Falling hard for Bikram Yoga

Blogging is new to me but I have decided to give it a shot. I’m planning the big journey of Bikram Yoga Teacher Training and I would like it if my friends and family can follow me from a distance. This seems such a great way to do it. I’ve been following a few girls who were in TT Fall ’08 and really enjoyed their stories. So here we go, this is my story of how it all started:

My first Bikram Yoga Class was about a year ago. We had moved from Portland Oregon to a very small village in Germany. Like many adidas families we live here for the job and travel around Europe as much as we can.
At a lunch with my buddy from Portland I met an Australian girl, we instantly connected. She was very pregnant and telling me she couldn’t wait to give birth so she’d be able to teach and practice Bikram Yoga again.
We became friends that day and when she was ready to teach again she created a little studio in her house. So there I was entering a bedroom with mirrors on the walls, foam on the windows and a really surprising temperature. My spinning classes, mountain biking and long hikes did not prepare me for any of this. It was a workout I’ve never experienced before and I absolutely loved it.
From that day on I became a regular at her classes, twice a week I’d be there with 5 other people sweating it out and challenging myself on a whole new level both mentally and physically.
Bikram's book was next, I read it to get a better understanding of the series. Then it was time to purchase his CD and put it on my Ipod. When we were in Italy that summer I practiced the series on the balcony of our hotel room under and umbrella at the hottest time of the day. Slowly I went up from 2 times a week with Justine to adding three more days in my bathroom at home. When you have floor-heating and you ad an industrial space heater you can get the room to a good 35C.

Last summer I visited Amsterdam, my hometown and went to the Bikram studio in the Pijp. It was wonderful. The heat was amazing, nothing like my bathroom. Most empowering was doing the series with 75 people at the same time. The energy in the room was overwhelming. That week I went there three times and was taught by three different teachers. All of them with their own style and each and every one of them thought me something new. The real benefit of having a studio nearby I realized.

I’ve done the 30 day challenge here in Germany, between my two days a week at Justine’s and my bathroom. Believe me I know every crack in every tile by now. But at the end of the day it doesn’t matter where you go, the series will be the series. And I’ve put as much integrity into my practices by myself as in the once in our group.
My practice improved but most of all I felt better than I had in a long time.

Last November Bikram was scheduled to teach a class in Munich a two hour drive from here. I managed to get a spot and somehow I felt very strongly I was meant to meat him. His class was amazing, unbelievable, incredible. That evening it was all clear to me I would love to be part of this community. Becoming a Bikram Yoga Teacher to share this brilliant series with other people all over the world is what I would like to do.

Now I am on my way to figure out how I can do the Teacher Training. Leaving my husband and two boys in Germany for 9 weeks to become one of Bikram's certified teachers. Yikes.