Judgment day: I taught my first class today. Today, June 21 is the longest day of the year…and it felt that way as I was teaching my 6:45am class. I’m exaggerating. Beside the fact that I burned my leg on the heater and I went five minutes over, I think it actually went pretty well. There was a guy in class who had only been to one Bikram class before today. I wanted to help him out, but I think it would have been too distracting for me. I had so many other things to think about: my words, the heat, the time, and holding back my uncontrollable urge to cry and run out of the room. It was so intimidating to see all of the students concentrating and working diligently through the sweat and humidity because I thought they were mad at me. I don’t know why it was a big surprise to me to discover that people don’t smile while they are working their asses off. The temperature in the room was about 110 ° with 25% humidity. I thought that it was too hot so I kept opening the windows and doors, but my instructor told me that it was perfect. The most important thing is that it is done and over with. Now I get to work on my mistakes and start to learn to become a good teacher.
I’m in New York for a few more days. After that, I move to Baltimore and drive a bright red pick-up truck to and from the yoga studios between picking up babies from day care and doing laundry. It should be quite an experience.