt she got bizarre and inappropriate feedback.  She really wanted to be told she did well.  I asked her if SHE thought she did well and she answered in the affirmative.  I told her that was all the affirmation she needed.  Don't look outside for kudos, just know inside that  you are great.  

That's one of the wonderful bonus gifts we get here.  

Ok, I have to start to memorize Eagle pose.  

Love to all.