Bikram Yoga - Metric Style.

So, I quietly began another 30-day Bikram yoga challenge yesterday. I say "quietly" because now that I have done a 60-day challenge, I really don't need to broadcast when I do a 30-day. Plus, I've now done six 30-day challenges. So there is no need to blog every day when in the challenge.

I am a "pro" at the 30-day challenge.

Anyway... I like to regularly take the Tuesday 6pm class, even when I am not doing a challenge. It is taught by a young new-ish teacher who has really found her voice when it comes to teaching. She has wonderful energy, doesn't mess around, and really pushes us.

"I want to see you all coming in and out of the postures together tonight," she said at the start of class. "No coming into them late. You fall out, you get right back in."

I am used to her commands and her cadence now, having had her for a few weeks. But one thing that she does that still throws me off...

She uses the metric system.

Now, I know I am in Canada now... And they prefer that "metric system thingie." But I still have a hard time comprehending the calculations... Kilometers... Celsius... Centimeters...

And it's that last one which gets thrown around in a Bikram class with this teacher.

"Separate your feet 15 centimeters, like the letter 'H'," she says.

"What?" I think. "What the fuck is a centimeter? Don't you mean separate them six inches?"

Because that is how Bikram teaches it, people. And that is how they taught it in Amsterdam and Melbourne, when I took classes there earlier this year.

I have been practicing nearly five years now, so of course it doesn't really throw me off to hear her say this. I know the dialogue. I know what the space between my feet and knees is supposed to be...

But the whole "metric system thingie" is something that will take a long time to adapt to. In and out of the Bikram studio.