Yeah, that's Rosie the Riveter on my blog. She's got bulging biceps like you, yogis!
After receiving a comment from the lovely Kirsten at A Bikram Journey yesterday, I’ve been thinking more about the Bikram blogging community that’s out there.
She eagerly exclaimed how excited she was about discovering another Bikram blog when she encountered Alive in the Fire, and how she experienced the feeling of being “giddy like a schoolgirl” upon reading my latest yoga poem.
I’m the same way: when I come across those Bikram blog gems which combine great writing, honest reflections on a dedicated practice, and pretty, pretty pictures (my favorite!), I just about squeal with delight.
Sometimes I let out a loopy “eeeeep!” Yep, laugh as you will, but that’s what I say to my computer screen. Or sometimes, as my fiancé has noted lately, I’ll eek out a “yesssss!” as I begin scrolling wildly down the page, trying to decide whether or not to click “Follow.”
Last night, too, he mentioned to me that he’s noticed I have a riotous and fierce ability to do “research” online. “You can sit there forever reading about stuff, silly!” he exclaimed, smiling. “I can?” I asked, my eyebrows creeping into a puzzled jumble. “Oh, you mean reading yoga blogs?” I chuckled, thinking how different from “researching” it feels for me when I stumble upon a sweet post about teacher training or ridiculous Bikram-isms or hilarious hot room experiences. Now, that ain’t “research” – it’s just plain fun for me.
I went on to explain to my fiancé what the latest cycle consists of:
“First I read other blogs. Then I click ‘Follow,’ post comments on their blogs, invite them to read my blog, and go back to mine to post. I write on my blog, eventually run out of things to say, and then go hunting for new Bikram blogs via friends of other bloggers. The sequence repeats, and the circle grows!”
We both laughed at the silliness of it, and how the cyclical repetition never seems to bore me.
And because my explanation really sounded something more like this:
“Read. Comment. Post. Comment on post. Comment on comment on post. Click follow. Comment to invite to follow. Post. Find new blogger. Read. Comment. Click follow…” Cue laughter.
All dizziness and reverberation aside, though, I do have some thoughts to share on the State of the Bikram Blog Industry. (Consider this my summer term address speech, OK?) And fellow yogi writers, I’d love to hear your reactions to this post – I am ruminating about your practices, after all! Please comment with your reflections, ideas, and inspirations. Keep the cycle going!
State of the Bikram Blog Industry: Observation #1:
Too Many Posts Underwhelm
No No offense to those of you out there who use your Bikram blog as a personal practice diary, but sometimes I get a little tired of reading those posts who could be summarized as, “It was hot, but I survived. Yay, yoga.” Repeat times four for the week and you’re looking at a sad majority of what’s out there floating around on the interwebs.
No Normally, typical posts fall into these categories:
- Holy Crap I Just Sweat So Much
- I’m Half-Way Through the 30/60/101 Day Challenge, and It Hurts
- My Next Door Neighbor Yogi is Hot (and Inspires Me, Too)
- Teacher Training is Changing My Life and Here’s Why I Love it/Hate It Today
- Yoga Is Spiritual: Did You Know?
Alright, a caveat, and a big, fat one at that: I’ve certainly written about some of these topics, and I’m not trying to say that there’s not an interesting way to do so. (Hopefully my posts about local yogis and dreams for completing TT someday were somewhat engaging to read!) I’m also not trying to discount the experiences of beginners getting used to the heat, or the benefits of using a blog as a support network (for encouraging people during challenges, during hard times, or during injuries). And finally, I absolutely don’t want to write off those Bikram sufferings, er, understandings we share collectively.
In fact, that’s actually what I’m hoping this post will address: the fact that there’s a way to write about the Bikram stuff we all share – the heat, the sweat, the joy of gaining strength and flexibility in a pose you hate, the bizarre characters you meet in the hot room, Bikram’s outlandish humor and wisdom, and, YES, the first time you realize why wind removing pose has the name it does. You know: you’ve been there!
But come on, yogi writers! I know you can write effectively about these moments – and capture both their everyday tedium and the way they sometimes jump right out and change your life. I’ve seen it:
Photo Via FroschFresser's Flickr Photostream.
State of the Bikram Blog Industry: Observation #2:
Some of You Are Damn Flexible, And Damn Great Writers, Too
Examples that just scratch the surface:
The practical, useful prose which Seattle-based Jenn uses to describe budgeting for teacher training.
Hannah Just Breathe’s poetic way of describing how fearlessness and determination, even on the days when “the whole world seems to boil up and over,” bring us through to the peace of Bikram.
TheDancingJ’s recollection of TT, week five: complete with Bikram-isms (“I smell so good!”), honest confessions (“I actually fell asleep, had a DREAM, and woke up during the 2-minute savasana…”), and descriptions of the breakthroughs (“Sometimes I just sit there with a big stupid grin on my face and I can’t believe how GOOD we are getting at this dialogue stuff!”).
OhMyBikram’s fantastic, thorough and seriously helpful posture clinic posts.
Now there are some bloggers who know how to tell a story, dig deeper into the emotional insights their yoga has to offer, and entertain an audience, too!
I encourage you to (before you angrily comment on this post about its flaws and shortcomings, and before you sit down to type up your own post entitled “State of the Bikram Blog Industry Observations") simply to click the links above and see if you can see why there are some reasons to just be downright thrilled about the state of our little hot-room blogini universe! We’ve got some talented writers, observers, teachers, students, and philosophers out there who bring as much passion to the page as they do to the yoga mat.
But let’s not forget: just as we shouldn’t half-ass anything in our Bikram practice (as my teacher last night happily announced), we also shouldn’t approach our blogging routine with humdrum, nonsensical, or just plain useless chatter. Goodness knows, there’s enough blather and monotony out there as it is!
Let’s continue to make the Bikram blog world as astonishing, burly, and evocative as our ridiculously expressive yoga; that is, let’s be warriors of both eloquence and strength, of both integrity and depth.
State of the Bikram Blog Industry: Observation #3:
We Can Do Better. Oh Yes: We Can Do It!
He Here is my challenge to you for some posts I’d love to read about and some new trends I’d like to see (you know you want to be next in the “clicking follow immediately!” routine):
- Have a focused, airtight, and significant purpose behind why you write. Are you hoping to figure out how yoga brings out your inner beauty? How it changes your physical makeup and transforms your body? Or perhaps how it helps you develop relationships and reach your goals? These are much more vivid, enlightening and relevant topics than, say, your detailed notes on how many inches you progressed in fixed firm. Not that we as other yogis aren’t interested in reading about how your capability in specific poses has advanced, reached a plateau, or reversed backward…but dude, who cares if on Monday your pinky toes hurt “a little bit” and by Tuesday they “ached majorly” and now they’re “sort of sore after class”? Honestly, save those minor details and start sharing your reflections on them. Teach us something new!
- Post regularly! This is key. Let me say it again: KEEP UP ON YOUR BLOG. Post regularly! There’s nothing more frustrating than coming across a great blog with diverse, engaging content…from three years ago. And really, what does it say about your dedication as a yogi if you can’t apply that same regularity and perseverance to something outside the hot room that’s also going to sustain you and help you grow?
- Speaking of the real world, please DO connect your yogic thoughts to your personal life, emotional ups and downs, travel, work and career, relationships, artistic endeavors, and dreams and goals. Use your blog as a space to DO MORE than just comment on Bikram’s leopard-print shorts and your love of 747s taking off…
- …But please, think twice about how far you expand your blog’s horizons. It’s really quite fun to find a writer who lets his or her personality and sense of humor enter into the picture, but it’s entirely wearisome to discover that their posts range from Bikram to bathroom remodeling to their recent grocery store purchases. OK, so maybe your blog’s about your life in general and not just yoga, but at least market it that way.
- Where are my yoga men in the blog space? Since I started Bikram, I’ve been seriously impressed by the number of guys practicing in the hot room (and sometimes in short shorts, eeps!) and stretching as far as other experienced yoginis. And gentlemen, some of you look like tanks, er, firemen! I mean, you see some straight-up brawny, beefy guys sweating it out in there, not just slender, lean-framed guys who seem built for the practice. Anyway: body shapes and dimensions aside, we need more of you to write about your Bikram! Ladies, invite those husbands, boyfriends and guy friends to share a post or two. Tell us what it’s like teaching the most beastly form of yoga out there. Describe what thoughts are running through your heads as you move with Bengal tiger strength!
Alright, this post has gone on long enough. But hey, I’m a yogi, not a political speech writer, after all.
Photo Via Bikram Yoga Richardson.
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