Missy and I took the ten am class on Saturday because we wanted to sleep in a little bit after being out together late the night before for drinks with some mutual friends. I was looking forward to the class because it was with the teacher who had been my favorite teacher the first time I tried Bikram Yoga. I enjoy this particular teacher because he is an inspiration to me and I like the calming but quietly encouraging tone of his voice. He always gets me to push just a little bit more and just a little bit harder.
Class was a little more full than it had been the previous two days at six am but it seems reasonable to expect that some people want to sleep in a little bit and some people who usually take an evening class want to get a morning one in on their off day. I set up in the back row to one side of the podium and had a perfect view to the mirror ahead of me. I have a love/hate thing going with an unobstructed view of the mirror.
I dashed out of the hot room one last time to use the bathroom before things got started and when I got back my Favorite Teacher walked in just a moment behind me. As always, class began with Standing Deep Breathing and I was pleased to find that much of the tightness in my shoulders was absent. Both sets did not seem to go on forever as they had the first two days and I took this as an auspicious sign.
Each posture I felt a little bit better than I had the day before and I concentrated deeply with no thoughts in my mind other than the words of the teacher. I breathed a little deeper, stretched a little bit harder, and before I knew it class was over. Was I perfect? Not even close!! But I was the teeniest tiniest smidgen better than the day before. I lay in the final Savassana with a huge smile on my face. I knew every class wouldn't feel exactly as this one did but today it was just right.
I really think there's something about the third class. It's magical. I remember this from the first time I took Bikram and I've heard others say the same thing. I think the first class your nerves are as tight as tight can be and it's blistering hot and you didn't know it would be THAT hot. You wonder if you are going to suffocate, throw up, pass out, or have the sheer good luck to merely fall down dead and the class seems endless. Maybe you couldn't even attempt a few of the postures, maybe you had to sit out a few but finally you make it through and feel pretty darn good afterwards. You come back for a second class and within minutes of it beginning you are questioning yourself. Are you out of your damn mind? This time you KNEW how bad it was going to be and yet you came back? What the hell were you thinking? No! You weren't thinking at all, were you? You come back for a third class and it's mainly because of peer pressure or guilt that you paid for this and you are going to get your money's worth.
But then something magical happens. This third class you walk in knowing two things. You know the postures now and you know you survived two classes already and most importantly, can do it again. You're not the new person today! There's someone else in the hot room taking their first class and sort of hoping they quietly die over there in the back corner. You're not going to die. You're bad ass. You've got this! Your mind is relaxed and your body is able to release some of its tension and you find yourself pushing yourself in each posture and enjoying that wobbly feeling you get when you are stretching to your personal utmost.
You're even more drenched in sweat and you feel damn good. You walk proudly out the hot room and the cooler air that hits your skin is like a job well done pat on the back. Endorphins come rushing through your body--bet you didn't know you could produce that many, huh?--and all the rest of the day you are floating on Yoga Bliss.
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