Hot Yoga

Wednesday night I had the pleasure (actually a mix of pleasure and pain) of going with Emily to her favorite yoga studio, Yoga Tropics. I donned my new yoga shorts and had my purple yoga mat ready for sweat. Walking in, I loved the ambiance and the fact that they have showers for a post-workout refresher. Everyone was chatting it up outside before class- and by everyone I mean the whole gamut- 75 year old men with better bodies than me, hot 18 year olds wearing teeny bandeau tops, and everything in between.

The studio, located at 830 South Coast Hwy and H Street, is known for their hot yoga classes (aka Bikram), where the temperature in the room gets up to 105 degrees. I've done yoga before plenty of times, but never the hot (as in reallly hot and extremely sweaty) kind of yoga.  I have to admit I was feeling a little rusty when I started doing my Vinyasa and Downward Dog poses. All I could think was how badly I wanted to stay in child's pose forever...especially when the temp really started increasing. I just needed to keep reminding myself that I was releasing toxins and impurities, not having a panic attack.

At times, I got a little anxious, knowing that fresh, cool air was only 5 feet away. But, I did not relent. I stuck with the sweltering heat and succeeded! I only had to get my bearings by resting twice during the course- so needless to say, I was pretty proud of myself. The main thing with yoga is to concentrate on your breath- it really does center you.

Had to throw in a little yoga humor.

The instructor Elia, is amazing. He really knows his stuff. My favorite part was at the end (surprise, surprise) when we all just lied on our backs in the dimly lit studio and listened to him speak. I couldn't even tell you what he said- but it was so relaxing and positively motivating that it made the whole experience even better.

I definitely can see how doing hot yoga a few days a week can really put your body in amazing shape. All the sweat and strengthening moves did wonders (I was sore in the best kind of ways), so I'm looking forward to seeing what results it may have after a week or two.

Yoga Tropics has a great promo for first time students, which I gladly purchased- $10 for unlimited classes for one week. Considering one class is usually $16, this is a splendid deal. It's not advertised on their website, so if you go in you just need to ask for the new student special.

Learn more about Bikram yoga here.

Namaste!

xo,
L