Our new Life with the COVID Pandemic

I am happily over 65, and now I am homebound, due to my age and an autoimmune condition.  I want to see my grandchildren, I want to see my friends, I want to enjoy my normal life, and I want to keep up with my Bikram Yoga practice to stay healthy, balanced and calm, especially during this time, our new Life with the COVID Pandemic. There are various studies that Bikram Yoga helps to improve your mental health, like this one.

I cannot wait to start my in-studio practice again. But like most of us, it is home practice right now, and the hard part of a home practice is NO HEAT, HUMIDITY OR COMMUNITY.

But it is what it is (I I W I I – my mantra) and this COVID Pandemic is real and we have to find a way to deal with it, and this is a part of Yoga and life’s challenges.

Calm breath, acceptance, and a positive attitude allows us to go on! In tough times, this is what we do as yogis.

We are all students in life

Everyday we get the possibility to start over. Everyday we can start our new Life. I am a Bikram Yoga teacher and started to practice at the age of 48, and now I am 69. Bikram Yoga is the most wonderful thing that happened in my life. I deeply know about the power, strength, focus, and compassion this yoga provides. The yoga is hard. It’s a beginning series. The high humidity and hot room temperatures are the advantage, and that’s what makes this yoga practice so joyfully hard.  

I have been a Bikram teacher, for many years (since 2004 to be exact). As a teacher and as a student, it was so hard for me to delve into a home practice. That’s when I realized :

“New beginnings are always happening”

As a teacher, I’m a student. AND as a student I am also a teacher. As a student I listen to my struggles and witness and acknowledge them with kindness and compassion.  As a teacher I learn to listen, support, observe and help.  I have said over the years our students are our best teachers, and we are always learning. My inner voice is always teaching me new things. 

There are so many varied facets to Bikram Yoga as a student, a teacher, and member of a very large community.  Dedicated teachers and students alike know the depth of this healing yoga, as a way of life. I treat every class as if it’s my first one, and it is always fresh and new. No expectations, no rules, just try the best you can with the body and mind you have each day.

We practice 90 minute classes, and follow a dialogue driven prescription 3-6 days per week. With very few studios open, most of all us are forced to practice at home to recordings, from live Facebook moments, zoom classes and YouTube. It’s definitely not the real deal, but this is the present moment of here and now, and acceptance is key. 

MY FIRST REAL BLOGPOST

There is always a first time and that is the beauty of LEARNING”

There is a saying that goes “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” and yet I love trying new things. A blog, blogging, bloggers are all new territory concepts for me to explore, and this is exciting to me!  As a teacher, a mentor, and student – I love Bikram Yoga.  I want to share this with so many people, because I deeply know it’s power. I know how difficult it is with Covid surrounding us and I look forward to the time when my community of teachers and students will be practicing together again.

Yoga is medicine. It’s time to make time for your health and well being. Ninety minute Bikram classes work, so start at home with a 90min class from our youtube channel and one day we will all be together in the studio soon.

Love, Margie