What's in the Name?

So, why, “eat the yolk?”

The other day, I was standing over the kitchen sink with two hard-boiled eggs and a post-Bikram yoga appetite. The eggs were peeled, cool, and flecked with the right amount of salt. Before I bit into one, the question, “should I eat the yolk?” flickered across my mind.

I’ve forsaken many indulgences in the interest of “being healthy.” It’s no secret that eggs are loaded with cholesterol and have a substantial amount of saturated fat. But if you skip out on the yolk, enjoying only the bouncy white encasement, you also miss the protein and trace amounts of minerals like vitamin A and iron. Not to mention the velvety texture that coats your tongue as the egg slides smoothly down the hatch. And, if you don’t eat it, what do you do with the leftover yolk?

Contemplating the question at the kitchen sink made me think of standing bow-pulling posture, the nemesis of my Bikram practice. The pose requires the perfect balance of kicking and stretching, which must be “equal and simultaneous, 50-50” so that you don’t fall out. There’s a tendency for neophytes to enter the posture cautiously in order to avoid moving like a weeble-wobble or falling completely on the face before the 60 seconds is up.

There’s also a tendency for you to give yourself one hell of a hard time in postures like standing bow. Just a couple of the ideas that dart across my mind: “Keep your stupid knee locked! Why is my leg coming to the side of my head and not on top of it? You’re gonna fall! Why am I so afraid to bring my body down more?”

Of course, if you don’t give it your full 100% effort (or 110%, as Bikram demands), you’ll never get to see yourself with your body parallel, your standing leg firmly rooted into the floor, your spine arching backwards as your arm reaches toward yourself in the mirror. Without a doubt, if you leave the fear behind and go for it, you will fall out, time and time again. But it’s also doubtless that progress will be made, millimeter by millimeter, second by second. There’s always a second set, and there’s always tomorrow’s class.

Knowing this doesn’t keep the fear from grabbing at me and trying to get me under its influence. But I think that fear can be lessened, and I tell myself, “Screw it. Do it.”

To eating the yolk!