Maybe…I’ve been practicing Bikram yoga for three years, and it’s become my passion.
On November 3, there is a yoga competition in Las Vegas and my thirteen y.o .daughter and I are training for it.
There are five compulsory poses:
1. Standing head to knee
2. Standing bow
3. Floor bow
4. Rabbit
5. Stretching pose
And two advanced poses of the competitor’s choice.
We have to practice these poses and attend one Bikram advanced class per week.
I’m excited…and also trying not to be overwhelmed by terror!
And, for those of you who remember the saga of me and my poor excuse for a husband…I am now divorced Yaay! Onward and upward.
A yoga competition? Doesn’t that kind of miss the whole point?
I have more chi than you, jankmeister!
I love Bikram yoga. Good luck to you!
I did Bikram pretty regularly for a few months early this year - and I don’t get rabbit pose. Not, “I can’t do rabbit pose” I can. I get complimented on it during class. Apparently, I do it very well, but I don’t get it. I’m not stretching anything, I can’t feel any muscles working, I’m just kind of there. (Unlike the other four poses you mentioned where I can clearly feel both what I’m doing and how even with everything I’m giving it, I haven’t even come close to the full extension of that poses).
What the hell is it? What makes a good Rabbit as opposed to a bad one? What are you trying for in competition?
I did Bikram pretty regularly for a few months early this year - and I don’t get rabbit pose. Not, “I can’t do rabbit pose” I can.
op by amaranth
I know…that is one of the poses for competition, though and I don’t know why…I would have put camel in there, myself… It does stretch out your spine, though.
I don’t see this as a ruthless competition, and I’m guessing the other competing yogis don’t either. I’m mainly trying to improve my practice and challenge myself. I want to see how I do on a stage, not really warmed up, in front of a lot of people.
Plus, I get to take the Bikram’s advanced class and I’ve always wanted to.
I’ve always thought at the end of a long, peaceful day of being a yoga instructor, they could go to a Mosh Pit to even things out.
YAY for Gail and your daughter!
I had issues with Rabbit too at first. What made it “click” for me was to watch my belly button the entire time I was moving into the pose. I’ve seen pictures of one of those yoga competitions. There are people doing Rabbit whose legs bend at a 90 degree angle at the knees. I think that it’s in there where it is to counteract Camel.
Speaking of Camel, if I may be allowed to brag too, in class a few weeks ago there was a guest instructor. She liked my Camel so much that she had me demonstrate it to the class. One of my proudest moments.
Good luck, Gail. Let us know how it goes.
So, Gail, how did it go?
Yoga flame! Yoga fire! That’s about the extent of my yoga knowledge. Wondering how Gail did.
This was back in early November…Sadly, a few days before, I developed this nagging pain in my lower back, which precluded me from doing Standing Head to Knee…So, since my then 13 y.o. daughter was competing in the youth competition, I still went and watched.
My daughter is going to L.A. to compete in the nationals!
I’m planning on competing next year…by then my poses will be better and more solid…I’m hoping to conquer standing head to knee.
Everybody at the yoga studios in Reno and Sparks has been soooo supportive…they are raising money, through the Karma classes to send us down. (Karma classes are regular Bikram classes, but the class cost is only $5.00. The money goes to a cause.
That’s kinda what I was thinking.
Seriously, can you imagine yoga tailgating? A small group of thin waisted men and women brewing tea and eating tofu-dogs in the parking lot of a dry cleaners.
Or the trash talk “We’re gonna kick your ashram up between your chakras” or the chants; “ha-tha, ha-tha, ha-tha” or the cheerleaders; gimme an M, gimme an A gimme an N, gimme a T gimme an R, gimme an A, what’s that spell???
Or instead of the booing, the crowd just goes ooooooooooooom.
Good for Gail and especially for her daughter, but it just doesn’t click with me for some reason.
I push my girlfriend to do yoga to the best of her abilities. After all, how else is she going to learn to breathe fire, slink across the floor on her butt, or stretch her arms out like Inspector Gadget?
I’ve been doing Bikram for over two years and I still can’t do fucking Standing Head to Knee. I can only take solace in the fact that “you still get all of the benefit if you stay in Step 1.” Too bad about your injury but congratulations to your daughter.