Class last night was awesome. The teacher wasn’t amazing, the room was pretty humid, but I FELT 100x better after the class was over. My neck felt longer and straighter, my back felt limber, my legs felt shaky (in that good way, when you know you’ve worked them!) My balance and strength (especially upper body!) have definitely suffered in the past 6 weeks or so, when I haven’t been on a real exercise schedule, but I was happy to find that my back is still quite flexible. And it felt WONDERFUL to sweat so much. I felt about 10 lbs. lighter when I left the class. When I got home I had a wonderful dinner of spinach salad with woodstock dressing, a spinach/tofu/hummus wrap, and pumpkin yogurt with museli and agave — rather big but I felt like a bottomless pit!!

What made me really happy about the class was that I realized that my whole approach to yoga has changed in the last few years, and it really improved my experience in the class. When I used to go to Bikram (or any yoga, really), I pushed myself way beyond my comfort zone and figured my body would catch up eventually. And it did—but I didn’t enjoy the PROCESS of discovering a new pose at all! Yesterday I took it easy getting in and out of the poses and made sure to back off if anything felt “wrong” or out of alignment. I guess it’s just a process of becoming kinder to yourself? I’m like that with running now, too; I’m not afraid to take walk breaks, and don’t feel like a failure if I need to stop and stretch. Before, it wouldn’t count as a 4-mile run if I didn’t RUN the whole thing and push through the discomfort.

Bottom line: Bikram is not my favorite type of yoga (I really miss the vinyasas/flows) but every once in awhile, it’s a great way to re-align my body and feel like I’ve “re-set” my system! I’m actually really looking forward to class on Sunday or Monday (haven’t decided when I’ll go back next, but I’m definitely taking today off :-) )

Happy weekend!