That's Hot

Yesterday morning, Julie and I finally made it over to the Baptiste Yoga Studio in Porter Sq to get down with our inner yogis!! This yoga practice involves lots of flow and balance (as most forms of yoga do . . . ?), in a room heated to 90 degrees. The heat was something new for me. Sure, I’ve done my Rock and Roll Yoga video in my apartment on a humid July afternoon in front of my ancient air conditioner . . . but this was kinda like doing yoga in the desert. Or in the mountainous hills of Southern India – which I guess is how yoga was meant to be done.

I’ll admit, I was slightly apprehensive about this class – a), because I am not very flexible and b) I don’t like sweating. We arrived slightly late for the class, which was pretty packed, but the super friendly class assistant lady made some room for us – and then we were off. Thankfully, my living room yoga sessions meant I was familiar with some of the basic poses like Upward Dog, Downward Dog, etc . . . otherwise I would have been completely lost. As it was, I did a lot of staring at my neighbors to figure out what I was supposed to be doing.

After the first 10 minutes, my self-consciousness started to fade a little bit, though. The whole vibe of the class is very personal and mellow. The teacher kept encouraging everyone to “make each pose their own . . . don’t worry about keeping up, enjoy the journey and the flow . . do what feels good for you and listen to your body . . .” And after a little while . . .I was able to start to do that. Suddenly I was aware of muscles I never realized I had. As the instructor gently realigned my hips or showed me how to place my feet . . . I found myself noticing things like – my hips and my feet. During one cycle of poses, on my back with my legs extended above me, I had a moment of, “Hi legs. Wow, you’ve actually got some muscle. Good thing, since I rely on you to get me everywhere!”

Ok, so at that point maybe I was a little delirious – 90 degrees is *hot* when you are in a constant and complicated state of movement. I have never, in my entire life, sweat as much as I did in that hour and 20 minutes. By the end of the class, my mat was slippery and I was a little grossed out at my own drippiness. But during the last five minutes of “cool down meditation” or whatever . . . I was able to assess how I was feeling . . . and surprisingly, I felt pretty good! My body felt tired, but alive . . .and relaxed. Sweating out all of my stress and the weird Nutri-preservatives and beers I had over the weekend was just what I needed to reinvigorate myself. I think this could be part of what I need right now – something physical and challenging that connects my body and my mind. Even though I am sore today, my body feels different somehow. More engaged. I’m already looking forward to next Sunday!

I’m also looking forward to my new Nutrisystem shipment, which should be arriving any day now! It’s getting’ down to slim pickings now! This is going to be my last month of Nutri-fun, I think. I’ve gained 2 lbs over the past 2 weeks, so my goal is to try to maybe lose another 3-4 lbs on the Nutrisystem food this month and then fly solo with a Nutri-Gourmet Takes Back the Kitchen movement at the beginning of October. In the meantime, I’m focusing more on things like how my body *feels* rather than what the scale is saying!