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| I'll be attending Bikram's yoga teacher training starting April 2005. In 51 days, not that I'm counting. ;)
Anyhoo, I've opted to find my own apartment. And I've been dabbling with the room mate concept. (I mean, I'll admit, I'm torn. I'm coming up on my 41st birthday, so I feel I'm too old / too picky / too worried about my food allergy to share a smallish apartment with 3-4 other gals. And yet, I'm feeling too prudent to spend $3K/month for a place I'll merely sleep in. )
Anyone else out there seeking a roomie?
tlc |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State | You can add the cost of Bikram's training ($5K, isn't it?) to the $3K you plan
to spend on an apartment, and now you are up to $8K for this experience.
Have you tried to estimate how many classes you will have to teach before
you break even on your investment? Do you have a job lined up after you
graduate with some commitment about how much you will earn each month?
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trace-
I invested in my own place while attending teacher training.
(I was 35 when I attended- too old to dorm room it)
I chose a place off of the strip in the hills. it was closer to the studio (then on Wilshire blvd) than the horrible apts. the others were in. it was clean, private, quiet and I could take all the long baths I needed. I had to arrange my own transportation, and figure out my own trips to the store, but it was worth it! if you are close enough taxi fares aren't too bad- or car rental works too.
my advice? make yourself as comfortable as you can afford when you are away from the training facility. you'll need your own space at the end of the day. and you'll need the space to focus and study. get massages. go to the spa. take a weekend trip to palm springs. yes there is time. skip ONE saturday...it'll be okay! insist on weekly pedicures. all of this will soothe you. you'll need to soothing!
yes, it's expensive.
all in all- I dropped around $15,000.00 for teacher training (class of 2000) totally worth it.
would I pay that much to do something like that again? you bet.
good luck!
Dee
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| Dear Bad Guy ~
Your post seems rude to me.
I did not ask for financial advice, I asked for housing advice.
And, yes, I have a calculator. So I can add AND divide!
To be frank, Bad Guy, I don't think my finances are any of your business.
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| Miss Dee ~
Thanks for the advice. All the teachers have said that if they could do it all over again, they'd do their own housing.
Do you remember how / where you found your place? I've gotten frustrated with the corporate housing agents -- yet when I call apartment places directly, I get confliciting information. ("sure, we can do 70 days." "nope, you must pay for 90 days, sorry." "Nope, that other girl is new. " )
tlc
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | traceu - 2005-02-12 3:24 PM
To be frank, Bad Guy, I don't think my finances are any of your business.
Yes, I suppose that's true, although you're the one who posted financial
concerns on the board. Sorry I responded to your post...but I offer no
apology for questioning the remunerative value of a Bikram teaching certificate:
I know half-a-dozen ex-Bikram teachers who had nothing positive to say about
it, and I've watched as six Bikram studios in my area have either closed or dropped
the Bikram label. However, as you rightly point out, it's your money to spend
as you see fit. I hope that your experience with the training and subsequent
teaching is rewarding.
Edited by Bay Guy 2005-02-12 3:55 PM
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| Dear Traceu
I'm going to do the Bikram teacher training this april also. I'm looking for the place to live. It would be nice to have a roommate. I'm a 29 years old women. Feel free to contact me via email.
Thanks |
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| Good luck ladies--enjoy the experience. And while you didn't ask me either, like Brother Bay Guy, I know several Bikram teachers who were left without positions following training. Please take this in the spirit it's intended--fatherly I suppose. I seriously considered going this spring as well until I saw how my former teachers were treated and talked to other yoga studios in the area and found that my Bikram certification meant nothing to them. I've chosen another route. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | What I would like to know is this...did the unhappy students go get the teacher's certification with expectations...like did they expect to have this glamorous "Bikram" studio making all this money, and did they expect that they would make up for that monetary offering by immediately teaching students right away??? The reason I ask, is because traditionally you learn yoga for yourself and becoming a teacher comes much later IF it is your karma....if you are in agreement with the teacher's request in this case money is the offering, then you got what you went for - you learned yoga and you earned the merit to teach. Now, becoming a teacher and applying that to your life and say a "business" is a totally different matter and is probably why these people are not satisified and they are doing it all for the wrong reasons which is subject to failure. This is not Bikram's fault...it's having wrong thinking that is. Cheer up, it's only money...thank God at least Bikram hasn't starting asking for fingers, toes, eyeballs, and first born children, LOL!! Sorry, I couldn't resist that one:~) Cyndi - who has contemplated becoming a Bikram teacher in the near future as well
Edited by Cyndi 2005-02-12 7:54 PM
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hi trace,
I believe I found my place in the L.A. Times classified on line. it was an individual's advert for a room for rent in a home. you will want to check listings EVERYDAY. also consider running a "lodging needed" ad. I also had some luck looking at ads on the UCLA bulletin boards online for lodging. you'd be surprised how many people want temp lodgers to help out for a few months in very nice houses. a woman I made friends with there at the training shared a house in BH during the training with 3 others from her home town. it was a very nice place that the owner wanted to sell but moved away before it did. they furnished the house with rental furniture and rented 'art'. it was perfect! remember: ask for recent digital photos to be sent to you. including the room- the bath, the kitchen and the grounds. is there a car you can borrow? is there a decent blender for smoothies? is there a washer dryer? (VERY IMPORTANT) who else is living there? males? pets? smokers? make sure they understand you will be waking early and will likely be home later.
Yes, I had to pay for longer than I needed. I took care of the 'problem' of having a place in los angeles for this extra time by going in a week before the training and staying a week after the training. they allowed me to start in the middle of the month as long as the contract was 90 days in total. this allowed me to sort myself out prior to the training by routing out the stores. it also let me get what I found I was missing and needed before the start of the training. (the target store was a lifesaver! and after the start of the training you wont want to fuss with these details)
travel light but have what you need!! the answer to that is to ship stuff ahead! make life easier! UPS is cheap! take extra linens! bring extra towels! and definitely ship everything home! you don't want to schlep all your stuff home on the plane.
afterwards- I used a week to relax!!! take in all that's happened. why not?
lay out at the beach--- SLEEP and recharge before you go back home.
please let me know if I can answer any more questions for you.
Good Luck.
Dee |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 418
Location: New York | I've been reading this thread with interest but have held back from posting until now. I am one of those who did not find Bikram TT to be a positive experience (cert. Spring 2002), but I haven't wanted to rain on the parade of those who still love Bikram yoga and find themselves excited to attend Bikram TT.
However . . .
Regarding expectations- if you don't have them when you go vis a vis making a living, they will be created for you. In our discussion regarding teacher recertification (in which no details were proferred), when asked how much $ it would cost, a senior teacher replied that it wouldn't really matter b/c we would be making so much $ teaching Bikram yoga that it would be inconsequential. Bikram himself stated that no studios had ever failed (one in my area just recently closed its doors). Even when not explicitly stated, the implication is that you will be wildly successful teaching Bikram yoga.
I didn't really have unmet expectations re making $ or recouping my extremely large investment (I too spent about $15K total) , but I did have expectations regarding what I would learn. I learned how to recite the Bikram dialogue. Not yoga. How to recite the Bikram dialogue. Pretty disappointing.
My interest in Bikram yoga created my interest in yoga and for that I am grateful. My interests have diverged from Bikram for a variety of reasons (too limiting, too dogmatic, getting less and less crazy about doing yoga in a really hot room) and that's OK. I guess I just find it sad that the joy I got from doing Bikram yoga is gone, and I've never been able to recapture it since TT. |
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| Traceu,
Try www.craigslist.org there is an LA section
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | JackieCat ---
You are not alone in what you have expressed. Some of my former Bikram teachers
said almost exactly what you have written...they described endless hours in which
everyone practiced the dialogue (or monologue). I could go on and on with their
stories, but I'll simply say that my impression is that a number of people that I have
known were disappointed by what they got. I've also known one or two "true believers",
but they are in the minority.
Caveat Emptor.
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| I'm with you, JackieCat. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't do the training. That being said, I do remember there were people there who just loved it. Remember that woman standing up & telling Bikram this was the best experience of her life & he could never charge too much? I couldn't have disagreed more, yet there were people cheering her on.
If you really want to do the training, go for it. Just be prepared  Oh, and I agree with Dee -- get your own place or room with one or two others. They have a bulletin board at the school -- you may want to try calling the school & asking if someone can check the board for lodging opportunities.
Another thing you might want to consider, depending on where you live: driving out so you have your own transportation. I live in Michigan, and my husband & I drove to LA; he flew back. We stopped at the Grand Canyon & Bryce Canyon for some hiking & camping on the way and stopped in the Rocky Mountains on the way home. I was glad I had my own car.
BTW, maybe the apartments have changed since Dee when to training. Our apartment (in Marina Del Ray) was quite nice & it was good to be surrounded by other Bikram students who were going through the same experience. If you want to be alone, you could check out a studio apartment.
Good luck! |
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| In my experience, the most important part of the training was attending 11 classes per week (2 per day on weekdays and 1 on Saturdays). As difficult as that was for me at times, I felt like I was walking on two feet off the ground by the time of graduation. I also felt twenty years younger. The posture clinics, as boring as they could be, provided some opportunities to ask questions of the many excellent visiting teachers who led them and to really get deeper insights into the mechanics of the postures.
I stayed with my brother and had a car (I drove to LA from Atlanta). It was great to be independent on the weekends. During the last couple weeks I even had enough energy to do some site seeing. Just driving around the coast and Topanga Canyon a few times was reason enough for me to have brought the car. I *loved* LA! What a fun city.
As for the money spent... all I can say is, ha! You think the training is expensive? Try opening a studio! |
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Bikram Teacher Training 2005
