The Bikram 30 Day Challenge! May 1, 2008

I signed up for the 30 day yoga challenge at Bikram Lower East Side yesterday, after doing my introductory week. I recently made some big life decisions and was dealing with the ramifications of them. Although it was great that I made a final decision, I still found myself feeling anxious and stressed. My impatient nature was getting the best of me, and I needed to find something to calm my nerves and help me sleep better at night.

I’ve never done anything like Bikram Yoga before, and honestly I didn’t think I would return after my first class! My first class was grueling: I have never suffered so much doing physical activity before. Poses that looked relatively simply were hard to actually do, and add to that a room heated to 105 degrees…it’s like trying to move around in an oven. But somewhere in that pain, lies something that releases energy (and toxins, via sweat), and at the end I felt a high level of elation. Was it from being cooped up in that hot room, the yoga poses, or that internal voice that tells you to quit and leave the room but you manage to stay and sweat it out? I’m not sure. Some physical symptoms I had during class were dizziness and tingling, which I later found out were symptoms of dehydration. It was true that I did not go in prepared. I even had coffee earlier that day. So after class I felt really good for an hour or two, and then ensued a terrible migraine that lasted into the night. I know now that was from dehydration. For the next class, I made sure to hydrate well and have electrolytes too, and this made a big difference.

Day 1 was great – my poses were fluid, I could go further, do more. This is my 4th class ever – took 3 in my intro week. I am happy with my progress so far and felt like a rock star after. I could take this on, no problem!

Day 2 – went in ready for the challenge, and I got one. Today’s teacher was more demanding than the others. The girl next to me couldn’t breathe and left an hour into the session. The other teachers I had would crack open windows in the back throughout the session, but this one didn’t… until other people were clearly struggling. I find it’s hard to keep my breath slow and even towards the end, as I tend to get impatient and hot. Very hot. I was very shaky today and had some difficulty concentrating. Tomorrow is a new day.