It's Gettin' Hot In Here

A few weeks ago I joined the Groupon craze and made my first purchase two weeks in. Sarai and I both signed up for a one-month unlimited class pass to Dallas Bikram Yoga for $20 (usual price? $180!). When there’s a good sale, I can always count on Sarai to be whipping out her credit card right by my side.

Long story short, I got back from my third class tonight and have mixed reviews. I was really, really, really worried going into the first class. Passing out or vomiting both seemed like pretty viable options. Fortunately, I made it through the entire 90-minute class, in 105 degrees (umm, yeah, no typo), and kind of liked it! Enough so, that I went back the next day for round two and enjoyed it again. The nice thing about having been a couple times is that you know what to expect because every single class is the same length, the same postures, the same order, etc. Let me tell you – I start praising God or Bikram or whomever I’m supposed to be praising once we move into the mat series, because that means the end is near.

After being out of town for the weekend and having a client dinner yesterday, today was my first venture back. I already had early evening plans to get frozen yogurt with some people at 7pm, so I decided to give the 8:15 class a go instead of the 6:30. At this point you might be thinking – What? Frozen yogurt before 90 minutes of hot yoga? Is that smart? Well, the short answer? No. To be honest, I don’t know if it was eating too close to class (I definitely just had a little bit of fro yo, knowing I’d pay if I gorged), just being tired after a long couple of days, or it being the later class, but today was T-O-U-G-H. Whereas I was sort of proud of myself for getting through the other classes without taking a seat to catch my breath, that was definitely not the case tonight. I fully sat out for one posture. And I enjoyed it. Well, I didn’t enjoy much about anything tonight, but the breather was definitely much needed.

I’m being sort of whiney about it now, but I will say that I definitely feel good. I’m not generally a huge sweater when I workout, but there’s not a person that leaves that class not drenched from head to toe in their own sweat. Sort of gnarly, true, but also a sign of a good workout. I just tried taking a picture of myself on my computer as visual proof that my cheeks are still bright red a good two hours after class ended, but that ended up being scary, so you can just take my word.

All in all, trying out hot yoga (Bikram Yoga for you purists), has been a fun little pursuit for me, but the jury is still out. I’m glad to have an excuse not to go tomorrow or Thursday, but hopefully I’ll get re-energized and make it back at least a few more times in the next two and a half weeks.