Last night a friend and I decided to try something new.
Hot yoga.
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It was a huge step, since we've never even done normal-temperature-yoga. I mean, I tried it in my basement a little with a Jillian Michael's DVD but even then it was hard. Yoga is pretty hard.
We couldn't find parking so we felt rushed when we got there. The woman working at the cash, who would also be our instructor, was very nice and gave us a tour of the place when we arrived. We were told to take our mats and our water into the hot yoga room, where some people were already waiting, and she would be there at exactly 7pm.
Everyone in the room was laying on their backs on their mats. I felt like I was interrupting everyone's naps. We unrolled our mats, took awkward sips of water, and sat for a few minutes. Eventually we lay down like the rest and waited.
I adjusted to the warmth easier than I expected. I thought it might be uncomfortable, and at times it was a little, but it wasn't bad. I sweat like I've never done before.
The poses were nothing too difficult. You could further stretch to make most of them more difficult, but overall it was a pretty great class for beginners. I didn't feel too lost and I was able to do a lot of the poses even though I was a lot less steady than most.
I would say the worst part of the class was the fact that I was sweating so much that I was slipping on my mat, so poses I can normally do like downward dog, my hands were sliding away from me.
The class was just a few minutes over an hour, but by then I was more than ready to finish. For beginners, I think a 30-45 minute class might be easier. When the instructor had us lay on our backs and relax our bodies, I may have started to doze off a little. When all was said and done, I did feel more relaxed, cleansed, etc. It was a fun experience. One I definitely would like to try again, and I think my friend agrees.
It's much easier doing yoga in a heated, darkened room than in my bright, cool basement using a Jillian Michael's DVD, that's for sure. I'm not knocking Jillian though - the video is great but a bit harder than the class.
Who knows, maybe I'll turn into a yoga regular.
