Friday, April 27, 2007

tomorrow should be hot

Today was the perfect day for a half day. We had the evening of because of Bikram's booksigning. We all got autographed copies of his book. He signed mine "chester," but it was signed upside down and on the back cover. Some one didn't put the sleeve on right. It's kind of funny. They just installed 14 more heats in the yoga room. It has been slightly cooler, but now we will have a heat stroke. I am drinking about 8 litres of water each day. I'm excited for the weekend so I can sleep in on Sunday. Chinatown is about 3 blocks away from where I'm staying, and that's where all the cheap produce is. I have to go back this weekend to pick up some fruit. I decided to cut my hair tonight. You might not be able to tell from the picture, but it's basically the same, just short on the sides. I needed a change. I'm happy with it. Sleepy time.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

atrocity exhibition


And I picked on the whims of a thousand or more,
Still pursuing the path that's been buried for years,
All the dead wood from cities and jungles on fire,
Can't replace or relate, can't release or repair,
Take my hand and I'll show you what was and will be.

-Ian Curtis, Joy Division, from 'Atrocity Exhibition' (1980)

I'm almost finished with Ian Curtis' biography, so I thought I would include some lyrics of his. Ian hanged himself 11 days after my birthday in 1980 directly preceeding their first U.S. tour.

I was justly frustrated with yesterday (after being locked out for several hours) and so I carried my frustration with me through to today. I was and have been very stressed, without finding release. Everything just seems so overwhelming. All my free time consists of preparing for something else. Do I have enought food, water, toiletries, clothes, or reading material? Is my phone, computer, and ipod charged? Worry, worry, worry. I pride myself on being prepared for a range of situations, but those things can become stressful and that's the last thing I want right now. What are you going to do? Bikram's right: this will all be over in two minutes. I am going to wake up and it's going to be over. I will long for every second of these days. On a tangent, I am curious about preparing for the past. I haven't thought this one through, so don't expect anything too logical or profound(not that I am normally profound, or logical for that matter). If the future and the past are only the mind's contruct to explain the abstract, then why couldn't one prepare for the past? Maybe we only truly reexperience the past through dreams, so maybe I can prepare certain items to address past problems and relive them without pain or second guessing. More on this later...

Sunday, April 22, 2007

doesn't crash just yet


The foot's proclivity for step, the mind's propensity for uniqeness, the passive acceptance of consciousness; we all tread this planet and search for our identity. Will I find my identity in this career that pays the bills, will I find my life in the subgenre of culture that I identify with, will I find sense in that which appears to lack sense. 182 fish leapt out of the ocean while I stumbled through infinite green. 10,479 drops of rain fell on my helmet as I rode oscillating up and down, up and down on the cavernous road. 33,294 key strokes have performed their function on this idyllic day. Do these events create inner substructures that form our existential grid? Will the next wave culture shock reverse our arbitrary, subjective notions of morality? I'm seen unrealized, just us figure victims; side and I lose in such a half interesting bottom.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Long night Thursday


I'm super exhausted. Two yoga classes a day are tough, and it's only the beginning! That's the good news. Today, it poured really hard the entire ride and so I was covered in mud, all over my legs, all over my bike, and all over my backpack. However, I got to go in the ocean for the first time today! I walked over right after the morning yoga class and waded in the salt water. It felt really good on my sore muscles. We have to sit in these chairs that look comfortable, but are extremely bad for the lower back and tailbone. I'm looking forward to this weekend. I have a Saturday morning yoga class, but then the weekend's mine. I think I am just going to sleep for 36 hours straight. Time to sleep.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007



Well, today was the first official day of yoga. It's going to be a very interesting journey. I'm really eager to see this unrealized transformation. Some of these people have such amazing stories of how they got here. People half paralyzed from smoking crack cocaine for so long, alcoholics, car crash victims, and family/spouse death victims. I'm just like, uh, I just kind of want to figure out myself. I didn't lose 70 pounds or come from extraordinary circumstances. I think I'm definitely here for the spiritual aspect more than others. Our first yoga class today was interesting. We were all about four inches away from our neighbor side to side and 1 inch top to bottom. Three more people wouldn't fit in the room. I think I just want to sleep now.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Orientation

Well, it appears that I'm going to start off every entry, "Well,." So I showed up for orientation yesterday four hours early, which was really awesome. At least that gave me some time to soak up the beautiful Honolulu weather. Not that San Diego's weather is bad, but it's a nice break from the overcast mornings and chilly nights. Orientation was definitely interesting just on the sheer fact of how many people were there. I thought the teacher training group would be small since it's the first session in Honolulu. 315 bodies are going to become teachers soon, including me. It seems that only about 50 or so are males. Most of the people here for yoga are women in their late 30's/early 40's. I found out that we are going to have Saturday yoga classes. I was hoping to be at the beach all weekend. I want to go hiking/camping, but it will be a short trip if I can't leave Friday night. Oh well.

It was cool because they fed us last night. There were lots of options with tofu and grilled veggies. Rajashree decided to sit at our table which was a really awesome experience. Rajashree is Bikram's wife and she teaches and runs a lot of the courses. She developed the Bikram's pregnancy yoga and she also does a program for children with cancer called 'karma for kids'. She was really beautiful and intelligent and nice. We were able to talk with her for a while as she ate her food. It's really interesting to be that close to a wealth of knowledge. We were all sponges soaking up her wisdom.

I'm excited about starting today. I haven't had a yoga class since last Wednesday and my body is going through withdrawls. I have to wait until later in the day before I get my yoga class, but I'll be reporting here shortly for lecturing and reciting of the first posture. Everybody is really nervous. I'm not so bad, I just want to get it over with. Only time will tell.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Day Two Adventures

Well, day two was a pretty cool and adventurous day. I got my bike reassembled and took off onto the streets of Honolulu. Riding in Honolulu is pretty fun although there are a ton of cars and no real bike lane. Navigating the streets can be a little bit interesting, especially when there are crazy potholes and gaping gorges in the road. The ride I rode around, familiarized myself with the city on a general level, bought a new yoga mat, and bought a ton of groceries. I don't know if that was such a good idea considering that the fridge here is sort of no bueno. The temperature is only like half of what it's supposed to be, so it looks like I'm going to have to massively consume my vegetables before they go bad.

I've just been hanging out with Billy and Jason and some other friends. Everybody is really nice here. What an amazing notion. I am really enjoying being here so far. It's not that large of a place, but there are things constantly going on here. I went to a fashion show on the top of a rooftop yesterday. And the day before, I went to see 'As You Like It', a modernized Shakespeare play.

I have to report tomorrow for the Bikram's orientation. I'm excited to get started with the yoga. I know it's going to be a lot of work, but I'm ready to dive in. I'll probably eat those words in about a week when I am writing about how difficult it is. We'll see.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

First day in Hawai'i



Well, I finally made it. I myself wasn't convinced that this would actually come to fruition until I was actually here. These pictures show the view from the place that I am staying at in Honolulu. The weather is perfect right now. It's warm and slightly humid, but definitely not hot. I think I'm going to like the warm weather here. I'm so tired of the San Diego gloom of the last couple of years....

I got my bike all put together today. I had no trouble taking it on the plane and I didn't even have to pay extra. I'm very excited about riding around the island. I'm going to ride tomorrow to check out where the hotel is in Waikiki. It's only a couple of miles, so it should be an easy ride. I don't really have any plans for the next couple of days, except to work on my yoga dialogue. I need to get about 6 pages memorized by Sunday. I am working on it, and I recorded the dialogue on my ipod, so that will help with the memorization.

I think I'm going to go for a walk and check out the neighborhood. If I find anything interesting, I'll definitely share my experiences...