Mary Jarvis Seminar ~ A Day with Mary in the Hot Room

Line to get into Hot Room for Mary Jarvis Class and Seminar

It’s been a few days since I have completed the challenge… well actually almost a week already. I have to say I have had a little bit of a depression post-challenge. I think it is similar to the way I felt when I completed the Marine Corps Marathon and NYC Marathon years back. You work really hard at this goal everyday and then you hit it and it’s over… feels little anti-climatic in a sense. The day after the challenge was done I had the dizzy spells for a couple of days so I took a day off and then back to the hot room for more… it was the cure of the mini-depression.

To bring me back to life – literally was the Mary Jarvis Seminar which I have been waiting for since the beginning of November. I signed up almost immediately when the class was announced. To those of you who do not know of Mary Jarvis you should google her. I can not do her justice in this short blog post. Basically she has been practicing for over 28 years and is a legend in the Bikram Yoga community – well yoga community. She was named one the top three yoga teachers by Yoga Journal and has healed herself from an almost fatal car accident where she was told she needed spine surgery and wore a neck brace and back brace. She did Bikram twice a day for five years. I saw with my own eyes she was walking around and seemed really healthy to me with no evidence of a previous injury.

Saturday morning I left for the studio at 9:15am for a 10am start with Mary Jarvis. Garland mentioned the seminar was sold out and 58 people were attending. Michelle mentioned she was planning to get there at 9am. There was a 8am class still so no one would be allowed to enter until 9:30am. I got to the studio about 9:25am and there was already a line at the door to go into the room. The above picture shows the line and there were people behind me as well.

The class part was absolutely intense but so incredible at the same time. I became overwhelmed a few times and had to take a break or two but she definitely made you focus more on the postures and breathing and basically being still. The class went about 2 hours or so. I think definitely it ranks as the hardest class ever for me but the best class at the same time.  She was hysterical sharing funny anecdotes about her practice and the people she has come across in her time.  She definitely has a larger than life personality and I am so thankful that I was able to get into the seminar to see her. I wish I hadn’t left at 5pm but I had to go home to other obligations. I heard she was still going strong at 6:45pm when Katie had to leave.

Below are the takeaways for me from the Seminar and Class – again I am truly humbled and grateful to have had that experience yesterday.

1. It is impossible to be angry, sad, upset if you are in the present moment – so true and so hard to do – perfect for the holiday season especially when you want to hang on to the past and past grudges.

2. The present moment is when you are in the posture – you aren’t going into the posture, you aren’t going out of the posture… you are in the posture. Yoga is infinite and undefinable because it is the present moment. You will know when you experience it.

3. It is important to get to the point of being aware of your awareness – this one I thought was a mind twister but if you think about it, it makes sense. The ultimate goal is to get to the point that you have infinite boundless love to give and receive.

4.Stretching invites energy to the body – it’s something babies, animals, we all do naturally

5. Yoga is not about the no pain, no gain attitude that’s exercise.

6. Nobody runs into the yoga room because they want to live in the present moment, they come in for body issues… it takes up to 2 years and then the great work happens – this is very exciting for me because it is exactly how it happened for me. I came to take yoga for the “exercise” and I have discovered it is oh so much more and beyond exercise – Mary definitely helped define that for me.

7. Heat compels you to be better at breathing – it’s emotional the heat but it does that. She also said heating the room floods your body with oxygen so you can rid of things in the body that shouldn’t be there.

8. Waiting is the best thing to do. Wait for your body to cooperate – do not force it and do not struggle. I personally love this one because I know sometimes I tend to push things too hard. I think hearing her say to wait and not to push your body into a posture until it’s ready made me feel so much better.

9. You will get a rocking body  if you keep doing the yoga and stop eating crap… look at Garland – Mary actually used her as an example in class… I would definitely have to agree.

10. Back bending is the answer and will heal most everything – she said to do tons of camel postures everyday.

11. The sharing of her student that had cancer and came to class everyday wearing a chemo pump and hid it under a t-shirt so no one would know…that truly humbled me. She shared so much of herself and her experiences that really made me think. Her energy is definitely boundless and contagious.

To those of you who didn’t get a chance to come to the seminar you definitely missed a great one but I hope these 10 things I shared will give you a little insight of how she thinks and handles herself. If another opportunity comes to take a seminar with Mary Jarvis… definitely jump on it. To those of you who did come to the seminar and are reading this, please feel free to share in the comments things you learned and took away from the seminar.

Namaste Peeps!