Tag Archives: Exercise

bikram

So, the last time I went hasn’t exactly been a year, which is quite frustrating. I started Bikram yoga again, since it’s what I am comfortable with and i felt a little stir crazy this long weekend.

I should preface this by saying that I AM COMPLETELY out of shape. I don’t want to get too deep into it here, but in terms of stamina, size, and general fitness… all FAIL. When I started bikram in Fall of ’08, I was in much better shape. I still got sore, but it was nothing like yesterday.

I went in to a hot yoga session for the first time in around … 8 months? What a difference it makes! And it isn’t completely the hot yoga. I haven’t been moving or jogging and I’ve been eating whatever the beau eats. Yeah. This consists of me riding the subway to work 40 minutes, sitting in front of a computer for 9am-7pm, and finding the energy to cook/look/buy food. Then I would vegetate. Bad! Or sometimes I would go to a concert and that would get me out at 9-10pm.

Either way, I am terribly out of shape. Yesterday, after class, I felt like DEATH. Last time I started it up, it was tough, but I loved it. I really did leave it feeling exhilarated and stretched. I completely admit that this time… I FELT ILL. I went to their noon class and came out at 2 feeling dizzy, blurry visioned, and headache-y. I thought it would go away if I drank gallons of water… but it didn’t. I ended up just needing to lay down in the dark at 4pm, when it didn’t go away.

I feel like some loon might tell me that it’s the toxins leaving my body (not necessarily the instructors – I have met pretty practical instructors that I really like). I think I just pulled something or a muscle tense in my neck. I think it was during all those “thyroid” poses that ask you to tuck in your chin and put your forehead to your legs.

I was told that this is probably because I was trying to do what I used to do… whereas when I started for the very first time, I wasn’t straining myself in that fashion. That probably might be true. I work hard at these classes, but yesterday was definitely a disappointment. For example, I used to be able to do a great bow pose by the end of my bikram run. Awesome bow pose, and now, I can hardly stay in it for the first set. That was a little ego crushing.

I can’t go like I used to. (I can neither afford it or have the time…) I used to go 5 times a week, seriously. I don’t think i would make progress in leaps and bounds. I don’t know if I can get all those “holistic” benefits they talk about in class. I don’t really even think it’s a good source of cardio.

I think I might stick with it for a while, once to twice a week, and see if it might be worth it.

When I first started, I felt sore in the back of my thighs and the front of my stomach all the way down. This time, though, I feel sore on my upper back (probably from the locust post), front of my thighs, and MY CHIN. How does the underside of my chin hurt? What is wrong with me that my chin is out of shape? (haha, i don’t think I want to know the answer to that) Seriously, I didn’t even know that was possible.

I’ve realized something very disturbing.

I was always bottom heavy and top light. My butt was the bane of my existence. I was always pretty active with things that engaged my lower half, I guess. I don’t know what this is about.

I have been pretty sedentary ever since the weather has gone bad. I used to jog in snow, but I’ve been quite lazy. AND I went on vacation. Either way, I am getting a little bit of a tire. I find that my shape is changing. I always thought it was genetics, but in fact perhaps it’s my age or because I am not walking all that much anymore. And I’m a little horrified… quite frankly.