Hey Guys! I’m writing from home this weekend. I didn’t get to post yesterday because I was traveling most of the day, and to be honest, I’m already packing my things to head back to school. My plane leaves in 4 and a half hours actually…I should probably start packing. I’ve been home for 36 hours and haven’t slept in days. It doesn’t help that I have a bunch of homework to do tomorrow. Oh well. Such is life.
I started doing Bikram Yoga when I was in DC last winter. Bikram yoga is ‘hot’ yoga. It’s yoga in a 108 degree room in 80% humidity. The first time I did it, I didn’t know I was capable of sweating that much, or drinking that much water in 90 minutes, but I loved it. I did it pretty consistently through the winter months in DC (it was nice to be someplace warm, even if it was just a room).
When I got back to school a couple of weeks ago, I really wanted to start doing it again. I started going to a place on Olympic Blvd. close to Santa Monica and had a terrible experience. The instructor yelled at me, and the room was so hot I got sick. I was afraid to try it again, but my roommate really wanted to go, so we decided to try another location. We picked the Manhattan Beach location because the price was reasonable (about $10/class for students!) and because well, it basically overlooks the ocean. Can’t complain.
In fact I can’t say enough good things about it. The people were awesome, friendly, and it felt like they genuinely wanted us to be there and to come back often. If you’re looking for a new exercise, and a challenging, yet relaxing experience I would recommend Bikram to you! There are a series of 26 postures that you go through in each 90 minute class. There is about 45 minutes to an hour of standing exercises, followed by 30 to 45 minutes of ground exercises. I’m going to be honest and tell you I love the ground exercises a lot more. Here are some examples. I wish I could say these were pictures of me, but the aren’t…
These are the side bends and back bend. My body DOES NOT bend that far sideways…hopefully one day it may…
I really enjoy this pose, but I look nothing like this girl when I do it…my face looks a lot more pained and my standing leg shakes…a lot…again, I can dream…
Anyways, I love doing Bikram, even if I’m not quite a master yet. It takes a lot of time and concentrate effort to do well at anything, I suppose. On a side note, I can’t stop listening to Bon Iver’s new album, especially Holocene. It played on repeat the whole plane flight home (I’m not saying that’s because I couldn’t figure out how to turn my iTouch off repeat, but I may be saying that..but in the end I really love the song…and now I know the lyrics very well) I would also recommend their album…and their concert…but more about that next week =)
