Yoga!

[ChristineK]

So I just moved to Washington DC and have been looking for a yoga studio that I like. I stumbled on a Bikram's yoga studio in Dupont Circle and tried it out yesterday.  This was my first experience with hot yoga (you do it in a room heated to around 105 degrees and sweat buckets the entire time).  I could do all of the poses, but the heat did get to me a bit about 45 min into the 90 min class.  I took a min or two and laid in corpse pose (feeling like I was going to hurl in the middle of the studio ) but after that I was good to go!  One thing about hot yoga is that even if you feel sick, you are not allowed to leave the room.  I suppose if it was a total emergency, sure, bolt out the door, just do it in a quiet yoga-friendly....but otherwise, just lay down and chill until the feeling goes away. 

The heat allowed me to go beyond my normal flexibility and sweating like a crazy person felt amazing too.  I would totally recommend tryin hot yoga...but NOT if it is your first experience with yoga.  (This being said, I know someone that did start out with hot, but I still wouldn't recommend it).  I've been doing various types of yoga consistently for about a year now and have loved it!  Everyone puts flexibility on the back burner when it comes to fitness...but quite honestly it's become just as important to me as cardio and strngth....you'll feel amazing!!

Has anyone else tried Bikram, or just regular yoga?  ANy favorite types?  I really enjoy Hatha too.   

[Channing]

For the record, I have never given yoga a try, but the more I hear about it from some of my friends, I must say I am somewhat intrigued.  I am particularly interested in how regular yoga can be a benefit toward better running, which is definitely a goal of mine. 

However, not sure I'm man enough to step up to the "hot yoga" that you described in your post.  Sounds like a real a** kicker to me!  Though it certainly makes me curious to see if I could survive the class...

Any yoga suggestion that you could offer that would be good for a runner?

[Channing]

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was thinking about giving yoga a try as a new wrinkle in my fitness program.  I finally made it to a class this week, something affectionately called "power yoga."  The experience was great, but not at all what I had expected. 

Without a doubt I should have made my way to more of a beginner-level class because this one was HARD.  As a former football player who enjoys throwing weights around in the weight room, I tremendously underestimated the physical challenge you can find in the yoga studio.  Never again will I underestimate the sheer athletic skill and strength required to successfully navigate a class of this nature.  On multiple occasions I was simply physically crushed by some series of movements with interesting sounding names that will take a while for me to learn to pronounce.  By the time I walked off the floor when it was over, I certainly felt like I had gone a few rounds with the champ. 

All in all, despite the difficulty, I would say that the experience was great; definitely challenging.  It was hard not to think that something very positive would happen if I was ever good enough to make it through a class like that without being chewed up and spit out.  For that to happen, a person would have greatly enhanced their flexibility, strength, and balance, all while picking up some interesting cultural insights along the way.  Not a bad set of outcomes for any trip to the gym.

I look forward to finding a nice beginner's class and trying again.  Hopefully over a few months I can add some "power" to my power yoga.  Not a lot of power on display on Sunday, but definitely had a unique and challenging experience.