Student profile - John Dorig

How Long:
I started practising Bikram Yoga in Kelowna in 2008 (3 1/2 years ago). I like to joke that I was 56 when I started and I'm 53 now. There's actually truth to that in the way that I feel. I have more energy, strength, and flexibility now than I did in my early 50s. I also feel more personally motivated, alive, joyful, and optimistic about life. It's been a great three and a half years!

How Often:
I presently practise Bikram Yoga five times a week. I use to go three times until a teacher told me that it was actually easier to go five times. She was right and I get way more out of my practice by going that often.
Friends who don't practise Bikram Yoga seem puzzled (maybe even impressed) by how often I go to yoga. I don't quite know how to communicate to them why I go so often. It's not just about discipline and making the effort. For me, Bikram Yoga is a gold mine, a source of personal wealth, health, and abundance. Who wouldn't want to keep going back to a gold mine everyday? My main motivation is how great Bikram Yoga makes me feel, how much of a return I get for the effort I make.

Why:
It was my wife Jamie who first started practising Bikram Yoga on her own and it was her enthusiasm that motivated me to try it for myself. I was hooked right from the first class. Even though it just about killed me, I felt so invigorated and energized afterward that I knew I would have to keep coming back for more.
Now I just couldn't see living my life without Bikram Yoga. That sounds a bit extreme but I actually feel this way. Bikram Yoga is a powerful grounding forces in my life. It's not that it takes away the difficulties of life (although it does in regards to health) but rather it's the inner strength Bikram Yoga gives me to face those difficulties. Bikram Yoga encourages me to stretch in more ways than one. It opens me up to some many possibilities.

Suggestions:
Here are two important lessons that I've learned from my practice that may be of value to others:

1. Breathe! It's all about breathing. Starting off Bikram Yoga when I was 56, I was carrying a fair amount of extra weight and a fairly good size paunch. I quickly realized that the only way I could survive a Bikram class would be by focusing on my breathing. I'm always amazed at how well I can do in class as long as I remain calm and breathe slowly, deeply, and properly.
   

2. Stay in final Savasana for as long as it takes to come back to stillness. For the first year of my practice I found that I was tired all the time. It didn't make sense to me. I should have felt great instead of feeling so worn out.
   Then a teacher asked me how long I stayed in Savasana at the end of class. I was only staying for a couple of minutes, sometimes not even that long. She suggested that I start staying for a minimum of ten minutes after each class, longer if I was still feeling agitated. What an amazing effect this has had. Staying in Savasana turned things around for me. Now, I feel great after every practice.
   I know it's tempting to get up and leave class as soon as the teacher leaves, but if you can, see what happens if you stay longer in Savasana and if (as all the teachers tell us) you really do get so much more benefit out of your class.

Favourite Posture:
Standing Bow Pulling pose is my favourite posture. I don't have it down yet, but I love it when I keep that posture for any length of time.

Greatest Challenge:
Half-Moon pose is my most difficult posture. I'm always glad to get through it and fortunately it's right at the beginning of class. “Stretch out of your waist, stomach in, hips forward, squeeze your glutes, push your hips to the right, weight on your heels.” Yeah right, not a problem! Breathing properly has been a challenge for me in this posture although lately it's improved by using 80/20 breathing.

My Goals:

1. Do every posture. From day one, I've told myself that I would one day do every single pose of the series. I'm not there yet, but that's okay, I've got the patience to wait till my body is ready.
   

2. Do a full class with presence of mind. A big challenge for me during class is my own internal chatter or what I like to call the “Monkey Mind.” The longer I practise, the longer I seem to be able to stay present. Eventually my Monkey Mind will settle down and perhaps even fade away.
   

3. Practise well into my eighties and nineties. It's a bit funny for me to be thinking about what it's going to be like to be eighty or ninety years old, but I do visualize myself practising Bikram Yoga when I'm that age. I think it'll be kind of fun showing all the young whipper-snappers what an old guy can do.

Afterthought:
Bikram Yoga has always been an intense emotional journey for me. I knew from the start that the depth of this practice and the effects it would have on my body armouring would have emotional repercussions. Anger, fear, and grief have often surfaced during or after practice. Joy, love, and a deep sense of well-being have also been activated. I know that integrating emotions, especially the so called “negative” ones is a lifelong process. However, I have a lot of confidence in the practice of Bikram Yoga. I think it's a safe and intelligent way to slowly acknowledge, face, feel, and express emotions stuck in the body.

Favourite Bikram Quotes:
“Operation successful, patient is dead!”
“If you can find stillness in a Bikram classroom you can find stillness anywhere.”

John Dorig Details:
Born August 19, 1951 in Barcelona, Spain, raised in Montreal, married with two daughters and three grandchildren (one more on the way), retired Canada Post letter carrier, works full time marketing/promoting Jasanna Services (JamieRosanna.com).
Loves Bikram Yoga, going for long walks, riding Sally (our tandem bike) with Jamie, studying the works of Carl Jung, travelling (especially Spain), photography and learning to create videos.
Besides at the yoga studio, he can be found on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1311176184).