2nd Set

Week 2 in Vegas felt like an emotional roller coaster. The yoga classes early into the second week were tolerable. The heat was good. I started to feel acclimated to the dry weather and level of humidity in the yoga room. In between the yoga classes we finished up the remaining people who needed to deliver Half Moon in front of Bikram. For those who are new to Bikram Yoga, Half Moon is the first stretching exercise after the warm up breathing. Every trainee is required to deliver/recite this posture verbatim in front of Bikram himself. He then goes to critique. It took a week and a half to get through all the 300+ of us. Each day people would run up and wait in a long line just to get on the stage in front of him. I knew my dialogue but I didn't think it was necessary to run just to get in line behind 40 people at a time. Each day I would think, "ok I'm going to get in line today" and before I know it the line gets insanely long and then the posture clinic is over. Since the day I thought there would be a possibility I'd be on the stage, I've taken the time to straighten my hair and put on a little make-up just to be presentable. On Tuesday I knew there were less than 100 people left to go. I finally get in line. I anxiously wait for my turn for over an hour.... then Bikram decides he's done listening to Half Moon. So we ended up watching Jodaa Akbar a Bollywood movie! Wednesday afternoon I get in line again... and just my luck the power went out. So we got the afternoon free until the next yoga class. At this point there were only 20 people left. I was one of them. I finally went up on that stage and delivered my posture. Bikram's only feedback to me was that he thought I was good! I'll take that! I was anticipating that he would make a mean comment, since he did that with some other students. He had the foreign students deliver their dialogues in English and in their native tongue. He told several women to stop eating. He would comment on the tone of your voice, whether you were soft spoken or strong voiced. He'd comment on people's clothing, hair.. you name it. The entire time I was concerned about what he would say to me. I was ecstatic when he told me I did a good job! When it was over, he came and told me I did a good job and gave me hug. He said he was surprised I did so well. He also said most people who are last tend to be the ones who are least prepared. I was proud to represent Seattle, especially the Renton studio!

Now let me talk about the heat in the yoga room. The tent is heated through large vents suspended on the ceiling. It also has heating ducts that run underneath the floor. By mid week, the room was so hot that over a third of the students were leaving the room. People were getting carried out, vomiting and even crying. Thursday's classes were still way too hot. Someone took a thermometer into the room. It was 127 degrees at one point! Thursday afternoon I finally broke down. The heat from the ground was so hot that I didn't want to lay down on my mat. My butt was on fire! I started to dry heave. I wanted to vomit. I was helped out of the room and immediately taken to the sick bin. The smell of other people's vomit made me even more nauseous. I tried to throw up but nothing came out. The nurse came by to check on me. She told me I wasn't throwing up because I had nothing in my stomach. When drinking over 5 liters of water a day and the little time in between classes, it's hard to get enough to eat. On top of that I lost my appetite. I had to force myself to eat an entire tuna sandwich. I sat out the remainder of that class. I was so upset with myself for not making it through the class. The next day the heat was much more tolerable.