Hot Weekend

I ran into one of the Heidi's tonight.

Couldn't help but notice the heavy rings under her eyes when she looked over at me and said,

"Kevin, you look tired."

Yep. I've got the same Bikram© eyes.

Ripples in my body pond from a giant yoga rock (pronounced "rick") that landed square on my bhava.
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I miss Katey.
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Hands to heart center, melting forward, "friendly" full body adjustments in Prasarita Padottanasana. The whole enchilada.

But still...

RIck is the man...a true yogi. Wit, wisdom and whippings all wrapped up in a grumpy cuddle bear. Honestly, a year ago when I first stepped into his class, I didn't like the guy. Didn't want to like the guy. Couldn't believe this type of yoga existed...

Don't reach for water?? No "extra" movements?? NO FANCY FINGERS!?!? My mind screamed: "Shove that tapas right up your ass!"

The very idea of a "prescribed" yoga, of a singular scripted sequence - (it took me a couple classes before I realized it was actually a script, even with Rick's swirls added in) - the idea of an immutable series was totally incongruent with what I perceived the art of yoga to be. A yoga multivitamin, really?

I saw yoga as personal expression; yoga as the flower's path - a path of living mystery. Who the hell really knows what pose is gonna to happen next??

But then again, as one fellow in that movie said, yoga is all that it is supposed to be and nothing more..... And to quote Rick, "that which challenges us most, brings us the most."

I, myself, find Bikram very challenging.

Thank you, dear sir, for a powerfully productive and enlightening weekend. No bullshit, I've come much closer to the "hot" lineage and the philosophy of Bikram yoga through your tutelage. In the crowds behind Josh, I bow to you as a disciple bows to a guru.

Whoever makes money on lactic acid, thanks you, as well.

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As to Bikram Chowderhead, here's my 2 cents*: He is a visionary who, like many of his kind, sees his path as the only path. And frankly, that single minded passion is the paradox that simultaneously makes him appealing and repulsive.

Forget the copyright madness...in my mind Bikram has EVERY right to suggest that if you put his name on your class or your studio that it should meet determined standards. If it was Kevin's Stand-Up Yoga Hour or Tia's Ustrasana Bump Yoga, we'd expect certain standards as well, respectively.

But, who is Bikram to put 5,000 years of yoga into a SINGLE hour and a half? How can this one man encapsulate an entire cultural lineage with such determinacy?

Yet, the evidence is strong, the experience is clear - we've all felt it - Bikram "hot" yoga will likely transform your body - and it will certainly fuck with your mind.

The gift Bikram is giving, his genius if you will, is to see the demographic of the West and all of it's most prevalent ailments, and to provide a simple complex of postures that will significantly remedy many of those ailments. The penicillin analogy - I get that. Put together one effective elixir that can battle 90% of the ills.

That is a gift of genius.

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I'm fading now, but in the next day or so I'd like to share some more thoughts on my experience with Bikram (and Rikram!), meander a bit on the biz of yoga (a la Yoga, Inc.), toss some ideas out about Josh's community teaching model, and invite you to the giant yoga party I'm planning to throw for all of us (and all of them!)! Oh, and check out Tom's meditation class tonight.



Praise god.
And the devil, too.

K


*Note: probably worth only 1/2 a cent on the open market