Tammy,<\/p>\n
Tonight was my first Bikram yoga class.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I can go back but I\u2019ve already paid for 9 more lessons.<\/p>\n
When I walked in the studio door it was already a little steamy.\u00a0 Okay I thought, this is really going to be exhilarating.\u00a0 \u00a0When the teacher arrived she asked for my name and whether I had ever done Bikram yoga before.\u00a0 No and Gary I announced.\u00a0\u00a0 She then cranked up the heater near my mat.\u00a0 \u00a0Initially we did some breathing poses where you move your arms and neck.\u00a0 So far so good.\u00a0 Then oblique twists for mountain pose.\u00a0 Cool, good bye muffin top.\u00a0 Soon there were new poses I didn\u2019t know and I was covered in sweat.\u00a0 I reached for a towel to wipe my face, neck, arms, and chest.\u00a0\u00a0 The cute, young, girl-next-door-teacher, approached and told me to give up the towel because I would need it the whole class.\u00a0 I was able to do a few more poses and then I had to stop and sit in timeout on the ground behind my mat.\u00a0 I feared heat exhaustion.\u00a0 Aerobically, I was burnt toast.\u00a0 I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest.\u00a0 I watched everybody else do what I was incapable of.\u00a0 She then called out triangle pose.\u00a0 She came over to me and sweetly whispered, or so I thought,\u00a0 \u201ccome on, even Charlie Brown can do this one.\u201d\u00a0 During another pose she told us to put our hands by our heart and we can pray if we want.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think she was kidding.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t see the clock so I piously requested the end of class.\u00a0 Throughout class the teacher would call my name to encourage me; however, I felt quite embarrassed.\u00a0 After all, there were a couple of overweight guys who had 15 years on me and they could do all of the poses.\u00a0 I heard her say shivasana and I got up from my exile as I can definitely do relaxation pose.\u00a0 She said to keep our eyes open.\u00a0 I think something is wrong.\u00a0 Three seconds later we were instructed to fold our torsos over our legs; this sent me back to once again being a bench warmer.\u00a0 The teacher was so hot her halter top and capri pants were covered with sweat stains.\u00a0 No need for any weird ideas; I was so delusional my brain didn\u2019t have the capacity for any Clintonesque thoughts.\u00a0 After several more fakes, the real shivasana arrived.\u00a0 I got back on my mat and nearly passed out.\u00a0 When I came to, I saw there was only one other person in the class and she was leaving.<\/p>\n
Was this really yoga?\u00a0 Maybe an inbred cousin.\u00a0 Hardly any of the poses resembled vinyasa yoga.\u00a0 It was so hot I think the walls will soon be covered in mold.\u00a0 Maybe I should call Groupon and tell them I dropped into the wrong class and get my money back.<\/p>\n
Gary Kahn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tammy, Tonight was my first Bikram yoga class.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I can go back but I\u2019ve already paid for 9 more lessons. When I walked in the studio door it was already a little steamy.\u00a0 Okay I thought, this is really going to be exhilarating.\u00a0 \u00a0When the teacher arrived she asked for my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[50,60,12,21],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bikram-yoga","tag-bikram-yoga","tag-savasana","tag-what-is-yoga","tag-yoga-training"],"yoast_head":"\n