My Bikram Yoga Experience

I tried Bikram Yoga recently with a friend. All along the way I kept thinking it would be like any other yoga studio I had attended. We just walked in with our yoga mats in our hands and the lady at the desk kept insisting we bought water bottles and a towel which you could rent. I thought it was some kind of a marketing gimmick pushing us to buy/rent stuff. But we caved in and were ready and she run us through the instructions saying the door will be closed through the 90 minute class and she would prefer we stay in the class till the end. She also mentioned if at any time we feel dizzy we should lay down as walking out of the class often makes it difficult for the body to adjust to hot and cold temperatures. And I was thinking "Really!! How different can this be!" Wait for it.......

So there was this electric heat system that forced air out and unfortunately I took the spot closest to it. In retrospect I realize why it was vacant! Anyway so we started with the basic yoga poses stretching out. Slowly the room was getting warmer and I was sweating even before I was pushing myself too hard. After that, all I could think of was the heat. I was braving it out and trying my best to focus on the asanas. I began feeling dizzy and nauseous and tried to distract myself by sipping on water. Nothing seemed to help. I looked around to see how my friend was doing and she was in the same boat dragging herself to do simple poses. We really tried to do justice for showing up to an early morning class on a Saturday. We kept looking at each other and finally gave up and lay down there without any movement. The class was full and everyone there seemed to be a pro at it. They kept at it and were sweating like crazy. I had never seen a person sweat so profusely. At some point I even thought this one guy was peeing, no he wasn't..err..not technically. Their towels were wet and their water bottles empty. They were enduring the heat and seemed to be doing a great job too. Mentally I kept saying I am not coming back here. Finally the class ended and the moment they opened the door that whiff of cool air was all I wanted at that point. We peeled our bodies from the floor and were drenched in sweat ourselves. We went straight into the changing rooms and the other ladies were waiting for a shower. They looked at us sympathetically and knew right away we were amateurs. They went on to give us some great tips on hydrating well before the class and trying another instructor who was not so hard on keeping the door shut all through the class. They swore on the benefits of hot yoga and their skin was glowing with proof.

I understand the whole concept of sweating to remove toxins and cleansing your body and athletes think it has injury healing effects too but for me I went to experience the relaxed and rejuvenated feeling that one has after a regular yoga class. It was anything but that. We ended up taking pain killers for all the aches we had for the next couple of days. The closest analogy to this experience is learning to swim in hot water. Will I go back? Maybe...

For more detailed information on Bikram Yoga here is the Wikipedia link.