Bikram Yoga Craziness!

On Tuesday night I went to my first ever Bikram Yoga class with my friend Mrs. Acorn. Living Social offered a special for Bikram yoga classes at a local studio.  I have never been too excited about working out for 90 minutes  in a 105 degree room, but Mrs. Acorn was interested, it was a good deal, and I figured I was willing to give it a try.

When we got to the studio there were 2 older men standing outside that were half dressed.  I couldn't help but think, "what did I get myself into?"  When I was finishing up my registration form Mrs. Acorn grabbed us a spot in the room.  Unfortunately the only place left big enough for 2 people was right up front directly next to the instructor.  As soon as I walked into the room and was hit with the heat I had my 2nd thought of, "OMG what did I get myself into?"

We started with some loud breathing exercises that I'm not sure I was doing exactly right. We moved into a lot of standing poses. Some of which were really hard and some which were more managable.  About forty minutes into the class I sat down for a few minutes to take a break.  The heat was just so overwhelming!  There were other people that were taking breaks too so it was confronting to know that I wasn't the only one.

We also did a lot of poses that started from laying on the mat. Laying on a mat sounds easy right? Yeah not so much.  Some of the ways she wanted us to move was insane.  At one point she said "if you feel like you are being strangled some then that's good you are doing it correctly".  I do not know about you but feeling strangling for me never equals good or correct.

When there was about 25 minutes of the class left I was having a hard time with the heat.  I stood up to try to get some cold water and have a few minutes out of the room.  The lady stood in front of me and told me to just sit on my mat. I got a panicky feeling that the lady did not want me to leave the room.  I knew that if I really needed to leave I could have but I really did not like her telling me to sit back down. Another guy tried to leave the class all together when there was 15 minutes left of class and he was scolded too.

Overall the class was intense and hard but I did feel really good afterwards.  After the class I felt very stretched out and relaxed.  Since I have more classes that are paid for I will go again to give it more of a shot. Next time though I will take a big towel to put on my mat so I don't slip on my sweat (disgusting I know) instead of just a little face towel.  Oh did I mention that I sweated a lot? I mean A LOT! I have never been so drenched from a workout before. I also will make sure to get there earlier so I can grab a spot in the back. I also want to try out another instructor.  The lady that taught the class knew what she was doing but she didn't actually do the poses or show us and I like to be able to see the correct way to do it.  I also am a little bitter that she reprimanded me for trying to leave. 

This was what I looked like at Yoga...okay just kidding not so much!