It is FRIDAY! After a late night at the office, I’m ready to make sure the second it is 5:00 I’m out the door, running home to my sweet baby and off to another challenging yoga class at what I like to call my heated wonderland, crazy happy place.  Who am I kidding? The class isn’t until 7:00 p.m., so I guess I could stay late but I’m hoping I can be super productive today and I will be out at 5:00 if only to meditate a bit more on my intention of the month.

So rewind to Wednesday.  I’m chatting with a co-worker and friend, trying to get him to go to my heated intermediate yoga class, to which he replies “I will die, no thanks.”  I tried to encourage him that he wouldn’t die, that the beauty of this class is that he could modify and he’d be fine.  Sure it wasn’t beginner but in beginner classes they break down all the poses and move a tad slower, in the class I was asking him to go to they don’t break down the poses as much because they assume you are familiar with them but they give you cues nonetheless.  I have known him for many years, I knew he could and would be perfectly fine as 1) he is brilliant and 2) he has had a lot of practice.  Well, he said definitely not.  So I went alone, no biggie, I always do.

I got to class early, noticed that there were quiet a few people there considering it was early so I figured the class might get pretty full.  I took my mat, towel and water bottle and moved to the front corner of the room.  I had been in pretty full classes before and have found I do much better if I’m closer to the front and if I can have a wall as one neighbor I find my balance poses are not compromised.  What I didn’t pay attention to was the heating vent I laid right next to (ha!).  I laid on my mat thinking of my intention trying to relax and release tension (typically I stretch for the whole time before class but I wanted to clear my mind and focus, as it had been a tough mental day).  I opened my eyes to a gentle tap that asked if I could move closer to the wall (I wasn’t more then a foot away from the heating vent) and at that moment noticed that the class IS ABSOLUTELY PACKED.  The mats were only about 4 inches from each other (without exaggeration).  Why is this crazy to me? Well, as stated I was next to the heating vent (which I noticed as the warm air was running over my body while trying to focus) in the far corner of the room and when there are that many bodies a 98 degree room can get much hotter and stay a lot hotter, I figured “psht. I’ve been in 90 minute Birkam classes, I’ll be fine.”

Oh. M. Gee.

Bikram is a series of 26 static postures… This class I was taking was a vinyasa flow, and boy. was. it. challenging. Wonderfully challenging and crazy hot (helllllllllllllo heat vent in my face).  This class humbled me so much.  The packed class (which gave me slight anxiety) was just challenging enough that even though I could touch my neighbors to the front, side and back… my mat was all I focused on (and someones rolled up pair of pants against the mirror (LOL).  That is when you know you have a good class, when you can’t focus on anything but what you are doing when your body immediately responds to the instructors verbal adjustments before they are even fully articulated.

Needless to say, I’m excited about today’s class.

 Source

My Friday Fitness will be another intermediate vinyasa flow (heated).

What about you?!