Thoughts on Bikram yoga from the POV of a noob.

Today was my 2nd day attending Bikram yoga, and some people were curious about it, so I thought I'd tell you a few things to help you make your decision.

The first thing you notice when you walk in the room is that it is a little bit stinky.  Not horrible, and not like crotch or b.o., but just not fresh.  You get used to it, though, over the 90 minutes.

It is really, stinking hot.  I think it was 106 degrees in there.  My knees were sweating quite quickly, as was every part of my body, along with everyone else.  Seriously- your clothes get completely soaked, as does the towel you put down on your mat.  For this reason, it is advised that you wear as little clothing as possible. 

The thing is, though, that I didn't feel gross at all.  It's not a gross stench like after running.  It just feels cleaner.

Yesterday, I had to talk myself out of running out of the room after about 45-50 minutes due to feeling queasy.  The combination of drinking too much water and working out in that heat just made me feel creepy.  I just sat down and breathed a bit, then got back into the flow.  I had to sit down a bit today, too, but I didn't feel the overwhelming need for cold air like I did yesterday.  And today, I didn't feel gross as quickly. 

How do I know?  Because you do exactly the same 26 postures for 90 minutes every time.  That is Bikram yoga.  There are other people who do "hot yoga" and they can do whatever they want, but there's a whole trademark issue, blah blah over "Bikram."  At first, I thought I would be bored doing the same thing every day, but I think it will be good.  I'll be able to easily track my changes & progress, like today's lasting a bit more. 

But?  It is HARD.  Hard.  Difficult.  I was sore last night & I'm sore now.  My neck is sore, people.  Some of the poses I am nowhere NEAR being able to do, I surprised myself with others, and some were hard mostly due to being so slippery with sweat. 

Do I recommend it?  Heck, yes.  If you don't like it at first, keep going.  I'm shooting for 5 days a week for this month, which I got for cheap.  After that?  Who knows?  I really can't afford to keep going, so hopefully this will just address some of the tight & hurty spots I have in my body, and then I can continue with other yoga after this month. 

Running is going well

Today's run was good, even though it was a bit wonky.  I was feeling overwhelmed and needed to run & think & talk to God, so I put Underwood in the car & we went to the creek.  When we got there I realized that I forgot my watch, so my splits were going to be a bit random/haphazard/whathaveyou. 

Being in a bit of a funk, I wanted to listen to music and run a bit farther than usual, but I knew that I also needed to interact with God, so instead of putting on my usual tunes, some of which are quite angry, I listened to KLOVE the whole time.  I didn't turn it off once, and I even listened to cheesy songs.  I just needed to worship and be outside and move and get happy.  Thankfully, they even played one of my fave running songs, "O Praise Him" by the David Crowder Band. 

I've been doing pretty well with my splits lately.  I've been mixing together the Galloway method and some Chi running technique, so I keep telling myself "slow and loose, slow and loose!" when I'm running. Today, I had a water bottle in my hand, though, which doesn't lend itself to a relaxed upper body.  It may be time for a fuel belt, since I plan on starting to train again for races, which means longer runs and more water needed. 

Since my running has been getting better, I'm noticing that I'm not looking at my watch so often, waiting for the split to be over.  Quite often, I end up running over the time, since I don't have a beepy noise to tell me when to walk.  That's why I didn't feel so off about not having my watch today:  I knew that my body would do what it needed to do.  I'm sure that some of my splits in the beginning were longer than they should be (on the running side) and that they likely turned around a bit to be longer on the walking side on the way back.  But my pace wasn't too bad (not fantastic) and I'm glad that I went out.

I have a little bit of tingly/bratty feeling on the left shin, which isn't the one that normally bothers me, but I also know that it may be new shoe time, and I bumped up my mileage a bit, so I'm not too concerned.  Depending upon how the shin feels tomorrow, I may run again instead of going to the gym.