Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 9:26PM What happens when the room in full and you're in the back?
Bodies in front of you block your view to see yourself in the mirrors.
What do I do?
Will I get mad?
Or, will I get even?
Will I let go of it?
Or, will it get hold of me?
Just get over it, Loren!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 5:01PM Teacher Maria Lena says, “Go at 85% rather than 100%.”
Save yourself in the Bikram room…now not 60% either or you aren’t pushing enough!
She was suggesting that to maintain a good pace is to go at 85% and not burn out going at 100%.
It's just really difficult in that Bikram environment to push, push, push.
I get it Maria Lena....
Monday, May 2, 2011 at 11:37AM 50 people for 5:30 am for last Wednesday's morning class...
Some were turned away - I say, "You've got to be kidding!" Who in their right mind would get up to do a 5:30 am Bikram Yoga class? Apparently, more people all the time.
Get up, get it done and have a great start for your day. That's what I hear the 5:30ers say.
Bikram Yoga is going mainstream…well, at least becoming pretty popular.
Three new studios have opened in the San Jose area as direct offshoots of BYSJ. Three peer practitioners went to “Teacher Training”, taught, and now have gone on their own…having thriving studios!
Thanks to Michele, owner of Bikram Yoga San Jose for fostering this miracle!
Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 10:06PM Sunday, May 1st, 2011. Posting regularly once again – Yeah!!!!
I’ve been doing the yoga 3-4 days a week all along these past six months…
So, more grist for the mill.
I can tell you I actually feel like I’m doing a yoga practice now.
After how long? Almost 3 ½ years – wow! I’m glad I’ve stuck with it.
WHY?
Sunday, November 7, 2010 at 9:50PM Instructor MariaLena says, "You can tell what kind of person you are by your 2nd set of Trikanasana."
I thought I heard her say, "You can tell how tough you are by your 2nd set of Trikanasana."
There is a difference.
My interpretation was skewed by my perception of what I wanted to hear.
I still think you have to push in the yoga to succeed just like I have done in my life and especially in sales.
Yoga is a meditation and I've been learning doesn't work that way.
Regardless, we do all agree that Trikanasana is one of the most difficult postures!
Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 4:04PM 
What a Giant of a Parade!My friend Jim had this to say. "After we parted ways yesterday, after the Giants Parade, you won't believe how many people kept coming up to me and smiling, laughing and saying something about my orange Giants T shirt. "Fear the Beard" This was all along the peninsula - at Starbucks, on the sidewalks, everywhere I went. (I think people genuinely want to have some happy moments in their lives and share those moments with others!!)
We pushed it yesterday - with the free parking, trolleys, trains, great parade location, photos, people we met, even got in front of line at the restaurant. We pushed it and made luck happen. 
We hit our own "grand slam" yesterday, Loren!"
Beautiful day with the crowd celebrating and lots of energy- there were even yoga pose contortions by some without them knowing it, as they climed trees and light poles to get a look.
As one fan said on our way in from Dolores St on the Muni, "Here we are on an overcrowded bus, going slow and now stopped...again...and everybody is still smiling and happy. It doesn't get any better than this!"
I'll remember this day, the incredible palpible joy in the crowds all day long.
A Great Day for SF and These 2010 World Champion Giants!
Monday, October 25, 2010 at 10:31PM Asana Posture #28 - I do "The Hopster" periodically.
Prepare to start Standing Bow Pulling Pose.
Grab ankle of one leg with your arm reaching back.
Stretch opposite arm up.
Kick leg back and up.
Tilt forward with stretched arm in front and leg kicking back.
Lose balance but don't fall out.
As you start to fall to left or right - start hopping on your standing leg.
That's right start hopping and don't stop.
Hop in a full circle on your mat 360 degrees back to front facing.
You have performed "The Hopster".
Your fellow yogi's will be amazed and amused.
You will be proud and out of breath!
Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 9:19PM
La Legna was a wonderful instructor we had when I was a newby in class. 
She was really athletic and had this body scan that she did as a routine at the end of her classes. Basically, she’d take you thru relaxing all of your body parts starting with your toes, working up thru your feet, legs, stomach, heart, arms, shoulders all the way up to your head. Then, at the end her last words were: “Relax Your Mind, Relax Your Mind, Relax Your Mind! Open Your Heart, Namaste!”
And, that was that. She’d open the door and leave class and I’d be hating her all the while. The more I heard her say, “Relax Your Mind,” the more rageful I got. “Yeah, you’ve got to be kidding lady. I can’t relax anything right now. Can’t you see I’m squirming. You don’t know what a Fanguloasana is, do you? Well, I’m doing the pose right in front of you, right now. Don’t you dare tell me to “Relax My Mind” when I have a Fanguloasana going on!”
Speaking of relaxing your mind, CW, The Champ, had this to say in her class one day.
“In this Bikram Yoga, It’s Mind Over Matter. What’s the Matter? The Matter is Your Mind!”
Sunday, October 24, 2010 at 8:54PM Have you heard about or tried doing The Concrete Savasana?
Nobody seems to want to join me in this practice. 
The best part of class for me is to leave the room at the end and go outside in all kinds of weather to really cool off. I get a nice Savasana across the way laying on the cold and yes, hard concrete in the morning sunlight….the cool concrete and light breeze with the warm morning sun is a wonderful Savasana.
This one morning I apparently did look passed out as a passing car stopped, rolled down his window and asked, “Hey, buddy, you alright? You’re not dying are you?” I replied, “Well actually, I am doing the Dead Corpse Pose. It’s called Savasana, the dead corpse pose and if you thought I was dying out here, you are partially right. That’s what I’m supposed to be doing right now!” He rolled up his window and raced away.
One day a woman who saw me prone on the concrete came by and bent down to whisper in my ear, “You are ok, aren’t you?” As if she thought that if I was dying, by whispering in my ear I might be able to hear her better! I gave her the ok sign with my circled thumb and index finger – good thing it was the ok sign only. Actually, it’s a good thing people are being good Samaritans rather than leaving me there.
Another morning I was outside in my spot in dead corpse and a local walking her dog came...The dog turned on me and started barking up a storm totally freaking me out of my savasana. I snapped my head up from my fear of being attacked. For some reason I wasn’t a friend in her dog's mind. Perhaps with all my sweat I smelled like dead meat and he thought he had me. Whatever, that was not the way anyone would like to be awakened from their dead corpse Savasana.
Then recently, an old man walks up and announces “Hey son, I’ll bet that hard concrete is like laying on a bed of nails!” I looked up at him, he smiled and continued onward. Upon further reflection, I don’t know which is harder, concrete or nails. After reflecting on my concrete savasana experience I realize the concrete isn’t hard to me anymore. I’m comfortable laying on it. I like laying on it now and don’t even think how hard it surely is. I’m focused on the coolness not the hardness. Like the heat in the room goes away on the rare occasion when I’m focused on relaxing and my breath rather than the heat.
Interesting though is that it seems when I truly go into a deep savasana is when passersby will stop to ask if “I’m ok?” I think it’s uncanny that when I’m in corpse and gone is when they ask “Are you ok?”
Saturday, October 23, 2010 at 10:16PM Michael Harris, master yogi practitioner and studio owner from Bend, Oregon
came to BYSJ - Bikram Yoga San Jose. Taught a posture clinic and I attended.
Today in class a week later, I'm thinking about making wrinkles in my forehead
when doing certain postures. Even just doing the first breathing exercise,
Pranayama Deep Breathing, I notice when I tilt my head back exhaling,
I wrinkle my forehead.
What are you thinking about? What are you feeling?
Wrinkles on your brow and forehead according to Michael are an indication
all is not well in your mind...you are tightening up, if ever so slightly.
Peace and calm shown on the outside arise from how we are on the inside.
Yoga is about maintaining an equilibrium - wrinkles are an indicator of disequilibrium!
What I thought I'd never learn in yoga ...
I'm refining my practice.
Sunday, September 12, 2010 at 10:28PM Namaste is to revere the divine in each other.
In Grist For The Mill, Ram Dass said it this way,
"I honor that place in you where the entire Universe resides.
I honor that place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace.
I honor that place in you where, if you are in that place in you
and I'm in that place in me, there is only one, Namaste."
Gary, our men's group leader at my church fellowship, would always give the "Namate" as the closing remarks or benediction at our meetings. Even when he wasn't there as our leader, someone would volunteer to give the Namaste.
He beat the odds with his cancerous glioblastoma...we shared our friendships with him a year longer than the, "you've got 6 months at best to live," they initially gave him. Gary died August 31, 2010 at around 4:00 pm. We had a service in his honor, a week ago, Sunday September 5th.
Here it is a week later and I still can't believe he's gone. Still it doesn't make sense....
I love you Gary, rest in Peace.
Namaste
Monday, August 9, 2010 at 1:38PM Chose to leave class.
I didn't return.
First time!
The instructor asked if I wanted to leave...
Got me thinking....
Why not? I am writhing on my mat.
It was Panic City today in class.
Ouside too.
Just let go of it!
Friday, August 6, 2010 at 5:30AM Standing Bow Pulling Pose....
Falling to the right....
Start hopping to stop the fall....
Continue clockwise hopping....
Make full circle back to front....
Throw both hands at the mirror....
Sweat flying everywhere....
Some are laughing at 'The Pirouette'....
CB says,
"You are not honoring yourself."
Monday, August 2, 2010 at 9:44PM CW, The Champ, says,
"There's the physical challenge.
There's the mental challenge.
There's the spiritual challenge."
I say,
"I am challenged by all three!"
Monday, July 26, 2010 at 10:01PM Bill says, "We're going to all be like "Tiny Tots" in here today."
"I never liked regular sardines, but the Tiny Tots were great!"
I replied, "Well, then it's going to be a great class, right Bill?!"
This is the 3rd class I've had since taking a leave of 3 weeks.
All 3 of the classes have been good for me. Yes, even"Tiny Tots" turned
out alright.
It's all about hydrating and breathing. I now am hydrating a full bottle of water
before class. Once class begins I am totally focused on my breathing. If it gets away
from me I rest during the next posture.
Hydrating and breathing are making all the difference.
"Let the breath come to you, Loren!" That's what CW, The Champ,
told me way back when.
Now I get it!