What the West Coast Has Done to Me Now
The following statements may not make sense to those who know me.
1. I went to a yoga class
2. It was hot yoga
3. It involved weights
4. This was on purpose
5. It was the second straight day of going to a yoga class
If it's possible, I'm even rolling my eyes at myself. Who have I become?? I move to the west coast and now I'm going to multiple yoga classes in a week?
I'll start here: There are two things that I know I need, no matter where I live. a) Fellowship (thanks to Matt for making "fellowship" part of my regular vocabulary). 2) Physical challenges. ... This yoga thing was both fellowship and a physical challenge. But, I assume the reason you're here is you want to know how a profuse sweater like me handled hot yoga....
The studio starts out at 93 or 94 degrees, plus some humidity. I have no idea what the temp reaches once it's filled with people working out. But as I walked into the studio and had a wall of warmth smack me in the face, I laughed at myself and thought, "What am I doing?!" I took notice of the two "draft dodgers" nestled over by the door and thought, "Heaven forbid we allow for a small exchange of fresh air. Let's hermetically seal this bad boy!!" (I later found out that they weren't actually used during class.) I felt like I was swimming into the room.
I set down my mat, grabbed some weights, and laid down before class, then watched as the room filled with people, all looking svelt and ready for yoga. I was pleased with, what I thought was, my very obvious messaging that I didn't belong: mesh shorts and a t-shirt. Unlike my previous yoga experience where I was worried people would notice that I didn't belong, this time I wanted to ensure it was blatantly clear I was out of my element. I was ready for the pity vote. "Don't worry! I have no idea what I'm doing! I don't even belong here!"
The class is called "sculpt." It was a complete oxymoron for how I envision yoga. First piece of evidence to that: "Too Legit to Quit" made an appearance in the playlist! I claim total yoga ignorance, but my impression of yoga is that it's all soft music, a calm voice, and slow movements. I don't know how to insert MC Hammer (and star jumps) into that paradigm. So when Too Legit came over the speakers, my mind immediately went to the Addams Family and I wanted to break out a dance party. I don't think the folks in the room were quite ready for that.
There was so much going on that I think I pretty quickly lost sight of the temperature. I did realize my shirt was sopping wet. I saw the beads of sweat on every inch of my skin. I felt the hand weights slip in my hand. And I watched as drops of sweat fell to the ground every time I lifted my arms. (Apologies to anyone in my vicinity that got hit with projectile sweat from any of the jumping and more accentuated movements.) But, even so, I didn't find myself thinking, "My goodness this is hot! Get me out!"
There were pushups, squats, core work, jumps, arm work, and cardio bursts. Again, this did not fit my vision of yoga. (I apologize to all the yoga enthusiasts out there for my narrow vision of your practice.)
At the beginning of a yoga class, the instructor invites all the participants to set an intention. Apparently that's the thing I'm supposed to focus on. I don't know if it's a good thing, but I think my two recent yoga experiences have been the most unfocused that I've been in quite a while. I couldn't even look at anything in particular. Rarely would I look at myself in the mirror to check my form or position. I spent most of those two hours in what seemed like a complete fog. I stared off into the distance, looking at nothing in particular. Occasionally I would stifle a giggle over thinking about my friends laughing at me or would find something else amusing. But for the most part, I was pretty vacant. It's like I was completely unaware of anything that was happening. As if my eyes were closed the entire time. And this is what leads me to some disappointment....I should surely have some fantastic stories to tell and things to exaggerate or bemoan. But I'm pretty much at a loss for what even happened during those two hours. That's a good thing, right? I'll go with yes.
CorePower Yoga provides a 7 day free pass to try out their classes. While the cost of membership or even a single class is more than I want to pay, I'm doing my best to max out these 7 days. I am realizing that my workouts can be pretty lazy and ineffective when left to my own devices. So group fitness is probably something I should consider doing more of.
Bottom line: Intellectually, hot yoga is still completely absurd to me. I cannot make sense of intentionally heating up an indoor space in order to exercise. However, my intellect was engaged at maybe 4% during the class, so it doesn't have to make any sense. I feel sore all over today, which is a sure sign that I got the snot kicked out of me, in a good way. And considering I don't feel like that when I put together my own workout routines, I'd say it gets a thumbs up.
Who am I? Did I just give a thumbs up to hot yoga?? Someone come rescue me!
1. I went to a yoga class
2. It was hot yoga
3. It involved weights
4. This was on purpose
5. It was the second straight day of going to a yoga class
If it's possible, I'm even rolling my eyes at myself. Who have I become?? I move to the west coast and now I'm going to multiple yoga classes in a week?
I'll start here: There are two things that I know I need, no matter where I live. a) Fellowship (thanks to Matt for making "fellowship" part of my regular vocabulary). 2) Physical challenges. ... This yoga thing was both fellowship and a physical challenge. But, I assume the reason you're here is you want to know how a profuse sweater like me handled hot yoga....
The studio starts out at 93 or 94 degrees, plus some humidity. I have no idea what the temp reaches once it's filled with people working out. But as I walked into the studio and had a wall of warmth smack me in the face, I laughed at myself and thought, "What am I doing?!" I took notice of the two "draft dodgers" nestled over by the door and thought, "Heaven forbid we allow for a small exchange of fresh air. Let's hermetically seal this bad boy!!" (I later found out that they weren't actually used during class.) I felt like I was swimming into the room.
I set down my mat, grabbed some weights, and laid down before class, then watched as the room filled with people, all looking svelt and ready for yoga. I was pleased with, what I thought was, my very obvious messaging that I didn't belong: mesh shorts and a t-shirt. Unlike my previous yoga experience where I was worried people would notice that I didn't belong, this time I wanted to ensure it was blatantly clear I was out of my element. I was ready for the pity vote. "Don't worry! I have no idea what I'm doing! I don't even belong here!"
The class is called "sculpt." It was a complete oxymoron for how I envision yoga. First piece of evidence to that: "Too Legit to Quit" made an appearance in the playlist! I claim total yoga ignorance, but my impression of yoga is that it's all soft music, a calm voice, and slow movements. I don't know how to insert MC Hammer (and star jumps) into that paradigm. So when Too Legit came over the speakers, my mind immediately went to the Addams Family and I wanted to break out a dance party. I don't think the folks in the room were quite ready for that.
There was so much going on that I think I pretty quickly lost sight of the temperature. I did realize my shirt was sopping wet. I saw the beads of sweat on every inch of my skin. I felt the hand weights slip in my hand. And I watched as drops of sweat fell to the ground every time I lifted my arms. (Apologies to anyone in my vicinity that got hit with projectile sweat from any of the jumping and more accentuated movements.) But, even so, I didn't find myself thinking, "My goodness this is hot! Get me out!"
There were pushups, squats, core work, jumps, arm work, and cardio bursts. Again, this did not fit my vision of yoga. (I apologize to all the yoga enthusiasts out there for my narrow vision of your practice.)
At the beginning of a yoga class, the instructor invites all the participants to set an intention. Apparently that's the thing I'm supposed to focus on. I don't know if it's a good thing, but I think my two recent yoga experiences have been the most unfocused that I've been in quite a while. I couldn't even look at anything in particular. Rarely would I look at myself in the mirror to check my form or position. I spent most of those two hours in what seemed like a complete fog. I stared off into the distance, looking at nothing in particular. Occasionally I would stifle a giggle over thinking about my friends laughing at me or would find something else amusing. But for the most part, I was pretty vacant. It's like I was completely unaware of anything that was happening. As if my eyes were closed the entire time. And this is what leads me to some disappointment....I should surely have some fantastic stories to tell and things to exaggerate or bemoan. But I'm pretty much at a loss for what even happened during those two hours. That's a good thing, right? I'll go with yes.
CorePower Yoga provides a 7 day free pass to try out their classes. While the cost of membership or even a single class is more than I want to pay, I'm doing my best to max out these 7 days. I am realizing that my workouts can be pretty lazy and ineffective when left to my own devices. So group fitness is probably something I should consider doing more of.
Bottom line: Intellectually, hot yoga is still completely absurd to me. I cannot make sense of intentionally heating up an indoor space in order to exercise. However, my intellect was engaged at maybe 4% during the class, so it doesn't have to make any sense. I feel sore all over today, which is a sure sign that I got the snot kicked out of me, in a good way. And considering I don't feel like that when I put together my own workout routines, I'd say it gets a thumbs up.
Who am I? Did I just give a thumbs up to hot yoga?? Someone come rescue me!
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