#26: Hot Yoga

After being encouraged by a friend to try the hot yoga class at our gym, I persuaded my husband, Rick, and daughter, Maya, to join me in a session tonight. It's Thanksgiving week, so I figured it would be a lighter crowd than usual which might make it less intimidating for a newbie. I was right on one front, it was a relatively light crowd given the room was not as jam packed as I hear the yoga sessions at Lifetime Fitness often are. However, those who were there appeared to be regulars and incredibly good at yoga – which was a little intimidating.

But we jumped right in and pretended we knew what we were doing. I admit I felt a sense of relief when the instructor, Stephanie, announced that the heating system was not working properly and might not quite reach the target temperature of 95 degrees. I think Maya and I even smiled at each other when she said the A/C had been unexpectedly kicking on during sessions. However, as luck would have it, that wasn’t the case during our session and we were quickly sweating through our poses. That is the purpose of hot yoga though, so at least we got to experience it completely.

Stephanie guided the class through a series of increasingly difficult poses probably very entertained by our family’s inexperience – even joking with a light-hearted chuckle that Rick’s flip of the downward dog was one of the most interesting transitions she had seen. All joking aside, she was a great instructor and catered well to the various levels in the class.

Even with the sweating, I really enjoyed the experience. I deal with chronic lower back pain and it might sound strange, but at one point I could actually tell by the pain that what I was doing was helping. I’ll probably go back for that reason if nothing else.

Maya, on the other hand, is recovering from elbow surgery and had to take it easy. As a former cheerleader/gymnast, she seemed slightly disturbed and maybe a little jealous by the yoga experts in the room who effortlessly went into handstands and other unique poses. It might take some bribery to get her to go back with me.

Overall, experience #26 was interesting and enlightening. Only 14 to go!