I've "started" Bikram yoga classes in the past week. When I say started - I mean I've gone to 10 classes and am wondering if it's for me.
I first heard about this extreme form of yoga about 5 years ago while living in London. A colleague dropped an incredible 40 kgs in about 6 months and we were all exclaiming at how good she looked. She just looked at us and beamed "It's Bikram yoga". When we looked blankly at her she went on to explain that it's a yoga class conducted in a room heated to 39°C with 40% humidity. Sounded like hell on earth to me, and it's quite an accurate description of my first class. Sweating profusely goes against every ladylike notion ever told to me - but resistence is useless.
On my third class the woman next to me flicked her sweat on me while trying to get into the standing bow pose. I would have thought it was disgusting if I could tell by looking at my body which sweat was mine and which was hers - I was nearly as soaked as she.
It's a challenging class mentally, physically and emotionally (yes I succumbed to the urge to cry that gripped me during my tenth class. They said it might happen. Damn them - it did). But the biggest challenge is the 1 hour return trip and the 1.5 hour class which means I'm away from home for the morning or afternoon...not that great when you have a 2 year old to care for.
Perhaps I can buy the class CD on eBay? Less sweating, less travel. More crying? May work.
