Zenith!

Well, the stars moved around the last few days and I was able to teach this morning for Diane.  Wow.  Just W.O.W.  The experience of teaching itself was so much fun and absolutely wonderful.  The feedback from Diane afterward was even better.  

So yesterday after I got word that I was going to be able to teach for Diane, I got in the car and ran a few errands.  Checked the navigation button on my iPhone to be sure I was heading in the right direction and when I looked at the photo on my home page, I realized it was time to change it and move on.  I said to myself, "I need to get rid of that."  Funny how you get what you ask for.  When I parked the car at the first destination, I grabbed the phone and it flew out of my hand and smashed face down onto the gravel.  It wasn't exactly how I had planned to do it, but I did get rid of that photo!!  Luckily the machine still worked, and I was able to see that there was an Apple store just a few miles away.  Plans changed and I high tailed it to get myself a new whiz-bang 3G device.  I has a much faster and a greatly improved navigation device.  I used the old machine exclusively to get from California to here, but heading west will be easier navigation wise.  

But I got here - I was able to accomplish my goal of teaching for Diane.  I can't tell  you how good it felt.  Well, that's not true, I AM telling you how good it felt.  

First of all, the people at Diane's studio are wonderful.  They are happy, supportive and most of them have a serious medical condition that is improving as a result of the yoga.  Hugh is about 70 years or or so, and is bent over like a willow in a heavy storm.  I think Diane said he has rods in his back - you can't see his face if you are more than 5'5" as he is so bent over.  But he is kind and alive and enjoying the yoga.  He's amazing.  There's another woman who had most of her liver removed - it's grown back (which is not unusual) but is has grown back in perfect shape (which IS unusual).  It's got to be the yoga.  There are other people in there who are fixing all kinds of ailments.  It is very much like a hospital ward.  

But you'd be surprised to see everyone, regardless of their condition, doing the yoga THE RIGHT WAY.  They are wonderful.

I introduced myself and laughed immediately at how lucky I was to be on that podium.  I told everyone they were really lucky to have Diane and her teachers and they all agreed.  Then the class started.  I was very much in my head, trying to remember all the things I've been working on, but laughing through it all and enjoying the class immensely.  At one point I said, "lock your toes" and just started to laugh and everyone laughed along with me.  I wasn't very nervous, mostly excited.  Of course, I also couldn't see Diane in the back - a few tall people were in front of her so I could not see her furiously taking notes between postures.  Which was good.

When class finished, everyone applauded and I was just jumping up and down on the podium - glad I didn't break it!!  It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!  Then of course, everyone had their final Savasana, and I left the room.   

After class, Hugh came out and said how much he enjoyed it and he paid me a wonderful compliment.  He said that it was obvious I am a happy person, "and that's what we're really looking for, happy people."  I'm so glad that Hugh was pleased.  That just makes me smile from ear to ear.

Then after everyone left (and they were ALL supportive and kind), Diane and I went up to have breakfast and talk about how I did.  

I love Diane Ducharme.  

Let me say this -- if you are a Bikram Yoga Instructor and you have a chance to get feedback from her, DO IT!!!  It will inspire you, it will help you, it will make you a better teacher by a millionfold.  

Diane's feedback was so awesome.  The recommendations she made were not just in the corrections, but in the way she explained WHY I needed to say it as it is in the dialogue - "move your knees to the right, upper body to the left" (as opposed to legs to the right - you can't move your entire legs).  That's just a small example.  Her method, her way of saying it, her explanation helped me to fall in love with the dialogue even more.  

And for those who worked with me during training, yes sirree, I do love the dialogue.  You can pick your jaw up off the floor now.

The more I use this thing, the more I love it.  The more I understand the beauty of each word and the order of things.  There is a reason for each and every word, and anyone who thinks they can teach this yoga without the dialogue hasn't taken the time to really understand it.  

I am humbled by the beauty of it and I aspire to understand it as Diane does, just as I aspire to look at (not for) the floor behind me.  

I got to take a photo of the photo of Diane and Emmy at the Advanced demonstration during our training - it's in the bathroom at Diane's studio (obviously a little dark in there).  I took the photo to send to my friend Mark who is evident as one in the crowd just above Diane's head and to the left behind the podium -- he wanted to see what the picture looked like.  So here you go my friend -- this photo has a new meaning - it's a reminder of the day I got to teach for Diane!!

Sending love to all