Practising, practising

I have stuck bits of paper to my dashboard with Bikram dialogue printed in block letters. If you were to drive alongside me on the I-5 and take a glance, you'd see me talking away animatedly about head up, chin up, spine straight, etc. The only trouble is that while concentrating on the road and glancing at the script, I can't appreciate the beautiful N. Californian scenery. I think I'm in Willows, at the local Starborgs. There's something about this part of CA, flat farm landscape, driving to the big city of Sacramento, that is reminiscent of driving between Edmonton and Calgary. Vast countryside with distant city buildings.
 
Life in Vaudeville notes: got stuck in an elevator at the rundown Ramada in Redding last night, with a pizza. No harm done, and I didn't even snack. Note #2: I was delighted with the video Bettina took of me practising the Bow Pose with the expert Bikram instructor at the Sept. 12 clinic. The same instructor who asked that the video be removed from Facebook forthwith. Heh. I hope no lasting harm is done, since the instructor [whose name I am now too cautious to post to my silly blog] is going to be in San Diego, teaching us both. The video's down, we promise. Sorry about that.

Yer Basic Humblin' Farewell

I took my last class yesterday (Weds.) at 3:45, with the luminous Namastasia at the helm. After the pranayama breathing, she gave a warm smile and announced to the class that I was about to head off to teacher training. Then she cocked an eyebrow at me and asked if I'd like to lead the class in the Half Moon/Hands to Feet pose. Uhhhh...oh sure, what the hell, I know it, right? Wrong, wrong, little yogini-in-training. Quite a few more pauses and stutters before Anastasia leaped to the rescue. This was *exactly* the wakeup call I needed, too. That's the proof of a great teacher.
 
So, anyway: I'm in Portland, having wasted a little time at Target, and a bit of cash, and now to hit that old I-5 and see how far I get today. Rainy and foggy is the forecast. Determined and still slightly sheepish is my mindframe.

And away we go!

Tonight I'm taking the Victoria-Port Angeles ferry. I don't quite know where I'll sleep (I'd say "crash," except that seems like bad luck when you're on a road trip), but probably somewhere in Washington, off the I-5. To do before the ferry: just about everything I was supposed to accomplish over the last couple of weeks. Well, I've always been a last-minute packer and forgetter. I just hope I won't forget anything too crucial today. Like my yoga outfits.

And a partridge in a pear tree pose

Three boxes of Emergen-C, one vat of Vega Sports Recovery mix, one tin of brown rice protein dust, three boxes of energy bars, a collapsible cooler, a hockey water bottle and a 1-gallon insulated jug. These are the things I'll carry to San Diego.

Just so we're clear

The fact that I'm driving to this yoga school does not in any way mean I plan to be the groceries courier for others over the next nine or so weeks. If others want to come shopping with me, fine. But run errands for others on my own time? No.

NOT SO SMART

Just left my bank card in Canadian Tire, dammit dammit dammit. Could I be distracted? Disorganized? Dippy? All of the above. But I did get my maps and route planner for the drive to San Diego, so that's something. And I did get an insulated drinks jug for the yoga tent in San Diego, as well as a hockey water bottle ('though I promise not to swish and spit in public).
 
My nerves? Jingle-jangle-jinglin'. Now to write a speech about midlife career changes, and my decision to be a Bikram yogini. Naturally this is a humorous speech.

What we have not done to get ready to leave versus what we have done forms the ratio of 1,000:1. Today I plan to hit BCAA, the bank, Starbucks and the grocery store. At some point I have to write a speech about yoga, since I signed up to deliver it at tomorrow night's Toastmasters meeting. What was I thinking? I was thinking it would take my mind off the growing nervousness about surviving training at my advanced age.
 
Yesterday I had a taste of what training may be like, as I attended a seminar given by an expert Bikram trainer, Diane Ducharme. She took us through the beginner class and then came back to give a 5-hour posture clinic. There were many people in attendance, and I was surprised to note that there were men and women older than I in the studio. Some of them had flexibility that astonished us all, and I realized my own worst fear when I was called to the front to demonstrate my lotus posture, during which I could only lift both legs about two inches off the ground. Later a woman in her late 50s came up to do the same pose, and at the two-leg-lift stage, she went almost vertical. My friend Bettina was amused by my amazement at everyone being able to do that pose, as well as my other two nemeses, Tree and Toe Stand. I mean EVERYONE else could do them. Dang.
 
And it is at such times that I realize this training seminar will also be a valuable ego exercise -- meaning being aware of how my ego holds me back, demanding perfection or nothing, constantly comparing myself to others . . . god, how boring it all is. If the next nine weeks help me to recognize ego flares for what they are, i.e., silly wastes of energy, I will be delighted.