But I found a Bikram studio that is a five minute walk from my house. So I went. Although doing the same thing every single practice gets boring, the Bikram series is fantastic for stretching out my lower back, and for working on backbending--which is my greatest weakness in my yoga practice.
My lower back has been weepy since I moved here because I have been cleaning every floor, every cabinet, every surface. I also have been moving heavy things around, and carrying heavy bags when I buy things for the house. So my back told me it was time to get into some yoga, which I missed terribly anyway. I had no yoga mat, as all of mine are in the container which is slowly making its way here. I looked in sporting goods stores to find a mat, to no avail. In America, you can walk into Marshall's or Wal-Mart and find them. They are everywhere. Here, I realized I would have to go into a yoga studio to get one.
So I went to the only official Bikram studio in Israel. The website is in both Hebrew and English, so I was able to understand it. I liked that. Since I have taught the sequence, I knew that I could follow along just fine, even though the class is conducted entirely in Hebrew.
The woman at the front desk, after I asked her in Hebrew if she speaks English, said "yes, of course", and I told her that I am a new immigrant, that I have taught the series even though I am not officially Bikram certified, and that I was looking forward to taking the class. I was able to buy a mat there, and they have showers in case I want to wash the sweat off before I leave. Since I live so close, I don't really need that, but yesterday, when I was going to visit a friend right after class, I did shower there. It is a nice feature in a yoga studio, but one I think I will seldom use. Public shower and public bathrooms give me the heebie-jeebies, but they are, sometimes, a necessary evil.
The classes are very interesting because they are taught in Hebrew. I have picked up a few words, like 'inhale', 'exhale', and 'forward', all of which will be very handy when I begin teaching here, which will hopefully be soon. I have had the same teacher in the classes I've taken so far, and her English is very good, so a few times she would say something in English, and I knew it was for my benefit. A few little corrections on form, and even the occasional 'very good, Suzanne'.
Although I, again, get bored with the same sequence held for the same amount of time, every time, I do so enjoy a nice, hot room. I can feel my muscles relaxing and stretching beyond the limits they can reach in a colder room. I also just love a really good sweat. Since the people there are SO nice to me and so patient with my pathetic Hebrew, I joined up for a while. Now that I have a mat, I can practice at home and do my ab routine without breaking my tailbone on the tile floors in my apartment. While in America, I would do my practice in the back room at Masters Studios (my beloved dojo), and then do my 11 minutes of abs.
Taking a class in a foreign language is actually very freeing, in some ways. I am able to turn entirely inwards and focus on the feeling of each pose, rather than focusing on the words from the teacher. For me, a yoga practice is about feeling the postures and finding my edge in each one, about extending a little further and stretching a little deeper. It is why I have found practicing alone has really moved my practice forward (kadima, in Hebrew) in a way I hadn't expected. My mind remains uncluttered by the words of the teacher (no matter how wise her words might be), and it becomes all about my body's reactions to the pose. And I find that my mind doesn't wander beyond the room. I am not thinking about anything else but that moment. I am truly in the moment when I am practicing alone, but in a group of people. I can absorb the energy of the class, and give out the positive energy that I am generating, but there are no distractions. It is a new kind of intensity, and I am totally digging it right now. I am taking today off from my practice, as I think I pushed my neck stretches a little too far yesterday. I am allowing a day of rest for my body, as dictated by the literal pain in the neck that I feel.
So, although I am not generally a fan of Bikram yoga, and everything I have read about Bikram makes me think "What a jackass", I love the studio, I love the heat, and I love the teachers. The students mostly ignore me, except to check out my practice. But I am used to this. Having taught for so long, I am used to having people watch. Maybe soon, they will speak to me, when they see that I am not a visitor but a Tel Aviv resident. Maybe not. Either way, I will continue to go, and some days practice at home, and, hopefully, I will soon find a kung fu school.
I know that yoga is a path without end, that we never stop learning. I learn something new from every teacher, from every student, from every class. And it makes me a better yogi and better person, I think. I don't ever want to stop learning, so I will continue לשאף ולשף
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