Day One

Day one came and went without too much drama. We had lecture in the morning and this included our first Bikram lecture. He didn't talk about anything earth-shattering, just a lot of encouragement. It was fun to watch the faces of people who have never encountered Bikram before. Our favorite part was how he lectured us on not getting romantically involved with a fellow trainee. He had us all rolling in the aisles. Jim, one of his senior teachers, gave us additional do's and don'ts of yoga training and he has a very calming spirit. Our first class was in the afternoon and Bikram taught it. We got there 25 minutes before class and had to stand eight rows back. Of course we didn't see any part of ourselves in the mirror but we were also so close to each other that we were poking each other with extended fingers and toes. It was cozy to say the least. Rosario joined us for class and it was great to have her energy there. Bikram made his usual blunt corrections and held nothing back. At the end of his two-hour class (yes, that wasn't a typo!), he said we were a strong and solid group of almost 350. I only noticed one person lying down and none of the buckets in the back of the room needed to be used. Today is our first full day with two classes and two sets of lectures...onwards!