Bikram's Advanced Series

I have been invited by the owner of my studio, aka champion yogi and awesome teacher to the advanced class.
Now, I have heard of the advanced series, but didn’t know too much about it. I said ‘yes’ immediately when I got the invite and went on Google to do some 'investigationing' to find out what awaits me and this is what I found:

Instead of 26 postures in 90 minutes, it's 84 postures in about 90 - 120 minutes.
Advanced practice is very different from the beginners class, and one of the biggest differences is the pace. The pace is fast. It's not like beginners class, where you get to do each pose twice and don't get to take savasana after every pose.

It’s also a led class; the teacher does the postures instead of teaching by dialogue.

All the postures in the beginning series come from the advanced series, which is the original set of postures that Bikram studied and practiced in India with Bishnu Ghosh so in the advanced series it's the 26 postures you know from the beginners series, plus 58 really scary and tough postures.

I went on YouTube to watch a demonstration.
For the first minute or so watching this demo I thought “I can do this, it looks kinda the same, just heaps quicker”.
Then….my jaw dropped and my heart started to beat quick and strong.
……………. Oh my………………….
I can’t do this…? I nearly threw up a little…..



But, I did it; I went.
First I needed to do a beginners class followed by the advanced class.

There I was, with 4 amazing teachers and 2 rock star yogi students.
It was scary, I felt humbled.
It was incredibly tough and even after trying a 2nd advanced class a few days later I am unsure if my body will ever allow itself to fold into these postures. I mean; head stands, finger stands and then so many more crazy fold ups, twists and muscle contractions…

A few hours post class it felt like I have been in a car accident or as if someone put me in a tumble dryer for 2 hours. Sore all over.
But hey, I gave it my all and I am happy that I have tried it.