Bikram without Words

For the first time in nearly five years I had the pleasure of experiencing a SILENT class. Instead of having to listen to the constant directions of a trainer, you just follow a few instructions and, above all, CHANGE, to signal the end of a posture.

For to get the timing right, is the real difficulty. Saba has been teaching most of the Wednesday classes that I attend in Berlin and it has been a pleasure of a special kind to have more time for watching my thoughts and associations during Bikram postures.

I wish all her classes were silent on Wednesdays at lunch time! I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, while sighing over the new kinds of pain that my kind of progress is produing: left foot, left knee, between the shoulder blades…

But much of your pain is self-chosen, wrote Kahlil Gibran ages ago…

Bikram Yoga in Berlin

Thank god, I have been able to organise myself such that I can do Yoga once a week again. Even though it takes a lot of travel time, I simply need it – not just to stop my joints from deteriorating, but to continue improving the state of my body.

The studio is very nice due to its parquet floor, and it is not as hot as the one in London North. So I don’t have to rest as often which is a good feeling.

Other little German differences are notable, but all in all, I’m sooo glad that the Bikram word has crossed the language barrier and that there are enough students for the class that fits my train timetable.

Onward and upward – in knee, hip and shoulders above all, these days.

Four Years later

No, my left knee and hip are still not ‘ok’. And Kerry, who’s also a real regular, said the other day: it’ll probably be for life…

Well, I did have that fantasy of getting my body back into the shape of the 29-year-old who used to ski, play tennis, do acrobatics on horses and climb the Saleve mountain near Geneva.

But what is my progress? Let me count:

1. I am stronger, fitter and distinctly more connected with the various limbs of my body
2. Pain is effectively gone. Back pain completely. Every back bend is a miracle! However, as the hip joint keeps re-setting itself, I do experience the odd moments of discomfort reminding me of the agonies I’ve experienced.
3. My shoulders are freeer than ever, while my legs are stronger than ever. Thus I walk so much better, and I can even run again! I’ve only tried up to the traffic lights, but still!
4. Going down stairs is an ongoing test for progress, but all in all, I feel terrific when I’m out of that studio.
5. Inside, I notice the shortcomings of knee and hip differently, depending on the posture. But progress keeps happening, which is why I continue: with love, zest, joy, commitment, perseverance and utter amazement and gratitude.

My wretched body stretched by Anna

Today was a very special class again: just in time I noticed that it was time to go and I felt just enough energy, too. No excuse today.

And my very first teacher Anna was giving it. She’s always very funny and amusing, and I value how she observes how I’ve been changing. And even more do I value her willingness to stretch my back in that relaxing half locust pose.

2009 will be the year of ‘ultimate balance’

I’ve made such consistent progress, that I am convinced I will have my right and left sides balanced before the end of this year.

That means an awful lot to me:

1. mission accomplished, i.e. body functionality back to before the accident, albeit 36 years later
2. every class feels like stopping ageing, if not rejuvenating
3. I imagine that coming once a week will ‘keep it up’, whereas I’ve been coming between 3 and 4 times a week on average
4. I’ve become a new person thanks to renewing my body so fundamentally: leaner and trimmer, as Anna said the other day, who had been my first teacher; I would add stronger and more flexible. And after three days of fasting after a colonic, my joints feel particularly nimble and my arms seem to float like those of a ballerina.

And thus I keep encourageing everybody to ‘go for the challenge’. For every class is one. But nothing can replace it.

Alignment, alignment, alignment

I always felt the difference between my left hip and knee and the right ones. But I was amazed, when one of the early trainers had said “so the whole left side”.

For months, I have been feeling areas I had not felt before: my right wrist, shoulder and, above all, hip, where the muscles connect the pelvis to the spine.

Meanwhile, my left knee and my left hip are noticeably and “feelably” twisting back into line. But the left leg is still far too weak to kick back. And that after nearly four years of truly regular practice…

But today I felt too weak to go. I am grieving over the loss of a very important person in my life. The Thursday class got some of the tears out, but we all have to grieve our own way – with and without Yoga, aligning our emotional energies with the strength and flexibility of our muscles and bones…

Life is not for Wimps!

Kerry is my favourite Yogi friend because she is ever so positive and calls a spade a spade. Recently we shared our respective problems and joys and she gave me that wonderful line: life is not for wimps. At Bikram Yoga you learn how not to be a wimp but to use more space to live in and to enjoy every little bit of it – no matter how hard it may be…

Dear Michele

For weeks I’ve had a huge bunch of giant white chrysanthemums in my head as an expression of THANK YOU for your courage, commitment and perseverance to get Bikram Yoga established in London. Every class is a pleasure and privilege on my journey towards eventually recovering the kind of body I had when that accident happened. I am confident that I’ll get there for Bikram heals what nothing else can reach!

All the various trainers have left their imprints on my experience: you with adjusting my standing head to knee pose and watching the most fascinating spot on the carpet – besides pointing out that anybody who does Bikram must be a bit crazy… One other practitioner said: it’s for people who like challenges!

35 Years after the accident

3.5 years after starting with Bikram Yoga and I KNOW I shall feel like I felt when I was 29 and it happened… My left hip and knee have made such progress! My spine is bendable again! I am virtually pain free and while regaining more and more functionality and flexibility, the real challenge is re-aligning my right and left side.

I am committed to Bikram Yoga until the end of my life. It energises me to do my work which is my life: the professional aspect is on 3D Metrics and the social aspect is on In the Spirit of the Forum for Stable Currencies.

From that followed the online petition Stop the Cash Crumble to Equalize the Credit Crunch.

Continued improvements

It’s long overdue that I hail the effects that my commitment and perseverance to Bikram Yoga have brought about. It’s also interesting to compare my body feelings between being in London where Yoga is my only ’sport’ and Brandenburg where I walk in the wonderful fields and woods to try my latest feelings of knees, legs, hips and back.

Of course, when I experience my body in bed, it doesn’t matter where I am. The best is, of course, that chronic pain has changed into occasional discomfort. The real challenge is now to get the full functionality back of the left knee and hip. And thus I shall continue to experience my body in those 26 postures, marvelling most gratefully at the miracle I have been experiencing.

And learning to smile more and more often!