bikram yoga

ever heard of "hot yoga" aka bikram yoga? well, try doing all the normal yoga poses in a room heated to 105 f! and when we saw that living social had a deal at a local yoga studio, that's exactly what we did, despite having no idea what to expect--other than that we would sweat a lot (they strongly encouraged us to bring a large water bottle and towel).

before the class officially started, we were encouraged to head into the dimly-lit yoga room to warm up--literally--and to get accustomed to the temperature. our nalgenes clouded up almost instantly! we set up our towels on top of our mats as it seemed to be the norm and laid down on our backs in "corpse pose" aka savasana. we were already sweating profusely and it kept coming when the lights came on and we began with the actual poses. after three of the 26 poses (the yogi, bikram, deemed these precise 26 to be of strategic importance to the well-being of those who do them) we needed a water break. every position was repeated twice on each side--a nice feature for us beginners. our teacher spoke so quickly and substantially less soothingly than yoga teachers i've had in the past. for example, during one of the back-bend poses she urged us to "headbackarmsbackleanbackwaybackfalllllback." i guess when it comes to monologues like these practice only makes them possible.

before picture, our footwear makes the picture!

after picture, yes, it looks the same, but believe me, we're soaking in sweat.

overall, we enjoyed the experience and were impressed by our heat-induced improvements in our flexibility, but we couldn't help thinking that some of the poses (i.e. tree pose) would have been substantially easier if we hadn't been all slippery and drenched in sweat!

-lauren