Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Bikram Yoga: Or the most I've EVER sweated in my life.


Thankfully, my instructor was gracious enough to cover a little bit more. 
I mean, at least they were shorts.
Yikes.

For my birthday my Mama Lady got me a month of unlimited Yoga. Bikram Yoga.
I've been practicing Yoga on and off for the last 5 years but I had never tried 'hot yoga' so I was excited for this opportunity.

As soon as I walked in the studio my first thought was...it freaking stinks in here, why did they use carpet instead of an easier to disinfect surface. OH MY GOODNESS ITS SO HOT! 
Namaste, right?

So I squelched my panic and rolled out my mat in the beginners section, like instructed, and laid down regretting coming into the studio 10 minutes early and just hung out in savasana. Just trying to convince myself I wanted to be there.

Now, I'd subject that Bikram yoga is a lot more like Pilates than the 'yoga' I was used to. The instructor claps his hands, doesn't necessarily do the poses so much as just instructs them and over all I would say (ugh, without trying to sound to ohm about it all) less of a spiritual/meditative environment.

The poses weren't necessarily difficult if you factored out how stinking slippery-sweaty EVERYTHING is. I was actually amazed how much I sweated during the class. About ten minutes in and my legs were mimicking weeping rock. By the end of class it literally felt as if I had just gotten out of the shower. A salty, yucky hour and a half long shower.

I made sure to hydrate well the day before and the hours leading up to my session. I ate a good breakfast that morning and I banana about an hour before I went in at 2:30 but still, towards the middle (I hope it was the middle, an hour and a half turns out to be a REALLY long time) of the practice my vision started to get a little dark around the edges. I didn't feel dizzy, which I would expect with starting to black out, but I decided to hang out in child's pose for a bit. After watching a couple other people take breaks, I noticed that no one was going into child's pose to rest but just sitting down with their legs out or laying on their backs, so I just followed suit with that.

45 minutes in, I was sure the class was almost over. Nope. So I'm hanging out back there sipping water and trying not to look like a totally goof when the instructor decides to say "Hey! It's Cambra's birthday today! Let's all sing to her while in triangle pose"

I shook my head and mouthed 'please, no' and 'that's ok' but whatever, I guess.
So 20 something sweaty, tired bodies sang happy birthday to me and I don't know if I could feel any more ridiculous.

Anyway, my goal for the class was to ... get through the class and I accomplished just that. Afterwards I felt really great and I slept like a rock last night. I feel a little bit like someone injected my body with lead, but I'm not really sore. I'm supposed to go back for my second class within 24 hours...so I'll have to do that after my acupuncture appointment today.

Yea, acupuncture, who the heck am I?
I'll let you know how that goes.

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