Five minutes in and sweat
is dripping out of every imaginable inch of my body – my forearms, the sides of
my stomach, my calves – places I didn’t even realized produced sweat!
“Look back, fall back! More back!” prompts the teacher. There’s
a loud clap, “Change!” My head leads the way, slowly bringing my backwardly
bent body upright. I try not to put pressure on my lower back, my legs are
shaking as I ever so slowly come back up and see my face in the mirror.
...which by this point is beet red and also
drenched in sweat. “Oh man, I’m only 10
minutes into the 90 minute class… it seems like I’ve been in here an eternity.”
But I somehow always
manage to survive. Today marked day 17 of a 30-day challenge of daily hot yoga.
Each day I go to the
class knowing exactly what to expect. The room is always 105 degrees and 40%
humidity. The poses are the same each day, done in the same order, for the same
amount of time. But inside, my body feels dramatically different from the day
before.
Most people think of
Bikram yoga as a special little corner of hell. More often than not, the first
class drives people into a dizzy, nauseated state leaving them wishing they had
never walked into the hot room in the first place.
The class is stressful,
it’s hard to stare at your own terrifically sweaty body for 90 minutes. Harder
still is avoiding the inevitable comparison of those around you – old men,
super fit young ladies, not-so-fit people trying to make a positive change in
their life – you name the type, and odds are they’ll be right beside you, in
front of or behind you, sweating more than is humanly possible.
It’s a mental battle to
stay awake, focused, and moving
during the class. The experience is wildly uncomfortable and it’s almost as if
your mind retaliates for putting your body into a furnace for an hour and half.
Crazy thoughts creep in and emotions tucked deep in your heart are released in
your throat, and up out of your mouth in a quick fit of hysteria.
Then you’re on the floor
again, for a moment, allowing your mind to cool off and your heart to chill out
a bit. The feeling soon passes and whether you know it or not, you’re suddenly
lighter.
The lightness doesn’t
kick in until about a half hour after class. At which point you’re suddenly the
highest high you can imagine, provided you downed at least a liter of water.
Stress is gone, relaxation sets in, and the high lingers with every subsequent
sip of water.
Tomorrow, I’ll wake up
and do it all over again. And my body will thank me for it. My laundry budget,
on the other hand, will not be so grateful.
improve.
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