First Advanced

364 classes (1 advanced) in 356 days.

I finally took my first ever Advanced Class yesterday. This is something I've been looking forward to for a long time. Below is a link from Dancing J (another blogger) with an excellent description of what the advanced class consists of. I suggest you check that out in addition to what I'm writing here.

http://keepitlocking.blogspot.com/2010/01/demystifying-bikrams-advanced-series.html

First off, the class is much more laid back than the beginning class. It's not a super disciplined, dialogue-driven class like the beginning class. This DOES NOT mean it's easier by any stretch of the imagination, but in some ways it's more relaxed. However... the pace is much much faster than the beginning class. There's like 84 postures (even more with certain variations) to get through so we move fast. The beginning class seems downright slow compared to advanced. There were definitely times things were moving too fast for me and I didn't really know what was going on! I'm sure this will improve over time.

Yesterday there were about twelve people in class, which is apparently a lot more than normal. Four of us were first timers, so at least I wasn't alone. The good news is the advanced class actually has a number of postures that aren't crazy impossible, so I wasn't totally left out in the cold. The speed and volume of everything is certainly overwhelming, but after class I thought about different postures and I can see how I'll be able to improve them and make progress.

Oh yeah, one little detail I haven't mentioned yet - I was dying in there! I took the beginning class right before, which turned out to be a bad idea for me. I had one of the more experienced students tell me he never takes the beginning class right beforehand. Some people do it, and they're fine, but I won't be doing that next week. I'll take an earlier class. I was SOOOO dehydrated. I had to leave the room at one point for about 15-20 minutes. I wasn't the only one. I'd say at least 7-8 people left the room at various points for a few minutes. One person left and never came back. It's funny, because just like my body had to get used to the beginning class, it's having to do the same thing now with advanced. It's like a shock to the system, but at least I know it's a good shock, and I have enough certainty in the yoga that I know it will turn out alright.

The best part is now I have a huge amount of other postures I can work on learning and improving, and that can keep me busy for quite a long time:)