Yoga–The Hot Way!

Yoga is one of those meditation, slow move, stretch my muscles that I always feel energized afterwards. So today, I decided to try the “hot” yoga.

There were several reasons for this:

• My back has been stiff for the last 2 weeks despite the massage I had earlier this week.
• The sun has been out but the wind and the cold have been in high form these last couple of days. Brr…it’s cold here.
• I didn’t really stretch after my run today. Naughty me but the coffee with the ladies was so much more fun especially since we went to Trophy Cupcakes. And yes, I had a cupcake but it was Joyce’s fault. She tempted me.   
• And lastly, the warmth of the room would allow me to stretch out my back more than I’ve been able to as well as my IT Band. 

When I go to a yoga class, I like the 90 minute classes as the yoga instructors don’t seem to go as fast. This gives me time to adjust my poses. Standing on one leg with the other twisted around it, bending from the waist doesn’t give me much confidence that I won’t topple over in this contorted pose.  So the slower pace is good for me to find whatever balance I can.

When I first walked in to the class, I thought..warmth, great for my back.

Our instructor was very nice as she told us that if we got too hot, it was okay to lay down on our mats as this was about ourselves and how we felt.

As we started going through the poses, it was no longer warm, it was hot.  Sweat started pouring off me. Thankfully, I had my yoga top under my t-shirt as the t-shirt was off within minutes. A few minutes later, I realized I should have worn my running shorts instead of long yoga pants. I rolled those up to get more air on my skin.

About 30 minutes into this, I took the instructors advice and laid down on my mat. I wanted to get as far away as I could from the heater mounted on the wall above my head. If I could have levitated off the floor, I would have as that was heated as well. I drank half of my water to replinish what I had lost the first 30 minutes.

I was thankful when our instructor opened the door to the outside courtyard. Cool air breezed in. But within a few minutes the door was closed. I so wanted to take my mat and do my poses outside there in the courtyard. Freezing cold surely had to be better than this—hold a pose with sweat dripping out of every pore in my body.   

I did cool down a bit after the brief cold breeze and followed along on a couple of more poses. But the heat got to me again. Our instructor was kind enough to give us alternative suggestions on how to modify some of the poses while laying down on the mat. Was I ever thankful for that.

Unfortunately, I soon realized even laying down that I wasn’t going to make it for 90 minutes in this class. So after about an hour of “this must be what hell feels like”, I rolled up  my mat, picked up my towel, my bottle of water and left.

As I cooled down, the receptionist assured me that it takes time to acclimate your body to this as this is one of the “hotter” classes. I was further informed that most people start with their 95 degree class. And even that takes time to get use to.

This “hotter” class was done at 105 degrees!!!!

The upside in all of this…my skin is glowing and my pores have ridden themselves of whatever toxins were there. Oh, and my back feels better.

Next time, I will try their 95 degree class and see if  that is manageable.