Yoga Yoga Yoga

I am officially addicted to Bikram Yoga.  It’s crazy.  I am seriously considering hitting a 6 AM class during the week, so my practice will be more consistent.  I miss it during the week.  This is unheard of.  My sleep pattern has changed - I’ve never been a morning person & now suddenly I’m AWAKE at 5 AM.  Doesn’t mean I’m well-rested, because part of the purging I’m experiencing is emotional purging, where old long-buried anxieties are popping up to the surface and keeping me awake late into the night.  Alas.

But by god I’ve dropped a size.  I was tenuously at the edge of that for the past two months - since dropping the baddies (caffeine, dairy, sugar) - but it took the yoga to close the gap.

 I’ve always started yoga & then quit because it just wasn’t doing for me what I thought it should.  ‘Relaxing’ yoga didn’t relax me.  ‘Strenuous’ yoga hurt, but didn’t offer enough of an immediate benefit to keep me interested in returning.  I guess Bikram is just what I needed.  I have never experienced such a rapid shift in perspective & physical health in my life. 

Of course, purging is the deal.  Physical purging (skin, in my case), emotional purging, etc.  I’ve finally reached the other side with some of that, Amen. 

Two years ago, an acquaintance told me she was taking Bikram Yoga (”You know, the hot yoga,” she said) - and once she explained, I though she was mad as a hatter.  But now I get it.

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Comments are on moderation.  Apologies for taking a while to approve them (the handful that were waiting) - WordPress didn’t notify me!  So so sorry.  I love you all!  Mwah!  Mwah!

 Anyhoo, guys - yes, the blog moved & changed.  I did have a notice up at the old blog for approx. a month, but I didn’t email anyone, so it’s on me.  Kisses!

Bikram!

Last weekend (Sunday) I started taking Bikram Yoga.  I loved it - and, at the same time, hated it so much I wanted to die just out of spite.  My goal the first time was just to complete the class & do all the postures.  I managed it, and felt so so proud of myself.  I was sore for a couple of days after, but was raring to go by this weekend.  I kicked it up a notch - TWO classes, one each Saturday & Sunday (today) morning.  I was NOT sore this morning.  I AM sore now.  That second class kicked my ass so hard it’s rebelling.  My ass, that is, not the class.  I mean, my ass is rebelling.  Aw hell.  Never mind.  There was a metaphor somewhere in there but it’s been lost among the roses.  I’m sore, okay?  Ass, thighs, calves, shoulders … sore. 

My mantra:  “What do we love?  PAIN!”*

 No, not really.  I don’t love pain.  But I do love the feeling that I actually accomplished something, however minor. 

 Bikram Yoga is a series of (the same) 26 asanas in a heated (105 degrees) room.  It’s like doing yoga in hell.

I’ve done yoga off and on for years, but never kept with it (for various reasons - sometimes money, sometimes boredom, sometimes I just couldn’t tell if I was getting stronger since it was totally different every week because the teacher wanted to run the gamut of asanas from A - Z - which shows, I suppose, a lack of patience on my part). Anyway, I’m a beginner, even after so many years. I was afraid to try this style of yoga because I was put off by the idea of the heat. “105 degrees?? Are you serious? That’s INSANE,” I would say. But it’s not insane. Well, it’s a little insane. I suspect 90 degrees would work just as well as 105, but I’m not running the show, so I’ll just try to clear my mind of any protests on that account.

Whatever. I already am experiencing positive changes from this. First the pain, of course, then the positive changes. So, right now, while my thighs & butt are sore as hell, I will hold tight to the vision of tight, lean thighs and a butt you can bounce a quarter on. Because I’m shallow like that. Inner peace is all well and good - but what’s important is, can I wear a miniskirt in public again?

*‘Say Anything’, people.