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| After about six months of doing Bikram and a week of especially good classes, I hit a wall. Each class afterwards has been really hard and in some poses where I was making real progress, progress halted and in some it was hard to even do as well as I was doing. As I go to a mellow Bikram studio, the instructors simply explain that your body is different everyday and that some days are better than others. Unfortunately this has continued for another week. I have noticed that our classes are hotter and more humid than before (much more crowded) and I realize this may have something to do with it. I have been thinking about cutting back on classes, but the instructors said said there was no need and simply to go to your limit and sit out a pose if I was getting too hot/tired. What do people think? I realize this should pass, but it is very frustrating. |
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| I empathize and have been there several times. I did as you've considered doing and altered my schedule, varied attendance--even took a week off. Indeed it did seem to help get by the plateau. Had I continued, the frustration would have just continued to build. |
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| Ahh yes, the good ol' plateau. Six months seems to be about right for the first one, at least from what I've read here on the boards and my own experience. It's great that you're talking to your teachers about it, and they're absolutely right - practice is different every single day.
Bruce made some good suggestions...If you can try practicing at a different time of day, that's great. I've found that when I hit a wall it helps me to just take a class off, and think about why I practice in the first place and/or try and do some of the non-physical practice of yoga...The next class almost inevitably feels better - maybe not physically further in the pose but a better understanding of it...Listen to your body and see what feels right for you -but don't give up! You'll get through, and it'll feel so great when you have another little (or big!) breakthrough. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| I expect that Bikram classes are just like any other - packed in like sardines until about the third week in January when the New Year's resolution mania wears off  |
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| That's definitely how my gym is right now....Front desk crowded with people who really believe that this is the year they're going to stick to it, etc...Class was full of newbies last night and the teacher spent virtually no time on alignment. I'm hardly an expert, but wanted to cry out several times when I noticed some of the things other people were doing. To thos of you who may point out that I shouldn't be paying attention to what other people are doing, I say that it's kind of hard not to at least see them when you're twisted certain ways. 
And to top off the lack of instruction, she played Sarah Vaughan (there's a time and a place, people) to get us "feeling groovy".  |
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| Thank you all. It is nice to know that the plateau is not uncommon and that I appear to be on schedule! I went one more time since I posted and it was still very tough. It was also more humid and more crowded than normal as well. It probably is the new year effect.
Bruce thanks for your input. I have always been reluctant to take time off since I really miss the way the classes make me feel. At present, however, the classes are more frustrating and leaving more tired at the end than energized. I think I will take a little time off and maybe once I go back either the class size will be normal again or maybe the studio will have adjusted the temperature to make sense with the larges class size. |
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| It's such a relief to hear that it's normal to experience a plateau! I wondered what was going on with me, and thought maybe I was just coming to the end of my "yoga phase". i've been doing Iyengar since the summer, and have religiously kept a regular practice, but the other week I just couldn't do it any more. I ended up getting so frustrated in a backbend that I even had to fight back the tears which is somewhat counterproductive to the whole yoga experience. (OK, I was quite stressed out that day anyway, but having such a backward step when i'd been progressing so well). I was like this for the next couple of classes, even when my main source of stress had gone. Anyway, i took a break over christmas, and tomorrow is my first class back, and i'm really looking forward to it again. I'm also going to try out a new class on saturday (ashtanga) in case it might add to the re-inspiration.
Anyway, thanks. It's good to find out that others experience the same thing, and I'm now encouraged that I can work through the blip and get back to my practice. |
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| Please let me quickly throw in another thought:
The plateau is not only a physical problem but a psychological as well. After half a year of practice you're used to make good progress. It's only logical that the amount of progress will come slower from a certain point on.
Now your mind has to come into the game, and please stick with me for this:
I've been through the plateau some time ago and I know what I'm talking about. Just try to relax and accept your "sucking" classes. It's only your mind playing a trick on you. In fact you're making further progress, you just don't notice it anymore cause you don't experience the big break-throughs but it happens very slowly for a while. So, to give it a more positive name, let's not call it "hitting the plateau" but rather "a phase of consolidation". If you look at your last classes from a more neutral point of view, did you really do that bad? Probably not, your practice is probably quite solid. You just didn't experience the BIG moments of success you were used to.
Now is the time to go to class without any expectations! Just go with the flow, do yoga for the fun of it and accept your weak moments. Set your mind to the next steps and try out new things (as far as possible in Bikram). You'll see, the next quantum leap is only waiting to happen 
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| OOOooooooh - I hear the words of a potential teacher here!! Very wise, Stefan It is true that the learning curve levels off and you do start to make smaller, more subtle gains. You start to work internally more than entirely externally. And sometimes you do appear to move backwards. I "lost" my arm balance after a big workshop once. Couldn't do one again for months (my DH forgot how to tie a necktie once for several months but I think that was because he hated his job...) but I just accepted that and one day it just reappeared:-) But do give yourself permission to take a break if you are physically overworking. |
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| I think that's it. I guess part of it is that I'm practising at a more technical level now, and am more aware of how I could get better alignment now, rather than having to rely on my teacher. As you point out, it's become more subtle- because I'm more concious of my alignment now, it sometimes means that e.g. I can't go down into a position as far- where before I may have got my hand to my ankle in trikonasana, because my hips are now better aligned, i can now only get my hand to my calf. But in my mind, I think that I've lost the flexibility (frustration), which then affects my balance in the standing poses, and so enters even more frustration....
So i approached my class today with a far more relaxed "go with the flow" attitude, and it seems to have done the trick- I experienced my longest crow pose of my entire practice so far! |
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| You're too kind, Glenda, I'm blushing here. You should see me in class and you would forget about that teacher thing rather quickly. My mouth is much bigger than my flexibility 
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Plateau question.
