I have such a space issue in Bikram. Perhaps in life, as well, since I know it affects me at the movie theatres too. Why do people come into an empty row and sit right in front of me? Move down a couple seats! What’s wrong with you?

In Bikram, I want people to use all the space in the room and stagger their mats so we’re not on top of each other. I thought of this the other day when a girl set up her mat very close to mine and then didn’t move it even after class started and there was clearly a lot of room for us to spread out.

I started the class irritated at her. I did my pranayama breathing with as little attention paid to it as possible and instead looked around my area to see where I could move my mat to give us more space since she clearly wasn’t disposed to move her mat.

Ah yoga, so peaceful.

But after the first breathing cycle, I chose to push myself and live with it. I decided not to move my mat, to redirect the irritation into something productive and even make an effort to enjoy the experience of working so closely next to someone.

Jules calls this “leaning into the discomfort.”

It was hard. Uncomfortable. It took most of the standing series before I stopped thinking about it. But it was fine. My effort to let it go allowed me to focus on the class instead of my proximity to other people. I even talked to her afterwards. Her name is Kathleen and she’s lovely.

Kindergarten lessons keep coming back, don’t they?  My lesson today: share the space. After all, space doesn’t belong to me so sharing is the only reasonable option. Right?