Yoga Kicked My Ass

I had been mulling it over for a while... While my gym membership is still active, my motivation level has been... non-existent. I know, the lure of sweaty beeves should be enough, but for some reason, it hasn't been. So, I considered yoga as something different that would be a good change for me. After kicking the idea around, I finally decided that today was the day that I finally started.

So, I made the short drive to the Tempe Bikram's Yoga. I checked in and found out that they had a deal for first timers - $30 for 30 days. Good deal, I said. Sign me up.

So, I take my mat, towel and water bottle into the studio. Now, I knew going into it that they heated the studio. Of course, the difference between the intellectual knowledge and the experience is about the same as telling someone that summers in Phoenix are hot and then having to live through one. Having grown up in Phoenix, I developed my heat-fleeing instincts and nurtured them. When its hot, I get to someplace cool as soon as possible. In this case, no such luck. It was hot and miserable from moment one.

Then we get to the actual poses themselves... now, I've never been under the impression that yoga was in any way easy. Not at all. That being said, there were a great many things that my body simply refused to do. I was also quite amazed at how much cardio happens while you're standing there. 90 minutes of disgusting heat and having my body do a great number of things it had never been asked to do before left me all wrung out like a wet rag.

On the bright side, our yoga instructor was very nice and quite supportive. The other positive was that I was right behind a very attractive (and quite flexible) guy whom I spent the majority of the class watching in the mirror. Unfortunately, he appears married, but eye candy is about all that allowed me to make it through the entire class.

At the end of the day, I survived. Since I bought the 30 day package, it makes it tough for me to blow it off... after all, I don't want that money to go to waste, right? Challenging yourself can be such a bitch.