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| Ya, but we go from the back of the mat to the front and turn to the right to face a wall sometimes. This wall has no mirrors. The original wall does. But I think that Bikram wants mirrors on one side wall, too. So which wall with which mirror? The front wall with the original mirror? The side wall which should have a mirror in my studio but doesn't? And if we go to the back of the mat and turn to the left, there is no mirror on the wall we are facing. So to be glib and say "push my left hip towards the mirror" on any given day may mean to push in the direction of the bending knee, in the direction of the straight back leg, or in the direction of the only wall with the mirror.
Like I said, maybe clear to you if you are in a perfectly set-up Bikram studio but for those of us in smaller studios that may or may not conform to what Bikram wants, wtf do we do?
Edited by freiamaya 2009-11-03 9:06 PM
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| Ah. The assumption is that you are facing forward, and there is a mirror in front of you. Does that help? |
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| I got to say something changed in the studio... They were nice tonight... Weird but I like it! Tonights class was probably my hardest class ever. Still no buzzy endorphin feeling. Although the inner feeling is getting better. I was really listening to the dialogue today. And noticed that the dialogue changes with each teacher and how they use their time.
Also, thanks for the breathing advice. I certainly am taking deeper breathes. Ta. |
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| Question - if your in a position where you can't actually see yourself in the mirror is it rude to ask the person in front to move to the side a little or do you ask the teacher to ask them to move a bit. This is the first time its happened I normally move my mat but this time I just couldn't move to any other spot.
What's the go - in this situation? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
 
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Hi Bikramlover,
The proper etiquette would be to simply do nothing. You don't have to have mirrors to do yoga and whenever this happens you just need to align and position yourself accordingly. You may not have the perfect alignment, but that's okay - that is why we are learning this process of yoga. If you ever venture out into other forms of yoga, you will NOT have mirrors and will have to deal with it. This is what I love so much about the practice of yoga, it's the ability to deal with every situation that we find ourselves in. Try not to be dependent on the mirrors, you'd be really surprised how different it feels not to have them. Then you start doing beach yoga, lake yoga, nature lover yoga, etc. etc..... |
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| bikramlover,
How many rows are in your studio. We have three rows, and when I'm in the back, I have never encounterd a situation where I couldn't just move my own mat a couple of inches, or alter my postion on the mat itself. That said, I wouldn't ask the person in front of me to adjust the mat unless 1) I already knew the person pretty well, and 2) I was sure that the person could readily move without any inconvenience. (Inconvenience means worse airflow, lining up on a crack in the mirror, obstructing that persons view, cramping that person to a neighbor, etc...) |
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| My personal pet peeve is that I get to class 30 minutes ahead of time. I set up in the back row. I set up there because I often fall out of poses and am relatively new to the practice. This is part of our hot room etiquette, according to my studio. The studio has signs on the door that outline front row etiquette, of which another simple thing is if you set up in front of someone, just check behind you to make sure you don't block their view. And every FREAKING time the same guy who dashes in 4 minutes before class will set up his mat directly in front of mine. Now, he could set up to the right or left, but NO it has to be RIGHT inFRONT of mine in the front row. So I wind up adjusting/moving. I know it is petty, but MAN you'd think we'd be more aware of others, because this kind of stuff makes me wonder about exactly HOW connected we all are in the yoga sense, or if yoga promotes internal work at the expense of the awareness of others...
-ok rant over- 
Edited by freiamaya 2009-11-05 6:30 PM
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| This studio has got 4 rows. Actually I can usually see bits of me in the mirror. And I too like to set up in the back as I often leave my little bag in the room as well. (this studio doesn't lock the doors and there is no where really to leave my keys and purse). Plus at the back of the room I don't really smell other people's sweat and perfume and whatever else that is going on in their bodies... I have addressed this issue of smell (even went to an NLP person to try and do something) but I am highly sensitive to not so nice smelling smells. To the degree that the second I smell something awful I am seconds away from pucking. The closer I am to the back the less smells visit my bubble.
I don't have an attachment to this feeling either. I have done an immense amount of work on it and have surrendered the fact. It is what it is. I am aware of it so I do the best I can given every circumstance. By the way the studio has no policy on personal hygeine or perfumes being work to class. etc.
Yup Freiamaya I am always early I do the whole set up thing and then the very last minute I get a latecomer who dashes off to the front. Not anyone person in particular its just happens to be right in front of me. I don't think they are aware. So ok taking in the comments above I will try and not rely on the mirrors. That was easy....
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| It seems to me that having a really good nose is more of a curse than a blessing. I always here people complaining about how terrible things smell when I can either barely smell it, or don't find the smell objectionable. The pay off on the other side doesn't seem worth the cost. My wife really enjoys some flower scents that I can barely smell, but the enjoyment she gets from these pales in comparison to all the objectionable smells she seems to find everywhere in the world. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 399
Location: Oregon | When you release into the dialogue and allow someone else's voice to take total control your body, it has the amazing effect of totally silencing the chatter in your mind.
This is an interesting aspect of practicing further into the Bikram's style, in sticking with the group form (which is often maligned) I have also a great sense of flow and submission or acceptance.
I don't think Bikrams would have lasted for me if I hadn't walked into my particular studio, or one run very much like it. The studio owner is very much a believer in the Bikram method, but she also offers more of her own practice (in small doses) than most teachers I know. And she can give 5 corrections to five different people in just one part of Awkward Pose. Though I have reached a point in my practice where I really tire of the words and am much less concerned with refining the postures, I still really appreciate that attention to detail. Sometimes, it really helps still the mind. |
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| Andre.. I so get what you are saying. I can however report that I did a class the other night with a teacher called Jordan. May I say she in general had a different energy all together. Connected very deeply and also her dialog was slighlty different from the usual dialog that the rest of the studio uses. I still think that most of the teachers may be very new. And so I can say that I did get that buzzy feeling, even if it was just a little bit. I had asked her before the class began if she can at least check my triangle. (I didn't expect a personal lesson) I just wanted her to check what I was missing if I was missing something as I kept slipping. And she came back with some blah blah your practice is perfect as it is and a whole bunch of stuff that didn't give me an actual answer. Which really frustrated me I kind of stored of saying oh don't worry. (at my other studio I didn't have to ask the teachers just corrected). Which I think is awesome as you immediatly built up a better practice. And as i entered class I thought oh boy this is going to be the longest 90 min ever but instead it was probably the only session I have done at Sutherland that felt like my N.Y classes. Thankfully after our 2 month membership expires we won't renew but will go to another studio.
Also I can report that I am not the only one that share these views on this particular studio. There are others.
Oh another thing that occured to me was the differences in attitudes in Aus and USA ... In N.Y people were generally much warmer and engaging. In Syd (even though this is our home town) sadly people are rather cold and non - engaging. Sad but true. I must add one more thing here. Not everyone but a good majority.
All these realizations come to me whilst during practice. For some reason they just pop out in savassna. Interesting I thought.
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| One thing I have noticed is the passion Bikram yoga teachers have. compared to other yoga's where one can freelance more Bikram must be tough on a consistant basis to teach. I love the energy most Bikram teachers bring to each and every class. They help my practise immensley when I know they are present and "into it". I get irritated at times with some of them but I realize it's my issue not theirs. |
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