Last night I had plans to go to Y2 Yoga with Caitlin and Nicole. We planned to go to a hot yoga class. I didn’t mention to them before that I had never actually gone to hot yoga before. Let me explain. Every class at Y2 is “hot” but hot yoga at Y2 is hotter. Obviously, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.
I was ravenous when I got home a little after 6 pm. After changing I had exactly 20 minutes to make dinner and eat. I had one thing on my mind: almond butter + sweet potato butter sandwich. I also thew in some Food Should Taste Good sweet potato chips + hummus and a sliced kiwi.
This was the perfect amount of food before strenuous yoga…why oh why didn’t I stop there?
The snickerdoodles and dark chocolate PB were calling my name. This x 2 was somehow consumed in 5 minutes (obviously not mindful eating) and I felt fine, until…
Hot yoga ensued. And by hot, I mean Haides. We’re talking ~105 degrees here. Maybe it was even hotter because the class was completely full. So full that one point I think I dripped sweat on the person beside me. Gross, right? Any moves that required going beyond your mat, was done on your neighbor’s mat. When the girl behind me flipped her dog, she tickled my foot on accident. I usually kick people for that, but this time I let it slide. 😉
At some point I realized that I had forgotten my small hand towel at home and decided that I would borrow one from the studio. I left the room to get a towel, then came back in. Within five minutes I started to see spots…you know the kind you see right before you black out? Yes, those spots. So I decided to leave…again. I sat outside for about five minutes wishing the spots away. Out came Caitlin and then a few minutes later Nicole. It turns out I wasn’t the only one having a little difficulty with the heat. Eventually I went back in, but from there on out I felt really nauseous, thanks to the unnecessary. I left again at near the end for about five more minutes because the spots were back. I came back right before savanyasa…my favorite part of course. Luckily, I did not fall asleep this time like I did during Power Yoga three weeks ago.
Hot yoga kicked my tail, but strangely I don’t feel defeated. I am by far the least experienced person in most of the yoga classes I go to. Y2 is a no joke studio. The way I feel about yoga right now reminds me of how I felt about running initially. I used to think I would never be a runner and had no aspirations to run, much less do long distance running. I started off very slowly and worked at it, taking pride in even the smallest accomplishments, because it was so far out of my element, every little milestone meant the world to me.
I grew up thinking I was not athletic, nor would I ever be athletic. Running has taught me that my body can do so much more than than the things I give it credit for. Maybe I’ll never do a headstand, but for some reason as challenging as it is right now for me, I still keep going back. I still keep trying. I still keep wondering if I could get better if I keep going more.
Yoga, for me, has been an incredibly humbling experience. I hear that all the time, but I really mean it. You have to look what you can and cannot do right in the face and accept it for what it is: a challenge. I don’t know where my “practice” will go or if I can even call it that at this point. But I’m interested to see how I handle these challenges and if going to yoga once a week will have any positive effects on my flexibility and my ability to handle stress.
Stress. Now that is something I need to work on. Then maybe I wouldn’t eat cookies when I’m not hungry and about to stretch and bend in a 105 degree room for an hour.