YAWN

Isn't yoga supposed to make you feel energized? I just feel exhausted...

I did my second hot yoga class this morning at 9:00. This was a 90 minute class, so 30 minutes longer than the other one I did. I drank a bottle of water before bed last night and had another this morning at 6:30 when the dogs woke me up- so I went into it hydrated.

It kicked my ass. The heat was horrible. I didn't feel like I was hot- though I was drenched with sweat (seriously, looked like I just got out of a swimming pool) - and my head was pounding. I had to not do quite a few poses because I just couldn't get the strength in my body to move, and I felt like I was going to collapse. Usually in yoga when I need a break I rest in child's pose, but I had to just stand or sit straight up, because leaning my head down caused even more blood to rush and the pounding to worsen.

Looking around the room I wasn't the only one having issues, and even the seasoned veterans with perfect poses took many more breaks than I saw in my first class (in fact, I don't think anyone ever out right stopped the first day. Just take a second to towel off to take a drink, but no one ever laid down during standing poses). Midway throug the class a regular asked for fans, and the instructor turned them on, but by that point my body was way too fatigued. Later I heard someone telling the front desk that the class was fine but "she lost us all by letting the heat get too high"- so it seems that this instructor is new, and hopefully it is not always that bad.

I also managed to hurt myself during the "easy" part. There is a pose called locust pose that we did preperations for before doing the actual pose. This is kind of like "superman" that you do in gym class put with the hands beside you instead of in front. During the preparation the instructor had us lay flat on our stomachs with our hands under our thighs, I placed mine with my palms holding my thighs, but then realized her direction, and everyone elses hands were palms down. While rotating my right shoulder I had a painful pop in my shoulder, and had to stop the pose entirely, I couldn't even lay pain free with my arms down at my side- I had to put them out or above my head. It still hurts now, but more in my shoulder blade.

I'm going to keep trying to go- just once a week because I start work on Monday (!!!) but will probably not do hot yoga once the kirkwood yoga class starts. It probably won't have the same benefits- but is going to be a lot cheaper.

And the best part of the class today- Mona, a friend from skating who I taught adult classes for was there! I knew she did yoga, but it was such a nice surprise to see her. Sadly, I won't be able to do the day time class again and probably won't see her for a long time :(