Day 72 - Bikram Culture Shock

Today I went to the Bikram studio near my new digs in Brooklyn for the first time. I was a little nervous because even though my Manhattan studio has 4 different locations, after 71 straight days I had become super comfortable with all 4 spots. I knew the layouts, the best places to lay my mat down, which showers were the best, and so on.

The thing about Bikram yoga is that because it’s the exact same class every time and everywhere you go, it’s easier to pick up on the small differences.

This Brooklyn location totally threw me for a loop. I walked in 25 minutes before the class started, and while the teacher was there to check me in, not a single other student showed up for another 10 minutes. At Bikram Yoga NYC this is unheard of. People arrive obscenely early for class to stake out their spots. When I walked in the room, however, I realized why no one felt the need to show up that early – the studio is massive and the 6:30 am class (yes, that is correct) is so sparsely attended that we all had more than enough space.

I walked into the locker rooms to find not lockers, but open cubbies. I guess people in Brooklyn are more trusting about people not stealing their stuff. While the locker rooms were equipped with the usual showers and hair dryers, there were no q-tips, no plastic bags for your sweaty clothes, and a few other things that I had sort of taken for granted. Towels are no longer free with my membership, and my Nalgene does not fit under the faucet in the tiny bathroom sink, which means if I don’t come to the studio with a full bottle of water, I’ll need to pay a dollar to have them fill it for me with filtered water (they have this in Manhattan also, but it seems that most people just fill up in the sink – NYC tap water is the best, as everyone knows).

The class was more or less what I expected it to be, until one part in the standing series. For 71 days I had been accustomed to a part of the class where you stand facing the side of the room for a few poses. The reason for this is that there are several poses that involve standing with your legs wide apart, and they have you face the side so that both feet can still be on your mat. So today, on day 72, I stood facing the side of the room, and I realized that no one else was doing the same. Everyone was still facing the front. So I followed suit. Instead of both feet being on the mat, everyone kept one foot on the left side of the mat, and one foot on the right.

This was super weird. With my feet on the floor and not on my mat and towel, I had nothing to prevent me from sliding. No one else seemed to have an issue with this, but I could barely focus on the postures because I was trying so hard not to fall into a split.

A quick Google search shows that apparently this is how it’s supposed to be done. Doh. My guess is that some studios have you face the side because it takes up less space that way, and lord knows that during the rush hour classes at Bikram Yoga NYC we are just short of being stacked on top of each other.

And finally, at the end of the class, the teacher said, "Have a nice week!" and walked out of the studio. No "namaste." I mean, this is a YOGA class. If you don't say "namaste" at the end, does the yoga even exist?

I miss my old studio but I’m excited to be able to practice 4 blocks from my apartment. And I assume I’ll get used to the changes soon enough.