Practicing Yoga

I went to Bikram yesterday for the first time in 3 or 4 weeks. I really should be going more often. That is just too long in between to really call what I am doing "practicing". They say that practice makes perfect...well I really need to start practicing more often. We were in savasana yesterday when our instructor started to compare Bikram to an 8-mile run followed by a 2-mile track interval workout in Calcutta India. He must also run on the side. :) He said that during Bikram, you are actually standing on one foot for a combine total of about 20 minutes, not consecutively of course but if you add up all the minutes dedicated to each pose, it would equal around 20 minutes. Also, your heart rate pattern is very similar to someone doing interval training due to switching from posing to savasana constantly. Plus it's hot as Hades in there! I found this calculator yesterday that calculates how many calories you lose while practicing Bikram. I don't know how accurate it really is but the amount of calories they say that a person of my weight loses is indeed comparable to what I would lose running 8 miles followed by 2 miles of interval. Who knows! I don't practice Bikram for the calorie aspect or for weight loss.

I do it more for injury prevention and increasing my flexibility so that I can do things like this while I am sight-seeing in Monterey...LOL! I know, this is not very good form, but I am wearing jeans standing near some jagged rocks so it's good enough.

So yesterday's class was 2/25. I signed up for 25 classes a month ago and have one year to completed those classes. If I don't accomplish that than I am pretty much useless. Need to get it done. "Bikram Rulz"...is what I should be thinking to myself instead of..."oh man, I haven't been to Bikram in 4 weeks and I really don't want to go". Yeah, I really need to find my "Om"! Ommmmmmmmmmmm!

Bikram > Marathon Running

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I went to Bikram yesterday. Since this is a tapering week for the LA Marathon, I thought that I would get in some stretching. I had gone out for a hard hill run with some coworkers on Tuesday and was a little bit sore yesterday so I thought that some yoga would help me relax.

I don't know why I keep thinking this because Bikram is hard. Okay it isn't impossible but it isn't a walk in the park. In fact, I find running so much easier than doing Bikram. Maybe I am just really bad at it. If I had a choice, I think running a marathon would be a lot easier than doing Bikram for a couple of hours. I heard that the Bikram studio that I go to actually had a yoga-thon to raise money for the Red Cross in which people participated in multiple sessions back to back for many hours. That just sounds like hell to me.

So I've been to Bikram three times now and I always learn something new every time I go. I guess there are a lot of common yoga etiquette that I am not yet savvy to. I've only commit a few of the below faux pas. The other ones I picked up because someone else committed them. There are a ton more rules and etiquette, here are some other ones. I'm sure I'll mess up a million more times before I get use to these things. The below was just what I picked up yesterday. I tell you, I'm terrible at this.

1) Do not wear/leave your shoes/sandals/socks on the carpet or yoga floor.
2) Do not breathe loudly through your mouth. You inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
3) Do not lie down facing the back wall when everyone is in pose. 
4) Do not stop to drink water in the middle of a pose unless you are about to pass out.
5) Do not get up to leave in the middle of a pose unless you are ill.
6) Do not start packing up and heading out when the teacher is still present.
7) Make sure your cell phone is in silent mode.

In conclusion, Bikram is just harder than running. I guess that's why I run so much more than I go to Bikram. I'm sure I'll go back because one can only run so much.

Another Shot at Bikram

I went to Bikram last night. I've only been there one other time about two years ago. After that initial class I didn't feel like going back. It was hot and smelly and frankly I have about a million excuses of why I had not gone back.

But just like the fading of marathon day soreness, I've since forgotten everything about my initial experience. So I am going back to give it another chance.

Post Bikram session 1 comment: Well I did it. I made it to the Bikram studio and finished the session. I am sore today. They installed new carpet in the room so it smelled a lot better. The instructor didn't pick on my lack of experience at all this time around. Overall, I had a better experience than last time. It is actually quite nice to be in that hot room when the weather is cold outside. I purchased a Groupon deal a while back for 10 classes, so I have 9 more classes to go. I want to dedicate myself to using up all 9 sessions before I make up my mind about liking or not liking Bikram. I consider myself an active person but this type of yoga is not easy. Some of the poses are difficult to do and always reminds me of how little I spend stretching on a daily basis. Pose four looks innocent enough but is quite difficult to maintain for any period of time. Especially when you are sweaty and your skin becomes slippery. My breathing is also sub-par but I love the deep stretching that I get out of this type of yoga. Going back next week.