The Power of Positivity

There has been so much going on here lately that I don't even know where to begin.

This past week marked our halfway point, which I had been looking forward to for a while. When the day actually arrived, though, I couldn't help thinking that this is only the halfway point? You mean we have to do this for another four and a half weeks? Don't get me wrong, I couldn't be happier to be here. There is no where else I'd rather be than here at training, surrounded by 450+ other people who all share the same passion as me. I get to live and breathe the yoga that I've loved for the past 8 years of my life. But there are definitely times where it all gets to be a bit much. This past week, for instance, we were kept up until 4am watching a 3.5 hour Bollywood movie that didn't get started until well after midnight. On top of that, posture clinics are moving faster and the plan seems to be for us to be finished delivering the 26 postures by the end of next week. Then of course we have the 11 yoga classes we manage to fit into our 6 day week.

I started out really enjoying posture clinics, which was probably due to the fact that I'd come here knowing the dialogue for the first 9 postures - up to Triangle. It didn't take us very long to get through those 9 postures, which was stressful enough to get up and deliver in front of the approximately 50 people in the room. In my last posture clinic we got to use the microphone, which feels weird enough on it's own, and is only amplified by the fact that it's the most unnatural environment ever - reciting the dialogue that you've managed to memorize as close as verbatim as possible, with 3 people demonstrating the posture in front of you and about 45 others watching your every move.

Bikram had been away for a couple weeks, but earlier this week he came back and taught most of our evening classes. One night it was so hot in there that he actually asked for the heat to be turned down. Definitely never thought I'd hear those words out of his mouth here. I've heard from other people who have gone through this whole teacher training experience that the yoga is the easiest thing you do here. I'm not sure I can fully agree... There are some days in there where I feel like I could die. Of course there are others where I feel on top of the world and stronger than I've ever felt before. I guess it's all about balance.

We've been talking lots lately about uncovering layers of yourself that may have been suppressed over the years, and how when you're doing this much yoga that process is accelerated. This past week alone I've definitely had some self realizations and life epiphanies. I've also been feeling like I'm more in tune with the bigger picture - the universe, if you will - than ever. The law of attraction has definitely been at work here, especially the past few days. There have been so many instances where I'll put a thought out there, and at exactly the right moment it's presented to me, reminding me once again of the power of positive thinking. Your outlook on life, on your practice, on anything, really does make a difference. A quote that my good friend Sarah S shared with me today speaks to that, in a sense: "Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself". It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to feel good about yourself in order for your outlook on life to improve - changing your outlook on life can change how you feel about yourself.