I named a 30-day hot yoga challenge as a goal for 2012. I didn’t want to start January 1 as I had some scheduling conflicts. And I was afraid. Too soon! Missy had to have a chat with me about external validation. I fretted over whether I could formally complete a 30-day challenge because I’d have to split my time between studios. Rightly, she reminded me it’s not about getting your name on a wall somewhere.
I started going this week as I was able to see how it felt and when I hit Day 5, I declared the challenge underway.
The only parameter is that I do 30 hot yoga classes in 30 days since that’s my primary practice. I’m not confining it to 90-minute bikram class. I’m open to doing doubles (i.e., two classes in one day) if my schedule absolutely prohibits me from attending one day. But I’m not planning for doubles. The whole point of the challenge is to make space for your practice every day. This is the first thing my favorite studio director said when I mentioned to her that I was thinking about doing a challenge.
For a couple months in the fall I was exclusively practicing a 60-minute hot hatha class that my favorite studio offers. This class starts with sun salutations instead of pranayama breathing and contains a lot more hip opening poses. When I returned to 90-minute bikram I found I could do a number of things in poses that I couldn’t do before or that were much more difficult before. Empirical evidence for cross-training! That was a delightful discovery.
My practice during this challenge will be a combo of these two classes plus a 75-minute class that’s an abbreviated version of the bikram series (two sets through the standing series, one set through the floor series). Which one I do in a day is strictly based on what is being offered at the time of day I am free to go to class.
Other, miscellany:
- Two months of measuring my water intake via Health Month has resulted in a new normal of much higher water consumption. Daily yoga not only requires this, it actually helps me to me to keep it up. I don’t feel at all like I’m forcing it.
- Keeping adequately fueled for daily yoga is making me pay more attention to my eating choices. I’m trying to make sure I eat enough and not sending my metabolism into starvation mode.
- Predictably, the earlier in the day, the less flexible I am. I can feel the difference just between a 9:30 class and a noon class. This is frustrating because it makes it hard to judge progress in a pose, but I need to get in the habit of just observing it and letting it go. It doesn’t matter how it went as much as it matters that it happened. At least for the purposes of this challenge.
- Keeping hydrated and fueled for yoga for a morning class, a noon class, and an evening class are three different things. I find the noon class to be the sweet spot between food/water prep and allowing my body to wake up and loosen up.
- I worry about getting bored.
- I worry about fatigue.
- I worry about public failure.
- I worry about not making any progress in my practice, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary I’ve described so far and more.
- I have this back and forth with myself over whether it’s better to wear a shirt or just a bra top. Either is comfortable. The question is my attention. With just a bra top on, I spend time admiring my own abs. I’ll totally cop to that. At the same time, it’s easier to see alignment on some poses (like half moon). And it’s easier to notice when I’m not sucking in my gut like I’m supposed to (like standing head to knee or awkward pose).
I got new Lululemon shorts recently. I love them. Like, <3 them. They’re lighter than my Tonic shorts (which I also love, and which I can’t show you because Tonic’s website is not helpful that way). They stay over my butt even without a drawstring! I once bought a pair of shorts that seemed like they would and then they didn’t. I can’t be hiking my shorts up all through class.
If you’re going to invest in one piece of special hot yoga gear, it should actually be your matt/towel situation. But if you’re going to invest in a second piece of gear, get hot yoga shorts or pants. Whatever floats your boat whether it’s boyshorts or capris or something in between. I find they make the biggest difference in comfort. Wearing shorts that scrunch and bunch is highly distracting. You can get away with a variety of tops, since they just need to cover you up, not hold you down the way you’d need if you were bouncing. Performance gear does help combat the stinkies, but you sweat so much you really sweat out the worst of the stink-inducing bacteria. Think about how you smell after a really hard workout; you (and your clothes) don’t smell half that bad after a hot yoga class, even if the yoga room does a little.
So, yeah, 6 days in. So far so good.
