Good Form. No Fidgeting.

I took the early morning class yesterday with one of my studio's directors.

Any of the teachers at my studio would be ideal for me to practice with before I go away. Every single one I have practiced with in the past few months knows I am going to teacher training next month. And they have all given me great feedback.

However, I am trying to make sure I take classes with the directors before I go because they are the ones who wrote my recommendation letter for me. I want them to be secure with the fact that they signed their name to paper to say I was "ready" for teacher training.

Plus, it's good to practice with them so that they will remember you are going to teacher training... And will hopefully be willing to give you classes to teach when you get back. (Fingers crossed!)

Anyway... Back to yesterday's early class...

Early morning classes are tough for me. I am naturally dehydrated. My body isn't warmed up yet, because I haven't been up all day walking around. Any water that I do drink for the first hour after I am up tastes like toothpaste. So I knew this, one of my first early morning classes in a long time, was going to be rough.

My endurance in the poses was crap. Complete crap. I fell out of Standing-Head-to-Knee and Standing Bow a dozen times each. And during Half Moon, I wasn't able to go nearly as deep as I normally can.

It was disappointing.

Till after class.

My director waited around for me to come out of the room. He said my focus in my practice is much improved from where it had been.

"You aren't fidgeting anymore," he said.

I am normally a fidgeter. I scratch. I wipe. I tug. I grimace and make funny faces. And before I go away to teacher training, the fidgeting is something that needed to stop.

I don't want to be called a "chicken shit" by Bikram for fidgeting.

I told the director that I felt I needed to build up my endurance before I go away. He said not to worry too much about that.

"You have good form. And you aren't fidgeting as much as you used to," he said.

So I am going to stress less about the fact that I am falling out of postures. There will be plenty of time practice staying in them, as Bikram allegedly likes to make us hold poses super-duper-extra long.