The Yoga Journey Continues….And Heats Up

Last time, I shared with you my new yoga journey and how I am trying to make yoga a habit in my life. Last week I hit a bit of a speed bump and didn’t go for a week. My friend Lauren, who I have been going with, started a new job, so we could no longer go during the day and had to reschedule when we go. It started to seem like a bit of a hassle. But finally this week, we scheduled a time to go and stuck with it. Unfortunately, all the night classes at the studio we’ve been going to are either Intermediate or Advanced. Yikes.

We headed to the studio at 7 p.m., feeling as if it were much later (thanks Daylight Savings!) and were nervous about our first Intermediate class. At times, I struggle with Beginner still! How was I supposed to handle a harder class? We now know the teacher decently well and she assured us that it was harder, but if we were struggling we could go into child’s pose.

Little did we know, they turn up the heat a little more in harder classes along with more movements and harder poses. In the first 20 minutes, I was already dripping with sweat and slipping and sliding all over my mat during Downward Dog. My head was buzzing with annoying thoughts designed to disrupt my yoga flow:

“I don’t think I’ve sweat this much EVER!”

“I’m supposed to do THAT?”

“It smells like my boyfriend’s dirty hockey gear in here… yuck. And I’m supposed to breathe deeply in and out?”

At times, when moving from the floor to sitting or standing, I got really dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out and almost left the room, but I am glad I stuck it out.

Even with all the distractions in my head, I went with the flow and enjoyed most of the class. I realize that my favorite parts of yoga are when you are given a set of movements and poses and are able to do them on your own flow. I can challenge myself as little or as much as I want, I can go as slow or a bit faster if I desire and everyone is at their own pace and not paying attention to anyone else. I definitely felt like I got a better workout and even though I couldn’t do some of the poses very well, if at all, I tried and focused more on the ones I could do well.

For now, I think I will stick to the Beginner classes for the most part. When I feel the need for a really good workout or get to the point where I need more of a challenge…back to sweating I go! On another note, I got another Groupon for a new studio…If I use all the classes it will only be $1 per class! Awesome! I got one of my other friends to buy it too, so I have another yoga buddy.

If anyone is interested in starting up yoga, try our 21 Day Yoga Challenge. It is a great start that you can do at home for free!

Until next time,
Lauren

See my original article on ASKinyourface.com.