Yoga with Jeremy!

Yesterday Jeremy and I did our first hot yoga class ever, and for Jeremy, his first actual yoga class ever. The first ten minutes I was sure it was an awful idea. Its already 90 outside and I'm walking into a heated room to exercise. Does this make any sense?

We chose it because it fit into our schedule, not for any other reason. Interestingly enough, we both liked it. Even Jeremy, who HATES being hot. I can't say much about Jeremy's experience, but it was very cool/wierd/awesome for me. Something interesting happened when I stopped paying attention to the heat - I didn't care. After 10 minutes or so, the yoga practice got harder - a lot of fast and challenging movements and I had to decide what to focus on. Heat or Yoga?

I chose yoga. Its why I was there afterall. And once I chose that, the heat didn't seem to be an issue. Yes, I sweat. A lot. Like, A LOT. So much that I didn't feel sticky at the end. My sweat was just water. I had, in fact, bathed in sweat. (wow) I also had to really focus on my breathing. My body kept wanting to hold its breath, like it was waiting for things to get easier. Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. So lots of breathing focus, which basically kept me going.

And yes, there were moments where I had to take breaks, less for the heat than for the fact that some of those yoga poses were damn hard. But overall, it was great. I walked out feeling wonderful and energized. I had spent an hour focused on my balance, and my breathing and it was fabulous.

I'm not sure how we would have done had we not been eating as healthy as we have. (I had a hamburger on Sunday and shrimp today but otherwise, no meat for two weeks!) And for those who have done Bikram Yoga, this was not Bikram. The room was only heated to 98 degrees, so not as hot. Probably about as hot as I would go though. It was uncomfortable but tolerable.

We are going back on Wednesday for another (non-heated) class called Samurai Yoga which incorporates martial arts. I'm a bit sore so I may need to take it easy, but I am totally excited about it!