Category: Bikram YogaThe news items published under this category are as follows.
| Sunday, August 29, 2010 |
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 I finished the 60-day challenge this morning at 6. 60 classes in 58 days. Included four doubles and two triples. Slept for 20 minutes at the end.
John and I are now leaving for England for two weeks. There are no Bikram Yoga studios where we are going. I think that will be a challenge, too.
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| Tuesday, April 13, 2010 |
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One of our bendier instructors at South Boulevard, Alisa Matthews, was recently hired by Office Max for an ad in their Designer Catalogue.
I love it! Check it out!
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| Thursday, March 18, 2010 |
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 Tomorrow I'll be halfway through the Bikram Yoga 60-day Challenge.
It's been quite a challenge so far. It's almost impossible to fit in practice when I teach two classes in the morning and then go to my other job. I actually took three classes on Saturday to catch up. Felt pretty good afterwards, though!
That being said, it's quite humbling to read Robert Wingo's (one of our students) blogpost right here.
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| Monday, March 15, 2010 |
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I was chuckling down memory lane the other day as I read Ricky's comment about Dates in Frome. They never had anything you were looking for. It was always "coming in on Thursday." And the employees were terrible. Once I went in there to ask for some batteries for my radio. The man behind the counter grimly responded: "We only have Ever Ready." Well, DUH?!
Forty years later I find that I'm just as rotten when it comes to sales. A yoga student decided this morning that she'd like to buy a new Breathe Mat. They were right behind me, and I told her that we only had black or purple. Why did I say that? Why not, "Of course. Would you like black or purple?" She didn't buy one. Decided she'd stick with her old, frayed one.
Both colours are really nice, too. I love the purple.
John sometimes calls me his "little ray of sunshine."
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| Thursday, March 04, 2010 |
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 Today I am starting the 60-day Bikram Yoga Challenge.
60 classes in 60 days. Well, 60 classes in 57 days as I'll be leaving on vacation before it's over.
Class No. 1 coming up right now.
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| Monday, February 15, 2010 |
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 A young couple took my 8 o'clock class this morning. It was their first time so they had to fill out the new student form. Under "emergency contact" he wrote her name. And under "relationship" he wrote "The love of my life."
I like that! Wonder if I dare write that after John's name in my shiny new passport?
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| Friday, February 05, 2010 |
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 On weekdays I either teach or take the 6 a.m. Bikram Yoga class. If I'm not teaching it I help out behind the desk until class starts and stay behind to lock the front door when the teacher goes into the room. Without a doubt, the Saturday 8 a.m. class is always my favourite of the week, and I always come out of it feeling like £620,501. A combination of factors:
- sleeping in for two hours
- going straight from car to the yoga room without helping out at the front desk
- twice as many students creating an extra charge of energy in the room
- the boss teaching
- anticipation of the weekend -- two days off
Have I ever talked about the wonders and benefits of Bikram Yoga? If you haven't tried it you're missing out!
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| Saturday, January 23, 2010 |
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 In 2009 I took 276 Bikram Yoga classes. Lifetime total: 1760 (first class was March 21st, 2003).
In 2009 I taught 227 Bikram Yoga classes. Lifetime total: 423 (first class was December 28th, 2007)
More teaching and less taking than in 2008. And the bottom line? I feel healthy and limber and nothing creaks or hurts. Bikram Yoga is the answer. If you haven't tried it, it's time!
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| Friday, January 01, 2010 |
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Remember the first place I did Bikram Yoga? It was a fancy place, within walking distance, overlooking the Allen Parkway. Remember how it closed down and took our money? The building was empty for a long time, and then the Laff Stop moved there.
Now the Laff Stop has closed down.
I can only imagine that the high rent had something to do with it.
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| Thursday, December 24, 2009 |
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It's very difficult to go for a week without practicing if you're a Bikram Yoga addict. Fortunately there were several studios within 30 miles of John's brother's house and I was able to sneak out to three of them before anyone woke up. If you're not a Bikram Yoga addict you can stop reading now as you'll be bored to tears. Habershons, you can study the family tree.
The closest studio (in Los Gatos) was not "pure" Bikram. The schedule offered different kinds of yoga, but as they had an early Bikram class I decided to try it. The differences were immediately noticable.
1. They rented me a GREEN mat.
2. People were talking in the yoga room before class started.
3. There were peace signs covering all the walls that didn't have mirrors.
4. The floor was hardwood.
5. The instructor walked in and told us to get into Mountain Pose.
6. The room was only about 100 degrees.
7. Before Half Moon, instead of going right and left right and left, we were told to go forwards and backwards as well.
8. They started playing music beginning with Awkward pose and right through to the end.
9. In Eagle we had to point our toes out to the side before wrapping our legs.
10. We turned sideways for the three poses after Balancing Stick.
11. We did the same 26 poses and two breathing exercises, but with the exception of the mention of a Japanese Ham Sandwich there was very little Bikram dialogue.
12. The instructor touched me twice. The second time was in the final savasanah. My eyes were closed. I jumped out of my skin. And I think she rubbed some eucalyptus into my shoulders.
There were a lot of other differences, but it's been a while now since the class and I can't remember everything. I should point out, however, that I felt great once class was over.
Two more studios to follow.
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| Monday, December 14, 2009 |
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Here's an amazing story of a sailor who survived a disastrous parachuting accident.
Bikram Yoga rocks!
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| Thursday, September 03, 2009 |
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| Friday, July 24, 2009 |
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 Click on the picture for a full view of the mural on the wall of my yoga studio. It was painted several months ago but I've never been able to get a picture of it -- either because I forgot to take the camera with me or because there are always cars parked in front of it.
I like it, and hope it won't fade too much. And whatever anyone thinks of it, it's definitely a traffic stopper.
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| Sunday, June 21, 2009 |
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 My Bikram Yoga studio was featured in a Channel 13 show called "Mirror Mirror" last night. John recorded and edited it (how does he DO all these geeky things?) and turned it into a file and uploaded it to Habershons.com.
So you can watch it. Here!
And now, Habs, you can picture where I teach. Trust me, though, there are a lot more overweight and older and less bendy students at the studio than they show here. So if you're thinking of trying Bikram Yoga, don't be scared off!
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| Monday, June 08, 2009 |
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 Taught my 300th (and 301st) Bikram Yoga class this morning! Fortunately I'm still enjoying every minute of it and have no regrets about spending all that time and money on the training.
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| Tuesday, May 26, 2009 |
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Big day for Taz tomorrow. After more than a year of jumping through hoops and pushing through red tape, she is celebrating the Grand Opening of her Bikram Yoga studio. It's in Pearland, about 15 miles away. She's hired two teachers from Australia. I'll report back as soon as I've taken a class.
Meanwhile, GOOD LUCK, TAZ!
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| Thursday, April 02, 2009 |
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The 6th Annual Yoga Championships are being held in Los Angeles this weekend. Our studio owner, Mike, is one of the judges. Today are the regional finals and tomorrow the international. Bikram's dream is, one day, to get yoga included in the Olympics.
You can watch the competition in real time on the internet right here.
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| Saturday, February 07, 2009 |
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In 2008 I took 285 Bikram yoga classes. Lifetime total: 1484 (first class was March 21st, 2003).
In 2008 I taught 194 yoga classes. Lifetime total: 196
So that means that in 2008 I spent 43,110 minutes in a 105-degree yoga room = 718.5 hours = 29.9375 days.
Yes, I like numbers.
And no, I still haven't got that upsidedown "L". Got closer though.
Well, off to noon yoga! Beth's teaching. And once again, we're expecting between 5 and 80 people.
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| Thursday, January 01, 2009 |
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 Our Bikram Yoga studio held a 10:30 class last night to ring in the new year. It was a fundraiser and all donations went to Wilderness Conservancy.
I didn't make it, unfortunately. Fell asleep at 9 p.m. and didn't wake up until 7 o'clock this morning.
Anyway, I hope you all had a good New Year's Eve and wish you a happy and healthy 2009.
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| Thursday, January 01, 2009 |
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I practised yoga in the front this morning, right in front of the podium*. There are mirrors on the sides of the podium and I had a real closeup view of myself as I put my chin on the floor before Cobra pose.
Horror of horrors! I have three grey hairs :(
*I'm normally a Row Three Girl, but Mike asked me to move there.
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| Saturday, December 27, 2008 |
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Hope everyone had a good Christmas. Ours was very busy. I taught the noon Bikram Yoga class (and only class of the day) and SEVENTY-FOUR people showed up! There were in fact 76 (4 brand new), but two left before class started, saying it was too crowded. It was quite scary, but I managed to get them all through the ninety minutes without anyone passing out in the steam and heat. If there's one thing I wish I could do over though, it was to get everyone's mat positions sorted out before starting the class. I had to interrupt the students between the two sets of Pranayama Breathing to move their mats to let a few stragglers fit in.
Meanwhile, back at home, John cooked a brilliant dinner. His sweet potato casserole was the best I'd ever tasted. It had pecans on top. YUM! The turkey was done to a turn, and we're looking forward to turkey/lettuce/mayo sandwiches for the next few days.
Gifts this year included three Swatches (yes, I love Swatches!) and some opera glasses.
Four of us did the quiz. We found it very difficult. Let's hope everyone else found it difficult, so we have a chance of winning this year.
So a Happy Boxing Day to all Habershons and loyal readers. I'll be teaching the 4:30 yoga class and then have the whole weekend off!
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| Friday, December 26, 2008 |
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Los Angeles, Hawaii, Acapulco, and now . . .
Palm Desert:A famous yoga guru celebrated a hot deal in the desert on Monday with a different kind of bubbly — a bottle of fizzy Coca-Cola.
Bikram Choudhury, founder of the Yoga College of India, is the man behind practicing yoga in studios with triple- digit heat — made popular by stars such as Madonna and Quincy Jones.
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| Saturday, November 22, 2008 |
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ARRRGGHHH! The horrors of Bikram Yoga Teacher Training. I've just read this in the blog of someone who's taking the training right now:
On Wednesday night Bikram kept us up until 1:00 AM. We did our usual morning class and then for the evening class, we had a teacher from Australia. We were all shocked and secretly happy that it wasn't Bikram who would have tried to kill us again! After that class was over and everyone was lying in Savasana (the resting pose), exhausted as usual after our second class of the day, Manali said she had a surprise for us and to stay in Savasana.
Well, we just laid there like a bunch of dead dogs and we heard, "check, check, 1, 2, 3, 4", Bikram's signature entrance when he comes in to teach. Yeah, you guessed it, it was our third class for the day! Surprise, surprise. You wouldn't believe the reactions from people. There was disbelief, anger, shock, tears, lots of human emotions. We stood up to do the initial breathing exercise where you have your hands interlocked underneath your chin and you raise your elbows as you inhale. I couldn't get my elbows to go up! I was so tired from the class I just finished. It wasn't just me because EVERYONE else in the room had the same problem. People were swaying back and forth. Bikram was laughing and saying we all looked like dead meat! To shorten this story, I started out very weak but I gained momentum as the class went on and I did almost all the postures and never had to leave the room. People were running out in a mass exodus to get more water, others were fainting, throwing up, having to be carried out.....it reminded me of the first week! Bikram said that this was a test of how you handle adverse conditions that are handed you in life. I was happy to know that my way was to resist in the beginning, but eventually, resign myself and just do the best I could. One guy who is a former Navy Seal was dry heaving in Balancing Stick. Now that's determination! Bikram wasn't through with us because later, at lecture, he kept us up until 2:30 in the morning. We were all so tired, it was unbelievable. Then, of course, we got 4 hours of sleep and it was morning and time for another class. And I thought the 8th week was going to be easy!
It's been a year, and I still can't look back at those nine weeks without feeling a little anxious.
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| Tuesday, November 11, 2008 |
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I noticed a lot of feathers on the ground as I pulled into the car park at yoga this morning. There are a few stray cats in the area, one a Condi lookalike, and I figured one of them had had a good breakfast.
When I got out of the car a feather landed on my shoulder, then a few more on Wendy's roof, and then more, landing like snow all around us. I looked up and saw a magnificent looking hawk standing on a tree branch devouring a bird. The feathers were flying everywhere.
It was a sad but amazing sight. Mike went out and had a look. He told me that he'd look up the hawk in his Indian Totems book. Unable to wait, I checked it out on the internet.
Hawk - Messenger, intuition, victory, healing, nobility, recollection, cleansing, visionary power, and guardianship.
So what's your totem animal, Habs and loyal readers?
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| Saturday, October 25, 2008 |
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Raj Bhavsar has made the U.S. Olympics Gymnastics Team.
BEIJING – Houston gymnast Raj Bhavsar, who persevered through good times and bad by striving first to remake himself as a man of Olympic character, is now an Olympian in full.
Bhavsar, 27, of Houston was named today to replace 2004 Olympic all-around gold medalist Paul Hamm on the USA Gymnastics men’s 2008 Olympic team. Hamm withdrew after acknowledging he could not recover from a broken hand and a strained rotator cuff in time to compete next month in Beijing. Not only is he from Houston, but he also practices Bikram Yoga at my studio!
Check him out on the rings.
Someone to root for!
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| Friday, August 01, 2008 |
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On January 21st, 2007 I made it through my first Bikram class without drinking water. Since then I've made it through every class (except for the teacher training, where that never happened) without drinking. But I've always kept my water bottle by my mat, just in case. It was much too difficult to leave it outside the room.
This morning I was running late and took the 10 o'clock class instead of the 8 o'clock. It must have thrown my routine off, because after the Eagle pose I realized that I'd left my water bottle outside on the shelf with my shoes and carkeys. My first instinct was to run out and grab it, but I kept still and decided to go through the class without it. Piece o' cake. After the first momentary panic I never gave it another thought.
So perhaps this is the next phase of my yoga practice. Bikram Yoga without water! Just me and my mat. Nice and unencumbered.
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| Saturday, July 05, 2008 |
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This morning I taught my 75th Bikram class.
All 75 have been a wonderful, life-changing experience.
Not that life wasn't wonderful before . . .
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| Wednesday, May 21, 2008 |
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Bikram's Spring Teacher Training began today. It's been moved from Hawaii to Acapulco. For anyone who's interested, here's a student blog. I'm getting the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.
It looks as if things might be a little more bearable for them, however. They have real chairs to sit on for lectures, and not in the room where they do the yoga.
Good luck to everyone out there, including Sherry and Marshall from Houston!
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| Tuesday, April 08, 2008 |
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I've now taught eleven Bikram Yoga classes and love it. It's getting a little easier but I have a long way to go. It's difficult to focus for 90 minutes without forgetting some of the dialogue. All it takes is for someone to drop a water bottle or bolt from the room or let out a groan, and my concentration waivers. But so far there have been no calamities and no one has got injured (I hope). My largest class was last Sunday at 8 a.m. -- 53 students. Beth, Taz and I are currently scheduled to teach two per week each. I have to thank both my bosses here -- one for giving me the early morning or weekend classes and the other for not minding if I come into work late.
Anyway, taking the Teacher Training was the right move. Even though I suffered and whined the whole way through it, I'm glad I did it. Life is good!
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| Sunday, February 03, 2008 |
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