Private Practice: Just You and the Mirror
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Photo Via Health Food Nation.
In the hot room, your focus should be forward. Your practice grows when it is intensely, deeply, passionately focused.
Sounds simple enough, right? Keep your eyes on the mirror and you should be good to go.
But in reality, it's not always so easy. We want to look around the room, see what local characters have joined tonight's class. We start to compare our bodies to those around us. We check to see if friends are around. We guess what that guy over there does for a living, whether that old lady up front will be able to keep up, how the woman one row back can possibly be so flexible. Or smelly. Or whatever.
Bikram reminds us: "The whole Bikram class is one big brainwashing session." Or, one of my personal favorites which one exceptional teacher from my studio often repeats throughout class:
So next time you find yourself aware of how crowded the torture chamber is, and the endless amount of distractions available to you -- the unceasing number of emotions, thoughts, disruptions present all around -- let them go. Get out of your own head. Don't fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. Not only will it prevent you from falling out of the balancing poses in the standing series, but it will strengthen your entire practice from the inside out.
Bikram is a collective experience and requires a group energy, but it is first and foremost a private practice. Keep it between just you and the mirror!
Sounds simple enough, right? Keep your eyes on the mirror and you should be good to go.
But in reality, it's not always so easy. We want to look around the room, see what local characters have joined tonight's class. We start to compare our bodies to those around us. We check to see if friends are around. We guess what that guy over there does for a living, whether that old lady up front will be able to keep up, how the woman one row back can possibly be so flexible. Or smelly. Or whatever.
If your mind is wandering around all over the place,
what are you practicing?
what are you practicing?
Bikram reminds us: "The whole Bikram class is one big brainwashing session." Or, one of my personal favorites which one exceptional teacher from my studio often repeats throughout class:
"If you let someone steal your peace, you lose."
So next time you find yourself aware of how crowded the torture chamber is, and the endless amount of distractions available to you -- the unceasing number of emotions, thoughts, disruptions present all around -- let them go. Get out of your own head. Don't fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. Not only will it prevent you from falling out of the balancing poses in the standing series, but it will strengthen your entire practice from the inside out.
Bikram is a collective experience and requires a group energy, but it is first and foremost a private practice. Keep it between just you and the mirror!
