Michael Wickler shares his journey with Bikram Yoga, from student to marketing guy to teacher, and reflects on its impact on his life.
My journey to Bikram Yoga San Jose began long before I got here. About 25 years ago, living in San Francisco, I was a marathon runner needing cross-training. The Embarcadero YMCA gave me spin classes, swimming, and a yoga class. It became clear that yoga would help with what I was putting my body through. Having heard of Bikram Yoga and curious about it, I found a studio and was immediately enamored; I felt I had struck fitness and wellness gold, but little did I know how it would steer my future.
In those early years of using the internet to discover things, I read a random comment about this “wonderful community of dedicated yogis in San Jose, at Bikram Yoga San Jose.” Community and dedication – those two words intrigued me. At that time, living in the City with no car, San Jose was a world too far away, but that one little comment struck me and stayed with me, filed away for a later day.
Fast forward 15 years, I was itching for a change after many years working in a cubicle for a large organization – isolated, uninspired, and dissatisfied. Living with a chronic health condition, Bikram Yoga was how I took responsibility for taking care of myself. Now it was time to shake things up and take care of my future, to live this one life I have more fully. So I bought a small motorhome, shed my belongings, left my expensive and lonely apartment, and began exploring, eventually getting the nerve to leave that secure six-figure job that hadn’t fed my soul for a very long time.
I enjoyed a three-year sabbatical, traveling and living all over California, practicing Bikram Yoga wherever I could, and BYSJ became an anchor. I’d often travel a great distance to return to Bikram Yoga San Jose – for the quality of the studio and teaching and the “wonderful community of dedicated yogis.” Eventually, it was time to get back to work. One winter day in Palm Springs, I saw an email about a marketing job opening at BYSJ. I wanted it so much; I knew it was on my path, and I’m so grateful I got the opportunity.
My dreams didn’t stop there. I had this crazy idea that I might want to be a Bikram Yoga teacher one day. I come from a family of teachers and was a group leader in my earlier days, so I knew I had a knack and a passion for it. After so many years of isolating work and my introverted nature that made me shyer than ever, I didn’t know if I still had it in me, but I was driven to find out. It took a while, but I made the leap last year and trained to teach. Participating in this way has felt very rewarding, and I look forward to growing and serving in this role in the years to come.
Change can be so incremental, with so many steps, stops, and starts, that sometimes we’re not even sure we are changing. I think that’s how the yoga practice works, and that’s how my journey has been. Then I remember my early days of yoga practice: the constant fight-or-flight impulses and even getting triggered by being told what to do. And now, here I am: much more grateful, trusting, living in humility, and appreciative of being driven by crazy dreams and radical desires. We often hear, “Trust the process, and the results will take care of themselves.” All I could do was put one foot in front of the other, and here I am, pinching myself; I’m in a “wonderful community of dedicated yogis in San Jose, at Bikram Yoga San Jose,” doing what I love.