Le Journal de +Louise

I walked the stairs of my yoga studio with new vigour. Today, I have decided to take on a mini challenge.

5 classes, every week, for 4 weeks.

I am well aware of other more intensive “challenges” (30 days, 60 days) proposed by the yoga studio … However, due to personal and work commitments, I can only manage to squeeze in 5 classes a week. For now.

I want to explore how will my body and perspective change after this challenge. I could not wait to see how my limbs, muscles, joints and my mind, handle the consistent pull and stretch of a dedicated practice.

So that makes it 20 classes in 30 days.
Easier said than done.

Oddly, it was a big class for a Friday morning. all 50 odd of us crammed into one small room, our mats were just mere inches away from one another’s. Before the start of the class, the teacher said this class will be “different”. Apparently by “different” she meant that ABC’s camera crew will be camping in the studio half way through the class. Today’s class was meant to be a fundraiser for a member’s two year old daughter, who was diagnosed with a severe case of cerebral palsy. The mother, Karen, a tall blonde, a few mats down from me, used to be an instructor at the studio. The documentary is aimed at capturing bits and pieces of Karen’s life; since she devotes most of her time practising yoga, and, also the fact that our studio helped raised over five thousand dollars November last year, all of us attending class today got a taste of a brief 15 seconds of fame.

In Bikram Yoga, you are encouraged to stay present, looking at no one but yourself in the mirror, do not even blink, laser beam focus, or you might fall over and lose your balance. I welcomed the idea of distraction and tried to utilise it to stretch the limits of my concentration in my practice. However, I did find myself chuckling at the hilarity of seeing a huge furry boom mic hovering below the ceiling right above my chest when I was deep into Camel backbend. Or that the camera man had to wipe his camera lens every couple of minutes due to the extreme humidity in the room. Or that the video assistant, with half of her skirt drenched in sweat, tip-toeing around the studio, carefully avoiding any splayed out limbs.

As we completed the final breathing exercise, I knelt down, touched my forehead on the ground, broke a smile and acknowledged the first day of my challenge.

Come Tuesday, it will be 4 down, only 16 more to go.

Happy Easter.

Namaste.