I was excited to try out my first yoga class.  The one my friend Adrienne and I tried is called ‘Hot Yoga’.  Fuchsia Pink mat, towel, and water bottle -check.

I think it was an omen when the first time we tried going, Adrienne was sick, and the second attempt, an accident of sorts happened where someone hit the car behind Adrienne, who in turn hit her when she was on her way to purchase her yoga mat last week.

Tonight, we finally made it, everyone in one piece.  To start off with, the elongated room was humid and damp from the previous class.  The already packed room had two more spaces for us to lay our mats down.  More people signed up for the class, so everyone had to re-arrange their mats to accommodate.  Luckily we weren’t on top of each other, but it was fairly close.  Especially for doing stretches and poses where your next  door mat-mate would be bending over and upon lifting ones chin to the ceiling, the last thing I want to see is someone elses posterior or have their foot in your face.  Lukily (or unlukily) for us though, we were at the far wall . . .

Once we were able to cram everyone into the room, door shut (no easy escape), the heat began to sink in.  I knew it was called hot yoga, but I wasn’t expecting roasting, can’t breathe, humid sticky yoga.  I think it wouldn’t have been as bad if there were fans on to at least move the air around a bit more, and for me, the smell was unbearable.  It really should be like a sauna, where you are humid and hot, but its a fresh kind of smell, and there are fans blowing in cool air.

I am the kind of person that likes to exercise in an ice box.  I also, am not a fan of humid summer days, and honestly, I don’t like sweating, but I also like trying new things.

After trying the “warm-up” exercises of deep breaths iiiiiiinnnnn, and deep breaths ooooooouuuuuuut, we both became dizzy, and the smell was making me nauseous.   We popped out (thank goodness) after the warm-up, which was probably 10 to 15 minutes but felt like 30 – I was not about to sit through another hour.  Sweat was pouring off people before the actual yoga class began, which leads me to believe the smell would only strengthen.

Before the class started, the instructor said “if this is your first time, whether you come back or not, this will be a memorable experience”.  She was right!

SO, with that ~ we are going to try a regular yoga class for beginners (in air conditioning) since it seems very low intensive but high effective for working muscles.  It might be a while before I try hot yoga -if ever again 🙂