Getting hot and sweaty... YOGA!

Mention the word yoga to anyone and the response is automatically "Oh, I couldn't do that....I'm not flexible enough" and then something about yoga being a "mostly female activity" and then I throw my head back in laughter!!! I began toying with yoga over two years ago...Bikram Yoga...the one "practiced" in the "hot" room. Yea, it's hot. Well over 100 degrees...with humidity of course; twenty six postures...and they all suck...every one of them...sucks. But here's the thing, once you start going, you can't stop. And I can't for the life of me figure out why. The same twenty six postures. You spend an hour and a half, ninety minutes, watching yourself contort your body back and forth, side to side, balancing, stretching, bending, breathing, sweating...lots of sweating. At first I was a little freaked out by the sound of dripping sweat from the guy next to me...then I realized, it was me who was dripping. And, yes, there are more women than men in the class; scantily clad women...people of all shapes, sizes and ages and let me tell ya, I wouldn't want to mess with any of them cos if you can stay in a sweltering room with twenty plus people all with mats and towels and perspiration flying for ninety minutes doing things with your body that you never thought possible, well, there's just no telling what could happen if you crossed one of them...probably nothing as yoga has an odd calming affect that seems to last thru the day....hmm...what is it about yoga? It's not at all like ordinary exercising. Your body does change...and so does your mind. It's a personal pilgrimage every time you practice...yes, practice, because it seems no matter how many years you "practice", you never get "there"...oh, you'll notice you'll get deeper into the poses but, like life, it's the journey. And there's no way you can do yoga without being in the present moment. At the conclusion of the class, you really feel like you accomplished something...a miracle? Without doubt, every one of us in the room during class is having our own internal dialogue. Mine goes something like this: "breathe? really....how in the hell am I supposed to do that with my body folded over, my hands behind my calves and my ass up in the air! My forehead on my knee while looking at my stomach? would you mind if I wiped the sweat out of my eyes....I can't see my stom...oh gawd....look at my stomach....sit down even more than I already am? but I'll fall...ok, are you happy now, I just lost my balance and fell..." But yet, I'll be back, tomorrow morning, 6 am class, cos if I take too much time to rationalize it, I won't go...why would I?

*ok, I may have been a tad harsh on the yoga so let me just add this: you will never enjoy a drink of ice cold water or a long hot shower as much as you will after a Bikram Yoga class. That in and of itself is worth the 90 minutes of suffering. And your body will change for the better. And your mind will be stronger and more focused. You will feel fabulous. There.