A few days ago before leaving the studio, I was chatting with the lovely Shannon, who had just taught the class. She had complimented me on my progress, and I was struggling to put into words how the 60-Day Challenge (or at least 48 days of it) had changed my relationship with my body. I had been trying out various metaphors, but none seemed quite right.
“It’s like my body is a car,” I said at last, “and I’ve learned how to drive it better.”
Not bad. The Challenge has indeed taught me how to access long-ignored muscle groups and to move in and out of poses with a greater degree of awareness, intention, and even (dare I use the word?) grace.
As I pondered the image further, it occurred to me that before I began practicing Bikram Yoga, my mind was a good enough driver to steer my body through life. Recently, after several months of practice, my mind is feeling more and more like it actually knows what it’s doing at a deeper level. I find myself correcting my posture while walking, for instance, or sitting straighter in a chair. The connection between my mind and my body has all the subliminal elements it had before, but now it has a better range of conscious awareness.
I’ve decided I’m now more like an auto mechanic who drives a car. (Okay, maybe an apprentice auto mechanic.) Someone knowledgeable about how a car works can never drive one without taking that awareness along. A mechanic doesn’t label an unbalanced tire, a worn fan belt, or a loose cable “a funny noise.” Thanks to experience, a mechanic can zero in on the source, assess its importance, and make a responsible decision about what to do. Mechanics pay attention to the underlying operating system as well as everything else that’s going on when they drive.
It’s not a perfect metaphor, of course — no fossil fuels or license required to operate a body — but thinking of myself as car and driver has helped me appreciate my new-found awareness about what’s under my hood.
60 Days With Bikram 
Nice metaphor Megan! I like it 🙂 Congrats on closing in on 60!!
We’re in the final stretch now Megan. It’s been an awesome journey so far, hasn’t it? You have been radiant with much more confidence lately in your postures (when I peeked at you out of the corner of my eye this past weekend in Miranda’s class). Lots of kudos to you Megan.
Ps check out the introduction to bikrams second book, in the studio there are a few copies. He also compares the body to a car and himself to a mechanic!