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February 25, 2010

The Power of Breath

This morning I forgot my water bottle!  I could not believe it!  I'd forgotten my double walled vacuum sealed stainless steel water bottle filled with a few ice cubes and Emergen-C!!!

After a moment of panic, I asked my teacher for a cup, bit the bullet and walked into the room.  Luck would have it or maybe it was meant to be but yesterday I had read Mary Jarvis' posting on Oh My Bikram about her view on water in class and decided to take her advice and focus on my breath.

At Party Time (the one official water break), I calmly stood on my mat and contemplated my cup of already warm water.  There was absolutely nothing appealing about it at all, I knew it was already warm and there was no flavoured goodness in there.  So I passed.  I didn't drink through the entire standing series, or when we hit the floor for our 2 minute Savasana.  I'm not saying it was easy, the cup was calling me, whispering into my ear, trying to convince me to just take one little sip.  By the time we pushed up to Fixed Firm Pose (Supta Vajrasana) my throat was very dry so I wet my lips and continued my practice.  Every so often my warm cup of water would start talking to me but I never drink water before Camel (Ustrasana) or Rabbit (Sasangasana) so I curbed my craving until after the final breathing.

I am absolutely amazed that I survived this class.  Not only did I survive but I was strong.  My breath was constant and focused, if I got nervous or anxious I would inhale and exhale deeply and it would calm me.  Who would of thought that it was really that easy?

4 comments:

bikramyogachick said...

I've only done a no water class once, and it wasn't that hard. Not sure why I don't do it more often. I suppose I really have gotten attached to my "crutch" of having that bottle there to soothe me. :)

Catherine said...

What I wanna know - how did you avoid knocking it over?? That in itself is impressive! That cup would have been knocked down with my first "arms overhead, sit up"... I am such a klutz. :)

Way to go! Are you planning on going water-free again?

Juliana said...

Hi ladies! Thanks for you comments! This morning I only had a couple sips of water. I don't know if I could go an entire class just because my throat gets dry really fast, even doing every day things. But I've definetely noticed my stomach compressing more easily without the big gulps of water I usually take.

Unknown said...

water free class (or close to it) opens up a whole new phase of your practice. It's amazing.