I Tried (and Survived) Bikram Yoga!

(found on Google, free bikram yoga)

We are officially back home from our 8-day vacation. Holy cow, eight days is a long time to be gone! Donny & I had a blast and we are still married! We actually didn’t even fight….lame, right? We enjoyed each other the entire 2,700 miles. Not bad.

I have some pictures and I’ll tell you all about the trip later. Right now I want to tell you about Bikram Yoga.

I have wanted to try Bikram yoga (hot yoga) for a while now.  There are several studios in Denver that have that class but I’ve never planned ahead of time to attend one and when we are already in Denver I never have proper attire.

Mid-way through Georgia I decided to get Donny’s iPad out and look some stuff up. I started with restaurants and ventured to yoga for some reason. I looked up Bikram yoga in Naples, FL and they actually had one studio completely dedicated to that class! They actually had three classes per day each day of the week.

I texted Kelsey and asked if she would go with me. She first laughed at me for Google-ing this on my road trip and then she agreed to go with me. She had never done it before either so it was nice that we were both newbies. It also helped that several years ago when I visited her she made me go to my first Zumba class (she was a regular). And made me be in the front row. 

After she agreed I decided to do some research about Bikram yoga. I found some blogs and different websites that gave some good tips (I honestly don’t remember which ones, I read 4 or 5). All of them said to bring water, bring a full-length towel to lay over your yoga mat, and to bring a spare change of clothes for after the class.  All three of those tips were very handy!

Kelsey was slightly nervous about the whole thing because she hadn’t done yoga in a long time. I haven’t been quite as religious about attending yoga lately (I definitely need to be), but I wasn’t quite as nervous.  I don’t mind being hot but I wasn’t sure about the large class size and the new instructor. I have only ever done yoga with two different instructors and never in a strict-yoga-studio-type setting. Jodi does several types of yoga depending on the class including hatha, vinyasa, restorative, etc. Never Bikram. 

Before I talk about my experience in the class, let me tell you a little bit about Bikram yoga. After the class the instructor gave us both a packet of information explaining it and the benefits. The packet used several different sources including The Key to the Kingdom of Health from the Holistic Health Report (July/August 1999).

The report stated that Bikram Choudhury had researched yoga and how it effects the body for many years and has developed a system of therapeutic Hatha Yoga routine to teach people to take command of their health. His system is comprised of a 26-posture routine with two breathing exercises that works the entire body. The postures are organized in a fashion that warms up the different sections of the body so that it brings balance back to the body.

Earlier I referred to Bikram Yoga as hot yoga. If you are not familiar, the 90-minute Bikram class is done in a room that is 100+ degrees. If you are afraid to sweat then Bikram is definitely NOT for you.  The high heat is supposed to help increase circulation and flexibility, and also help the body to burn away toxins. 

Now I don’t know if I felt “detoxified” after the class, but I was definitely sweaty and my muscles were much more flexible!

In the research I did beforehand, I read that Bikram yoga is the 26 postures and you perform each posture twice.  What was surprising was that you perform the posture, then fully relax, and then you perform the exact same posture again. I have only ever done “flow-type” yoga where you progress from one pose to the next to the next. Bikram felt very choppy to me.

We walked in a set our mats down, covered them with the towels we brought, and sat down. We sat about 5 minutes before the instructor came in. By the time she came in I could feel a tiny bit of sweat already. I mean, I’m sitting in a room that is set at 100+ degrees! I knew I would be a mess by the end.

Surprisingly, I was not bothered by the heat. I tend to sweat a lot when I work out anyway, so dripping sweat was not that weird to me. I did find it difficult to do some poses that required you to hold on your your leg/foot/arms because my hands were so sweaty that they made it hard to grip without slipping. About halfway through the class my clothes were drenched and then I had beads up sweat all up and down my arms and legs. They say not to wipe yourself down too much during the class because your body is trying to cool itself, hence the sweat.

We started with a breathing exercise and ended with a different breathing exercise. The first half of the actual yoga part was standing postures with the second half being seated postures. The seated postures were weird because between each posture you lay completely down on your back, then get back up and perform the posture again. Kelsey said that was the point she got a little light-headed because we were getting up and down and up and down. I didn’t mind that, it was just different.

We obviously did all the beginner-poses, but I didn’t find any of the poses too much.  If I went more regularly I could see myself trying some of the more challenging poses.  I definitely felt like I was more flexible in the heat and, this may not be related but, I had great balance during the class. That could have been a complete fluke, but I did notice my balance was on par.

It is always difficult getting use to a new class and a new instructor. I liked the instructor but she kept pointing out that Kelsey & I were beginners. I’m not talking once or twice…I’m talking at least 10 times she pointed out that we were new to the class (alright, alright we get it!). It was sort of awkward at the very end because she mentioned (again) that this was our first class and everyone gave us a round of applause. Neither Kelsey nor I are good at being pointed out in a crowd, so we both smiled and awkwardly looked around as people clapped.

I posted this photo above on Instagram after the class. I luckily have short hair so you can’t tell as much in the picture, but were sweaty-messes, that’s for sure. We decided the only thing that would help us cool down was a nice smoothie and a pool. So we stopped at a smoothie shop and headed to Kelsey’s in-laws pool. Perfection. 

So I’m not going to say I am in love with Bikram yoga by any means, but I definitely think I need to give it another chance. I wasn’t head-over-heels with yoga in general at first either, but now I love it! Who knows… maybe I’ll become addicted. You just never know. 

Have you tried Bikram yoga? Did you love it or hate it?