I went to Bikram yesterday afternoon and found it tougher than the first class. My hands were so sweaty I couldn’t grab hold of my body. I did less poses than I did in the first class.
Also, because I was out in the morning and I had to rush straight to class, I forgot to have anything to eat — that is nothing to eat all day. I ran out of energy by the time I got to the lying down sequence. After class was over, I seriously considered calling Duckfish to come and pick me up and drive me home — except he was at work. I mustered the energy to walk home up the hill, looking like an arthritic grandmother.
My dinner (and my total food consumption for the day) was a bag of marshmallows and a small bag of potato chips. So much for yoga making you want to eat healthy food! Last night I slept for ten hours.
So far, I can report the following benefits — my skin looks amazing, I have slight DOMs in my calves and my shoulders. The shoulder thing is good because it feels like I’m using muscles that have been switched off because of my injury. It feels like the muscles around my rotator cuff are getting stronger.
And then there’s the digestive improvement. I have some trouble being regular. Since starting Bikram yoga I have been going every morning. This alone is encouragement to keep going to class.
By all reports it takes a couple of weeks to get used to the heat, the poses and the tiredness. I want to get over this running in stage as soon as possible so I am encouraged to keep going even though I don’t feel very energetic. I tell myself all I have to do is stay in the room and lie on my mat the whole time and I’ve still done yoga.
I bought a beginner’s pass which is ten days for eighteen dollars. What if I did ten days in a row? I was going to skip today but now I’m thinking I should go …
Photo by Allan Henry