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| Hello,
I am posting this on the eve of my return to Bikram, after an almost 9 year break, during which I only did it for two months in 2002.
After being in a motorcycle wreck in '89 that nearly separated me from my right foot, I was looking for a new non-impact exercise and a buddy said I should try the "Rambo Yoga" school, so I did. This was in Key West (Hello Terry!). I went pretty steady for 5 years, until I moved to DC in '95. At that time there were no Bikram instructors here.
In '02 an article appeared in the Post that mentioned the Tenleytown school, so I went for a couple of months before I dropped from exhaustion. I was getting up at 4:30 am to attend the 6:30 am class on M-W-F, but I was still working until 5:30-6 pm and getting home around 7, which meant dinner around 8 and if I was lucky, bed by 10. For some, I'm sure that would be fine, but I require 9 hours of sleep per night and after a while it caught up with me. Too bad, one of my bosses said I was a much nicer person while I was going.
Now I have a new job and my boss is very interested in my returning because I casually mentioned I would like to go. My schedule is being flexed, so I can leave work at 4 pm everyday even though I will be in later on M-W-F, which should allow me to get to sleep by 7:30-8 pm, so getting up at 4:30 am won't be a problem.
I'm pretty excited about going back, although I have put on a lot of weight and am now in terrible condition. I will have to take it easy for a few weeks until I can rebuild.
Jack |
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| Glad you rallied after the crash Jack--welcome to the forum and the dark side of yoga--I'm jealous mate--I wanna a sailboat studio docked at Key West. |
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| I totally can relate to your story Jack. I need to attend my Bikram classes on my terms, and get all the sleep that I need. At my previous job I'd work from 8-5 or so and go to a 6:30pm Bikram class. This meant I'd get home at 8:15pm and I wouldn't eat dinner til 9pm going to bed after 10pm. It sucked! I only ended up going 1-2 times a week because I dreaded it. Now I have a new job where I can go at 6:30am (which I prefer - I am a morning exercise person) and get home at 6:30pm. I go 3-4 times a week, and it's great!
I love Bikram! Welcome back! |
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| As you probably know, there are now at least 4 studios in the DC area. Maybe one of them would allow you to sleep a bit more... For what it's worth, I've been very happy at the Dupont Circle studio. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State |
I did a class at the Dupont Circle studio once, and I liked the place.
Just a note...they have forced air heating along the ceiling above
the mirrors. I had a spot just under one of the diffusers in the duct,
meaning that the hot air blew into my face throughout the standing
series. Oy vey! I was quite happy to get to the floor. If you do go there,
make sure your face isn't in front of the vent! The men's locker has
a single shower, the towels are a bit small/thin for my taste, but the
instructor I had was decent (not one of the Nazi's...) and the people
seemed nice.
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| Didn't you take with Jim at Tenleytown? I think I remember you. He rigged something up (so NOT Bikram  ) to help you in Standing bow pose?
Don't rule out other forms of yoga, either, if the Bikram studio schedules don't fit your's. Any yoga is better than no yoga, don't you think? 
Welcome back either way!
Christine |
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| There's nothing like convenience though! My Bikram studio is 0.5 miles away from my house. I've really wanted to try other types of yoga, but the next closest studio is 20 miles away! Fortunately one of the benefits of franchising means that there are more studios close by. |
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| >> The men's locker has a single shower, the towels are a bit small/thin for my taste <<
heehee, found the same situation in my studio. 20 totally sweaty men storming the locker to fight for one single shower, I hated it. I guess putting up a bikram studio is a quite expensive enterprise anyways, so they could as well fit some more showers into their budget. But I don't get your point with the towels, why don't you bring your own?
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State |
Oh, the towels...I was travelling at the time. No point lugging a hotel towel to and
from the studio. These towels were small enough that I rented three, I think.
Two for the mat & one for the shower. |
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| Thank you all for your kind notes!
I made it through today. I took it easy, since I knew acclimatizing to the heat would be enough in itself.
I am a morning exercise person also, so morning classes are for me. Fortunately early classes are a regular feature of the studios here. The problem is not what time of day the class is, but that going to a class, working a full shift, and navigating the famous DC commute would wreck my sleep schedule. Even with the flex schedule, M-W-F are twelve hours days away from my apt. Consider that I sleep nine hours a night, leaving three hours that day for everything else. But I am confident this will work out fine. None of the studios are close to where I live.
I considered the Dupont studio despite the stories. I have a pretty good sense of what I am doing and if I have ever did have a poor instructor, I didn't notice. But I am a pragmatist and the since I work at a college, I wrote to both to see if they would extend their student pricing to an employee. Elaine at Tenleytown was willing to extend that offer to me, so that decided the matter. There are a lot of great things about my job, but money is not one of them.
I have to admit that I don't remember Jim rigging me up with anything, but I did think he was great, really knowledgeable to me. I have tried some other styles of yoga, which shall remain nameless, and didn't care for them. I don't know why but Bikram seems like a perfect fit for me. It suits my personal philosophy.
Elaine was great, basically because she left me alone today, which was exactly what I needed. I was being careful and moving slowly. Some parts are way more rusty than others and I am looking forward to making progress. In the long run the most enjoyable thing about my practice is the mental challenge of the poses, trying to understand them from the inside out. It will be a while before I get back to that point.
Jack
P.S. Those years in Key West, the "shower" was a garden hose attached to a cold water spigot outside the building. But since many people wore bathing suits while riding their bikes to and from practice, it really wasn't a big deal. Nothing beats a good savasana followed by riding down to the beach and going for a swim, or lying on the warm concrete of Mallory Square and watching the sun go down.
Edited by jahamasa 2004-11-08 6:57 PM
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| Do you live in DC area too? I do yoga at the falls church, va studio, and the weekend schedule is wonderful -- a lot of classes. Plus a studio is opening in Reston, VA in Feb. So...the options are great. Maybe you could add both weekend days to your work out, and one week day, therefore getting it all in. Plus, I found that going at night --- really helps me sleep. Of course, I prefer morning, I think I am better during the am, and a better person throughout the whole day, but it does not always happen. I notice alot of business men come in during the mid day session -- maybe they call it a long lunch hour - but that class does get more men than I thought it would. It is hard working a 90 minute class in your schedule - and imagine if you had long hair to blow dry as well. Its so hard to fit it all in. |
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