follow my bliss

I’ve gotten *really* into hot yoga in the last few weeks. I wrote here about taking my first ever hot yoga class with my mother while I was home in the Chicago suburbs in April.

(Sidenote: It’s also known as the “Chicagoland Area,” which sounds normal to me, but usually elicits a surprised chuckle from non-Midwesterners.)

The hot yoga I’ve been practicing is lately not Bikram yoga. So what am I talking about.

Let’s break some of this yoga vocab down, shall we?

Bikram Yoga: According to Wikipedia, Bikram Yoga is a style of yoga developed by a man named Bikram Choudhury. It’s practiced in a heated room.  Classes are always guided by specific dialogue. Every class includes the same 26 postures. Classes last approximately 90 minutes.

Hot yoga: According to About.com (and according to my brain’s ability to collect information), hot yoga is any kind of yoga practiced in a heated room.

Bikram Yoga is hot yoga. Hot yoga is not necessarily Bikram yoga. Does that make sense? Do you even care? Are you still reading this? Should we go get cupcakes?

I tried Bikram a grand total of twice. I wrote here (about halfway through that entry) about my first experience taking a Bikram class, which I didn’t love. But because I couldn’t resist the sweet deal that Bikram Yoga NYC was having that particular weekend, I still bought a month of unlimited classes. For something I didn’t like. Because I’m good with my money. Pfffft.

So, with my unlimited monthly pass in hand, I went to a second Bikram class, thinking maybe I’d enjoy the whole thing a bit more. And it was even less enjoyable for me than the first class. And to think, after the first class I’d written, “I also didn’t feel physically challenged by a lot of the poses, so much as I just felt really hot and faint.”

WHAT. I hadn’t felt physically challenged?! Really?! I must have taken my super human pill the morning of that first class. Because the second class experience was a physically challenging pack-mule with a bad attitude. It was like trying to run through molasses while drinking beer, smoking weed and watching QVC. It was very hard and I dramatically felt like I was on the brink of certain death. Naturally, the whole point of the thing is not to let those panicky certain death feelings take over your whole being, but rather to return to your breath and be present. I tried. I really did. And I didn’t get very far. When I wasn’t wondering why on earth I was forcing myself to endure this madness, I was feeling envious of friends who’ve learned to love Bikram and wondering what memo I missed. A week later my friend Billy told me his dad, a man twice my age, practices Bikram four times a week! Then I packed up my pride and saw myself to the door.

Hot yoga, however, is right up my alley. I’ve been taking class at Yoga to the People, which offers Vinyasa yoga in a heated room.

Vinyasa yoga: A yoga practice where poses flow from one to another in conjunction with the breath.

The kind of Vinyasa yoga they teach at this particular hot yoga class is more akin to the style I’m used to practicing, and unlike Bikram, no two classes are ever exactly the same, which I prefer. The room still gets pretty warm – 100 degrees or so – but I love that. I sweat like crazy and I can stretch farther than usual and it all feels really good. Whenever I leave the hot yoga class, I feel exhausted, energized and peaceful. And for whatever strange reason, my skin always feels really soft.

The Bikram classes I took were a lot more strict than these new hot yoga classes I’m into. The Bikram teachers seem to take a more boot-camp style approach to yoga, while I personally prefer a bit of a gentler approach. I also prefer that this particular hot yoga class is only 60 minutes, while Bikram is usually 90. I’m a cooked veggie after 60 minutes of this stuff, but 90 minutes is dangerously close to the microwaving of my internal organs.

My histrionics aside, Bikram was a valuable experience. It was hard as eff. Really hot, really hard, really heart-poundingly uncomfortable for me. I thought I was all strong and yoga-powerful, but I learned never to let my ego get in the way of a really hard workout. Because the hard workout will beat up my ego while its high school crush watches.

For now, Bikram Yoga is just not my thing. I’m sticking to my hot yoga classes at Yoga to the People. The very best part? Is that they’re only $5! FIVE DOLLARS. And they’re just as good as any $17 yoga class I’ve taken.

So I’ve been combining my hot yoga practice each week with a couple outdoor jogs, a couple stair-running sessions, a couple non-hot-yoga sessions and maybe a little pilates thrown in for good measure. I haven’t seen the inside of my gym in weeks and I’m loving it.