Um, hello? ... Is this thing on? I'm backkkk.
Well today was a pretty life-changing day. I won't go into the details, but I got a new
attitudeee. It feels pretty good.
Part of the reason is that I FINALLY made it to Bikram! It had been weeks, I tell ya, since I last got my sweat on.
So Bikram is yoga for crazy people (but anyone who does yoga is kind of crazy I think - I'm including myself). Every Bikram class is the same. It's a series of 26 poses, each done twice, in a 105 degree room. I know. I didn't think it was possible to sweat that much. I still remember the first time I ever went, and I was bent over in this pose which the instructor always says "should be like a Japanese ham sandwich" (meaning you're all smushed together ... I don't know I've never eaten one of those sandwiches) and my face was on my calf and ohmygod the beads of sweat! I guess I'm getting all those toxins out, eh?
I've always played it very safe. With everything. I've been doing more "normal" yoga for awhile (vinyasa flow-type stuff) but was always very intrigued by Bikram. So when I saw a Groupon for it (I go to
Yoga 108) I snatched it up. And then thought oh shit what am I getting into? I still remember my first class when I showed up in my little yoga booty shorts and signing a waiver (!) saying that if something happened to me I wouldn't hold them responsible. And the teacher told me that since it was my first time, my only goal was to just stay in the room the entire time. So I played it cool and said, "Oh yeah, of course," like I hung out in 105 degree rooms all the time but on the inside I was freaking. Out.
Anddddd I ended up rockin' it. Not to be that annoying yoga chick bragging about her sun saluations or whatever but I really clicked with Bikram. Don't get me wrong, it's HARD. I get my ass-ana*kicked every single time. I'm a sweaty, nauseated** mess during it all. And sometimes, ok pretty much every time but the classes get so crowded, someone ends up touching my feet or I touch someone else's. And it's weird. But things get real when 30 scantily clad people are in there together. And if you can do one of those classes, you can seriously do anything.
It makes everything else in your life that might have been crazy seem sort of insignificant while you're stretching and kicking and sweating away. My instructor today kept saying wandering eyes, wandering body. And wandering mind. You have to just focus on the poses and not let your life crowd in. And then when class is over and I've properly savasana-ed I can go out and conquer the world. Once I shower though because no one wants to see that. I almost took a picture of myself post-class to put here but then I reminded myself that I do have some dignity.
*ass-ana. Asana. A pose. Never mind, yoga joke.
** They say it's GOOD if you feel sick. Isn't that crazy? It means it's working and you're cleansing your upper colon and stuff. Ok I don't know about that but there are a ton of health benefits apparently. And there is a pose where we're massaging our upper colon ... I don't know why I pay to feel hungover but I swear it's fun!
(Source: Shelby Siegel)
