I'm just gonna say something for the record here.
I say this as someone who has practiced off and on for the last 5 years, mostly "on" since 2007. As someone who laughs in the face of 100+ day challenges, because I've lost track of how many challenges I've done. As someone who has, repeatedly, taken classes led by Bikram, in really hot rooms, with upwards of 300 bodies in attendance. As someone who does back-to-back classes with a devil-may-care casual attitude, views this behavior as perfectly normal, and occasionally says, "sure, why not a third one?" With all that said...
Did you guys know that these yoga rooms get REALLY FREAKING HOT?!?!?
I want to say this for posterity here, because more often than not I am that girl. You know who I mean. The girl who wanders out into the hallway after class, feeling lovely and refreshed, and asks in total innocence, "Wait, really? It was hot today?" as all the other students and instructors lie around gasping and trying to regain control of their various bodily functions. I've gotten some nice death glares in my time. When the teachers who I considered to be crazy heat freaks started accusing me of being insane, I knew I'd really been doing this stuff for a while. It just kinda comes with the territory, right? You practice a lot, and your body acclimates. The room gets comfortable. Pleasantly warm. It feels great to sweat. You're not even thirsty. If the door opens you think, "hm, I'm not too crazy about that draft," but you don't get upset about it either way. There's no problem.
Some of the time.
And then... it kicks your ASS.
Our little studio was pretty near capacity this evening - maybe 45 people? That's a whole extra row. (An average evening class in December had maybe 25-30 students, and only two rows.) I was practicing in the last row, just for a change of scenery, which put me pretty close to the back door, so I figured I was in for a nice juicy practice, with a nice cool draft coming in periodically to keep things under control. Standing series went great. Hot and great. Then, for some reason, when we got to the floor... it just felt HOT. Hot, hot, hot. Or rather, humid, which we all know makes it feel a lot hotter.
And at this point, I know that it's okay, it's not going to hurt me and there's nothing I can do about it anyway. But also: HOT! So I had this fantastic internal dialogue going back and forth between the calm, collected yogic side of me and the pissed off, uncomfortable, my-face-is-burning-off side of me. (Warning - I like to cuss. I read an article that said cursing makes things hurt less, so you should just let it rip.) So things in my head went a little bit like this:
HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS ROOM IS HOT TODAY
ok, sweetie, that's fine. that's how it's supposed to be. don't worry about it, just let it out. this is good practice. what do you feel right now?
I FEEL REALLY FUCKIN' HOT
ok, go ahead, that's fine, just say what you need to say and then we'll be done with it and move on
OK I NEED TO SAY, HOLY FUCK IT IS HOT IN HERE, AND I WISH THIS TEACHER WOULD OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR
yup, that's fine. this teacher is our friend, remember? she is awesome. she is doing a great job, this is a really good class tonight, great energy, i love this.
SHE KEEPS WALKING TO THE BACK LIKE SHE'S GOING TO OPEN THE DOOR AND THEN NOT OPENING THE DOOR AT ALL, THAT SUCKS
yup, hey look! we're in savasana! this is a nice chance to relax and be comfortable with being uncomfortable. breathe in cool, breathe out hot. all that oxygen coming into our body is so nice and refreshing!
HERE SHE COMES AGAIN AND THE DOOR IS STILL CLOSED. FUCKING BITCH!!
oooh, here comes half tortoise, this is such a nice posture for getting some relaxation and lowering the heart rate and cooling things down. this will be nice.
FUCK TURTLES.
And sometimes... that's just how it goes. I was calm and collected on the outside, laughing and bitching on the inside. The whole thing was hilarious to me. Just gotta go with it! It really was a good class. But just remember - none of us is immune. Sometimes I love this yoga because it feels so good in my body. Other times, I love it because it kicks. My. Ass. And then it feels good when it's done! Actually, I remember hearing a fantastic comment about Bikram yoga once: it teaches you the joy of instant gratification, because you feel SO much better the instant the class (or posture) is over!! It's just a new adventure every time...
