Bikram Yoga

We have a special posting from our correspondent and resident Gordita...and my wife. Leslie Santos.  Enjoy.


Bikram Yoga

I have learned, in my weight loss journey, that I am simply not and may never be a "gym rat". In my quest to find new and innovative weight loss techniques, I came across Bikram Yoga. Now, I've always wanted to try Yoga, and stumbled across a great deal for unlimited Bikram yoga for one month.  Well, I thought to myself, this seems like as good a time as any.

Walking in, I was honestly excited, nervous, and a bit overwhelmed all at once. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to encounter. Would I be surrounded by pretentious snobs who would look at me like I didn't belong? Or would I be one of many first time yogis, simply looking for where to sign in and and how to get started? While everyone was nice enough, the women's locker room was somewhat chaotic, as everyone seemed to be rushing to make it to class on time. Not wanting to be last, I quickly threw my bag in a locker, grabbed my towels and water, and made my way towards the glass doors.

The first thing that hit me was the heat. I mean, I expected hot, but this was absolutely absurd! As I started to sweat, my nerves kicked in: how the heck was I going make it through 90 minutes if I was sweating before class even started? I tried to calm my nerves and waited for class to start.

I won't go through my entire class, but suffice to say Bikram is definitely an intense yoga workout. The poses are really designed to enforce proper alignment of the spine and proper breathing techniques. This is great since these things factor into numerous other weight loss ventures (jogging comes to mind immediately). While my instructor was most definitely not warm and fuzzy, he was an absolute stickler on proper form and posture; as a newbie, I appreciated the guidance on how to perform the poses properly. Two days later I do sense a tightness in my abs and back, which I'm sure I can attribute to the stretches performed during Bikram. And while I'm still a newbie, at least this time I'll know where to sign in. 

Vaya!