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bikram yoga
May 2009 
Bikram class Four!
Posted on Aug 13th, 2008
by 
kicksave
kicksave
Bikram #4
I've noticed that I've been eating better food and less of it too as of late. Last Monday we had a office party, they served fried everything. I took a plate and was looking forward to digging in, but after a few bites, it just felt gross. So I dumped it and got a salad. I've dropped 6 pounds in a week and my body fat pct is down around 11. I have been tired on my runs and played the two worst games of hockey this week that I've played in awhile.
OK I'll get right to it, no one farted! Brings the average down to 50% of classes someone rips a few.
When I took my first class at this studio, they said to grab a dry mat off of the rack to use. Afterwards I asked where should I put it, and they said "on the rack". I had assumed that they were drying off after being cleaned (the first studio cleaned them) not drying off from being soaked in sweat. It seems like I should be grossed out by that but I'm not really.
The teacher last night was the friendliest of the three I've had there, but I had overheard her talking to someone and saying that she hadn't practiced much. Would have thought that was a prerequisite.
This was by far the toughest class...it wasn't just me as afterwards several people asked if it was hotter than normal. No was the answer, the highest the temperature got was 102 but the humidity was higher than normal. So it's true, it's not the heat it's the humidity.
I know I am belaboring this, but geez it's amazing the amount of sweat I'm coming up with! At pose eight the river starts to flood off the hem of my shorts, last night it started at five.
AND WHATS WRONG WITH MY ARMS? Why is it so hard to hold them up? My shoulders are killing me.
I had more trouble than usual doing one legged poses last night, I'm guessing that my muscles are tired and are having a tougher time handling balancing poses.
By the time we got to camel, pose 22, I was feeling dizzy and stayed down for them both.
Wonder what it is about that pose that gets me every time. Moving from laying down to being up on my knees?
The guy in front of me had white scabby looking things on his feet, really made cobra more challenging then it needed to be.
Then doing the situps, put your hands over your head, fingers clasped, my hands kept hitting his feet! EEEEEEYYYYYYEEEEEEEWWWWW! I kept scooching down my mat till finally my feet were on the wall!
But then I'm sure it's no picnic standing next to the human sprinkler either!
Ok, I'm going to have to dip into the testosterone for a moment,
"WHAT??? MORE! YOU'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT FARTS AND BODILY FLUIDS FOR THREE DAYS"
Yup one totally male observation coming up, there is an added dimension of beauty and grace brought to yoga by a woman wearing only a sport bra and boy shorts, IMHO.
(sorry no pictures)
four
I've noticed that I've been eating better food and less of it too as of late. Last Monday we had a office party, they served fried everything. I took a plate and was looking forward to digging in, but after a few bites, it just felt gross. So I dumped it and got a salad. I've dropped 6 pounds in a week and my body fat pct is down around 11. I have been tired on my runs and played the two worst games of hockey this week that I've played in awhile.
OK I'll get right to it, no one farted! Brings the average down to 50% of classes someone rips a few.
When I took my first class at this studio, they said to grab a dry mat off of the rack to use. Afterwards I asked where should I put it, and they said "on the rack". I had assumed that they were drying off after being cleaned (the first studio cleaned them) not drying off from being soaked in sweat. It seems like I should be grossed out by that but I'm not really.
The teacher last night was the friendliest of the three I've had there, but I had overheard her talking to someone and saying that she hadn't practiced much. Would have thought that was a prerequisite.
This was by far the toughest class...it wasn't just me as afterwards several people asked if it was hotter than normal. No was the answer, the highest the temperature got was 102 but the humidity was higher than normal. So it's true, it's not the heat it's the humidity.
I know I am belaboring this, but geez it's amazing the amount of sweat I'm coming up with! At pose eight the river starts to flood off the hem of my shorts, last night it started at five.
AND WHATS WRONG WITH MY ARMS? Why is it so hard to hold them up? My shoulders are killing me.
I had more trouble than usual doing one legged poses last night, I'm guessing that my muscles are tired and are having a tougher time handling balancing poses.
balanced
By the time we got to camel, pose 22, I was feeling dizzy and stayed down for them both.
dizzy
Wonder what it is about that pose that gets me every time. Moving from laying down to being up on my knees?
The guy in front of me had white scabby looking things on his feet, really made cobra more challenging then it needed to be.
scaley
Then doing the situps, put your hands over your head, fingers clasped, my hands kept hitting his feet! EEEEEEYYYYYYEEEEEEEWWWWW! I kept scooching down my mat till finally my feet were on the wall!
Sprinkler
But then I'm sure it's no picnic standing next to the human sprinkler either!
testosterone
Ok, I'm going to have to dip into the testosterone for a moment,
"WHAT??? MORE! YOU'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT FARTS AND BODILY FLUIDS FOR THREE DAYS"
Yup one totally male observation coming up, there is an added dimension of beauty and grace brought to yoga by a woman wearing only a sport bra and boy shorts, IMHO.
(sorry no pictures)
Access: PublicTagged with: bikram yoga, hot yoga
it's true! I love the human body more and more the more I do yoga. it's amazing to watch bodies transform from their first class to their 100th or 600th.
and you'll soon find it's not just the bodies that transform. it's the whole person. body, mind and soul seem to shed the superficial layers so the innate beauty can shine through.
“I have been tired on my runs and played the two worst games of hockey this week that I've played in awhile”
make sure you are re-hydrating enough, including electrolytes. and you may require a few more calories than usual for awhile. when I first started doing this yoga I swear I ate a 3 egg veggie omelette with avocados after every class and I still lost weight. by the end of a month, you'll feel better than ever and those hockey classes and runs will seem easier.
Keep it up!! you are doing awesome! and I LOVE reading all this. it's so cool. brings back so many memories for me of my first classes.
one of my favorite teachers always says, there is a beginning with yoga, but no end. and it's true. I haven't gotten bored with it even after 6 years of practice because I am always working on the next thing.
did you see that one of the olympic swimmers does bikram yoga as part of his training? and some of the gymnasts? so cool!! I'm mean- hot.
haha.
I can't wait to read #5!
-d
a little more – about teachers who don't practice… (i.e.- me, but I don't teach if I'm not practicing - I don't think it's possible to be a good teacher without also being a student, for me anyway)
I didn't practice much at all in may, june and july– long story and not that interesting– just lots of work and lots of travel and lots of teenager stuff and not much time for yoga and blah blah blah… I also wasn't teaching, though I am a certified teacher, I am also a photographer and my main job is 9-1-1 emergency dispatch and I have worked about 65 hours a week on average since april at the communications center. I train new dispatchers as well as dispatch myslef and we have been incredibly short staffed… so…..
but now - it's august and as of today I've practiced 9 days of 10 in a row. I took last saturday off from yoga because there is no evening class on saturdays and I finish work at 7am and go straight to bed.
it's amazing to me that after 3 months of almost no yoga practice I had lost a TON of strength and flexibility, but after just 9 classes I am almost back to where I was before. it seems a little like riding a bike - you never forget and the muscle memory comes back so quickly.
I've gained some weight this summer from living such a sedentary lifestyle (not much exercise happens on the bus on the way to and from work, nor in the comm center and I haven't ridden my bike nearly as often as I would've liked). i haven't actually lost any weight in this week and a half since I started back with my regular practice, but my clothes are already beginning to fit properly. and every time I step on the scale and report the same weight out loud to my husband he says - that scale is broken - it's a liar. the difference in my body is visible and I can feel it– better energy- springing up the stairs instead of dragging myself – but the numbers on the scale haven't changed. this is because my body is remodeling itself from the inside out. the numbers will change dramatically in the coming weeks as my body finds it's own balance and equilibrium. I've been through this process before.
I am so glad to share your yoga journey. it's so cool to see the similarities of experience and the differences too.
I'm actually going to go post this as a comment on your blog because I think it is relevant to anyone who might consider starting up a bikram practice.
thanks for creating this discussion with your first blog on bikram yoga!! so cool! I mean hot!!
:-)
-d
OMG. OMG. I run I dance I do gym stuff there's a Pilates reformer in my living room for petesake, friends used to call me 'animal' because I like pushing to the edge to see if I really could fly, so I'm used to being the soppingest wettest person in any given group.
But I have NEVER had a trip like this journey through bikram that you two are leading me toward. I'm just sitting here reading all this stuff, I thought I was wildly advanced because I've discovered kundalini (thank you Dawn thankyouthankyou deep bow) but it's different than bikram. What's with the heat?? All my life, I wanted insisted to be as COOL as possible when trying to fly. But I listen to you two, and I catch a whiff of this high-flying energy of being alive!! I want to go there too! OMG. Move over. I never thought I'd say this, but:
Heat is good.
Heat is good.
Heat is good.
I'm with you on that one willow…I hate the heat, summers have always been unbearable for me, I wear short sleeve shirts year round…complain about the heat being on in the office every winter but this seems different, and Dawn is right about the clean sweat. Yard work, hockey..leaves that feeling like dried elmers glue on your skin, you know where you skin feels a little tighter? But not after Bikram after I air dry (and it takes awhile :) I don't feel gross)…I do need to remind everyone that I can't smell so take that with a grain of salt.
LOL. I'm glad I found your blog. I was in need of a good belly laugh today. :D