Week Nine

(From week nine of yoga boot camp!)

A journey of a thousand miles begins with
just one step.

We are stepping.

There is really nothing final about week nine of the nine week
Bikram Yoga Teacher Training.
Week nine is simply the portal in which we exit the
basic pastel water color painting
of a pear on a table
and enter a life painted in bold strokes of yellow, red, green,
purple, pink, fire
orange and blue.
Streaks screaming across a canvas.

A work of art that makes you pause and say… YES!

It is a life made of thousands of layers
where before there was just one
paper thin translucent sheet. Easily worn and torn.
Now we are so strong, cross fiber technology.

Unbreakable.



Don’t be sad, or hold onto the past,

and don’t live your life in plans of tomorrow.

The moment is NOW,

there is no time for attachment or sorrow.



Remember the smiling happy face.



Our lives have been defined by:

Sweating – letting go.

Staying alert - being present.

Rashes, pain – weakness, vulnerability.

Growing – triumphant.

Connecting – so soon, so deep, so real.



The bitter stink of detox wafting through the hallways.

We live within the cloud,

the haze that is worse than Los Angeles at rush hour.

We find ourselves in the puddles we leave behind.

In the deep subconscious jigsaw puzzle of the mind

that is completely relaxed,

pushing into the floor like a lead weight.



"I can’t lift my head! I’m falling!"



No, you’re in savasana,

just hold on and enjoy the ride.



Our lives defined by:



Desire. Desire. Desire.



To learn

To grow

To Connect

To fuck



Desire…



Admit it people you know it’s true,

Feel the energy surrounding you.

We’re all so strong and vibrant and free…

it’s not as if we only think “Lock the Knee!”

Thank goodness we are sex proof, sleep proof, stress proof here,

or else how could we resist making love and drinking beer?



It is week nine comrades

and it’s time we set our intentions straight:



Be conscious, be kind AND DON”T BE LATE!!



The fact that it’s “Week Nine” is actually inconsequential,

now that we’ve discovered our true strength and potential.



We will survive! High Five!



You remember in the beginning when Bikram made us a bet?

He said, “guess what, you haven’t even started living yet!”

Now, I really understand what he meant.

I’ve been in cold storage, my back hardly bent.

Now, I am looking behind on the floor,

I’ve got friends all around who I love and adore,

I’ve got so much, and I’m still looking for more.

It's like the window on the Rolls was opened at 90 miles per hour;

it’s a rush in my face,

nothing but power.



It’s time to wake up!

WAKE UP, even if you didn’t know you were asleep.

Time to make promises you know you can keep.

It is our duty, you see, to be all we can be.

An army of soldiers coming to set the people free.

Don’t shrink back, don’t hide, and don’t live in fear.

Set your course now, make your intentions clear…

Our mission to mend each broken, battered, weakened spine,

To bring light and love and peace to the mind.



One love, one heart is a good place to start.



Be bold, share your power, and be brave...

who can you serve meditating in a cave?

You’ve got to go and travel to spread the good word,

be free, be strong, fly like a bird.

Take it all in and hold on tight,

let material attachment go, only covet the Light.

Then you must share it with every person you see,

from Naples, Florida to ITALY...

Guess what everyone...

“We ARE FAMILY!”



Almost 300 people in Hawaii training this year,

trying to learn to live without fear.

From China, Japan, France and Spain,

we’re all here to receive the love and the pain.

We take it all with only an occasional whimper,

because we feel we couldn’t get much limper.

But, in the end we will emerge like a Phoenix from the ashes,

and we’ll all be so ready to go out and kick some fat asses!







How are weeks 10 and 11 treating everyone??