Hot Yoga

I tried hot yoga for the first time last week with my friend, Danett. I've never even tried regular yoga, let alone in a 105 degree room. I was a little nervous, but Chris reminded me, I'm a CrossFitter, I can do anything. ;-) I met Danett at Huntington Beach Hot Yoga for the 12:30 class. I went in feeling pretty confident. I wore my typical lululemon tank, crops, and headband (lululemon is technically designed for yoga, after all) and I brought my lululemon yoga mat (that I bought for foam rolling at home). So, if nothing else, at least I looked like I belonged there. The instructor set me up in the back row so that I could watch the people in front of me. The 90 minute session began. We started with a breathing exercise followed by 28 poses and then a final breathing exercise. I actually did pretty well. There were only a couple of poses I struggled with, mostly due to lack of flexibility, a few because of balance. When I left, I felt good. I had enjoyed it. I was hot and sweaty, but not much more so than from any other workout. I drank plenty of water, never felt dehydrated and even went into CrossFit Costa Mesa for a workout only 2 hours later.

I went again yesterday for the 2nd time and had a completely different experience. I met Danett again, this time for a 9am class. After about an hour into it, I was beat. I was dizzy, light-headed, tired, and ridiculously hot and sweaty.

I completed the class, but left with a very different opinion of hot yoga. Maybe it was the stuffiness of the room as the class size was significantly larger than my first experience, or maybe it was the smell of all of those additional sweaty bodies in a hot, confined space. It wasn't the instructor or the class itself. Both instructors were great and the class is exactly the same every time. For the rest of the day I felt "off." My head continued to ache well into the afternoon.

I'm not giving up on it quite yet. In fact, Chris had agreed to try it with me. Hopefully we'll find some time to go in next week before my 20 day pass expires. I don't know that this is something I'll start doing on a regular basis, but I might try going once a week or once every other week, just for a change of pace. However, if I feel the same way I did yesterday, the next time I go in, I might just have to admit that hot yoga is not for me.

Yesterday was another "rest day" as far as CrossFit is concerned, but I still wore a sports bra. Two, in fact. I wore one for yoga and then obviously, I had to change into another one for the rest of the day. They were Hanes, one black, one white. They come in a 2-pack at Target for like $10. I've had them forever and they're still going strong.