Packing Test Run

Hi all,

I leave for Teacher Training two weeks from tomorrow. To prepare, I'm spending this Saturday picking up any last minute items and doing a packing 'test run.'

They say not to have any expectations going in to TT, except to know that you will have 'no choice' - about how much sleep you get, whether you will practice more yoga than seems humanly possible, whether you will memorize the 90-minute yoga dialogue, or whether you eat your favorite foods or prepare them in your favorite ways. In short - I must prepare to have zero control.

My plan is to expel as much type-A from me as possible by being an excellently organized and prepared packer. And thanks to my practice packing two weeks in advance, I will have full control over what may literally be the very last thing I do before boarding the plane for TT.

To illustrate my obsession, let me show you a snippet of my packing list:

And in my defense, and to give you a glimpse of what life at TT will look like, let me say that I will be living in a 2-star hotel for 2.5 months and trying to nourish and rest my body well enough to exert about as much energy in yoga as you would running a marathon every day for 5.5 straight days a week. and on supposedly zero sleep.

My hotel room will be equipped with a coffee maker, teeny complimentary shower products, beds (one for me, and one for my lovely roomie), a TV, I assume, perhaps even one of those permanently plugged-in blow dryers, a dorm fridge (the little ones), and California tap water (eek!). No microwave, no stove top, no living room, no kitchen counters. It's going to be rough, and amazing. (Right now I'm super thankful that I LOVE backpacking as much as I do... somehow, I think it's prepared me for these conditions.)

My roomie took class today at our home studio (Bikram Yoga Bellevue). She texted me afterwards to say that the classroom was about 112 degrees F (7 degrees higher than the minimum 105), and that the instructor said (I imagine she did so with a twinkle in her eye) that TT will be about 10 degrees warmer (and twice a day!). It's going to be awful and awesome at the same time. I am so excited!

Hope you all enjoy your Labor Day weekend. I know I will.

Love,
Darci