Hot Yoga

[rocknrollgirl]

YEA! A yoga thread. I have wanted to start one, but well, you know....

I have practiced on and off for years, and about a year ago we decided to stop swimming for a while and I got serious about it. Now I practice 3-4 times a week. Three times at my studio that offers both hot and cool classes. They have two dedicated rooms. They offer a wide variety from Hot Power Vinyassa to Cool restorative.

I have to say it has changed my life in all aspects. Aside from improving my running and cycling, all my niggles are gone and I feel more focused and positive.

I have NEVER felt judged at my studio. I could very likely practice between one of my current high school students and a 70 year old that can throw a side crow like nobody's business. The instructors are hands on and SO supportive. They know us all by name, and every Thursday they have free community classes. In the summer we had classes and workshops outside with food and music. It is awesome. I love the sense of community with the other members.

It is not cheap, but when I look at the ROI, it is so worth it. Not to mention what it has done for my body as far as muscle definition!

So yea for yoga and namaste to all of you!!!

Oh and as far as age, I am 54, and in better shape than ever. Like Yellow, not thrilled about the skin changes, but I think a woman that feels beautiful is beautiful at any age, so I am sticking with that. I think I would not go back more than five years, maybe to get a little of my t op end speed back, but other than that...happy to be where I am.

[Crankin]

Emily, I am trying to just deal with it. We just planned our vacation for next summer, which will be a family vacation, with both sons and DILs, AND a visit from my former exchange student, his wife, and new baby! We are renting a house on the beach in Morro Bay, CA, so I don't have the pressure of getting ready for a trip with mountain passes! There is plenty of hiking around there, and we could always rent bikes, but I am glad to be focusing on local stuff this year. We will do our trip to the Berkshires, before we go to CA, so that is plenty of hills for me.
Going to yoga at the new club tomorrow.

[emily_in_nc]

Emily, I am trying to just deal with it. We just planned our vacation for next summer, which will be a family vacation, with both sons and DILs, AND a visit from my former exchange student, his wife, and new baby! We are renting a house on the beach in Morro Bay, CA, so I don't have the pressure of getting ready for a trip with mountain passes! There is plenty of hiking around there, and we could always rent bikes, but I am glad to be focusing on local stuff this year. We will do our trip to the Berkshires, before we go to CA, so that is plenty of hills for me.
Going to yoga at the new club tomorrow.

Sounds like a fun family trip, Crankin!

You'll have to update us re. the yoga practice. Hope it goes well!

[rocknrollgirl]

Emily,
It is funny, I can do all the hard stuff like crow, and side crow and all the koudinyasanas, strength is not my issue. I am SO tight in my hips and hamstrings. Partly genetic and partly from running and cycling. So the 85 degree classes really help with my flexibility.

So like sitting in staff pose, awful. Sitting with a wide leg straddle awful. Chataranga....easy peasy.

[OakLeaf]

Ha, that is so me. Just in the last few months I've started getting some serious work done on the psoas and iliacus and it's made an ENORMOUS difference in both my running and my yoga. It's kind of intimate and very uncomfortable to have someone's fingers digging around in your abdominal cavity, so you've got to trust your bodyworker, but I can't even begin to describe what a difference it's made. Those muscles can be so tight and full of adhesions, especially in people who if they're not sitting, are working mostly in the sagittal plane. All the yoga in the world won't release adhesions - I could stay in Wheel all day long, but I couldn't get my right foot to stop turning out and I couldn't get my lumbar spine to bend at all in any direction. It's so different now!! Just last month I was able to get my sit bones on the ground in Staff pose for the very first time.

(But I still can't do Sundial. Although I got the closest I have yet the other day - now I don't remember how the teacher instructed getting into it, there are so many different ways and I seem to get along much better with some procedures than other.)

[Crankin]

Oak, who is doing your bodywork? What kind of practitioner?

[rocknrollgirl]

Oak, who is doing your bodywork? What kind of practitioner?

I was wondering the same thing.

[emily_in_nc]

(But I still can't do Sundial. Although I got the closest I have yet the other day - now I don't remember how the teacher instructed getting into it, there are so many different ways and I seem to get along much better with some procedures than other.)

I had to look it up as I don't always know all the names for the poses, especially since the practice I go to is conducted in Spanish, but I realized that YES, I can actually do Sundial! We did it in a couple of practices in the past two weeks, first time ever for me, and I even got a "muy bien" (very good) from the instructor. So, there are "easier" things I can't do, but this is something I can do.

That's wonderful about your bodywork, Oak. Glad it's made such a difference for you!

[VeganBikeChick]

I'm so glad to hear about all the great responses to this thread! Hot yoga might not be the *best* for the body, but it gets me up and sweating, and meditating, and I feel so good afterwards. I run cold all the time, so there's nothing better than walking into a hot room, sweating my head off, and coming out feeling hot. It's such a relief from always being freezing.

My favorite pose is savasana, or corpse pose . My least favorite is downward dog - because I have a very weak core/nonexistent upper arm strength. I'm hoping to someday be able to do vinyasa, after I get over my extreme dislike of downward dog, since vinyasa is all about chataurangas.

[emily_in_nc]

Emily,
It is funny, I can do all the hard stuff like crow, and side crow and all the koudinyasanas, strength is not my issue. I am SO tight in my hips and hamstrings. Partly genetic and partly from running and cycling. So the 85 degree classes really help with my flexibility.

So like sitting in staff pose, awful. Sitting with a wide leg straddle awful. Chataranga....easy peasy.

My strength is getting there but certainly not where yours is. We don't even attempt koudinyasanas in the practices I do (in fact, I had to google it to see what they were -- eeek!) Chataranga, planks, etc. no problem, but I'm only middling on crow, can't do side crow yet. My flexibility is actually pretty good. Staff pose, no problem. Recently during a seated forward bend, my instructor could tell I was almost there with chest fully on legs, so he came and gently pushed my back down to help me "get there", and that felt SO GOOD on my back, I could not believe it. I have always had tight hamstrings, but they have certainly improved in this practice!

The poses that are the very hardest for me are anything involving the hip flexor. I am very weak there, especially on the right, from the surgery I had on my ilium on that side. So anything with lifting the legs to the front while standing I have a very hard time with. I used to not even be able to step all the way through from downward dog to a lunge on the right side without assisting my leg with my hand, but thankfully I finally am able to do that, and now it seems incredible that I ever couldn't, but that's how weak I used to be on that side in the hip flexor, even though my quad was strong from cycling.

One thing I've definitely learned is that every student in the practice has weaker and stronger skills in certain areas. Movements and poses that are super difficult for me are easy for some in the practice, and vice versa. That is why I am so in awe of yoga instructors as they are super strong, super flexible, and have amazing balance as well.

It's generally in the mid-upper 70s during my practice (in the morning), but with the humidity, the heat index is in the 80s if not 90s, depending on time of year, so that does help a lot with flexibility. But boy do I sweat!

[rocknrollgirl]

. Staff pose, no problem. Recently during a seated forward bend, my instructor could tell I was almost there with chest fully on legs, so he came and gently pushed my back down to help me "get there", and that felt SO GOOD on my back, I could not believe it. I have always had tight hamstrings, but they have certainly improved in this practice!


Emily,
Together you and I would make the perfect yogi!

I don't think hot yoga is bad for your body. I just think it needs to be kept in balance like all exercise. My teachers are very careful with the hot classes and always say..."hot rules are in effect". We only have 1 class that goes over 95 degrees.

I do have to be careful in the summer. If I run in the heat and take a hot class the same day I can get light headed. I have low blood pressure. So in those situations, I always drink electrolytes during class. I did take more cool classes this summer because of it.

[emily_in_nc]

. Staff pose, no problem. Recently during a seated forward bend, my instructor could tell I was almost there with chest fully on legs, so he came and gently pushed my back down to help me "get there", and that felt SO GOOD on my back, I could not believe it. I have always had tight hamstrings, but they have certainly improved in this practice!


Emily,
Together you and I would make the perfect yogi!

I don't think hot yoga is bad for your body. I just think it needs to be kept in balance like all exercise. My teachers are very careful with the hot classes and always say..."hot rules are in effect". We only have 1 class that goes over 95 degrees.

I do have to be careful in the summer. If I run in the heat and take a hot class the same day I can get light headed. I have low blood pressure. So in those situations, I always drink electrolytes during class. I did take more cool classes this summer because of it.

Haha, yes we do make a perfect yogi together.

I can't imagine running and doing yoga in the same day. For me it is an either/or thing. Walking and yoga, yes, but not running. They both take too much out of me, and I sweat quarts doing each one.

[emily_in_nc]

....Oh and as far as age, I am 54, and in better shape than ever. Like Yellow, not thrilled about the skin changes, but I think a woman that feels beautiful is beautiful at any age, so I am sticking with that. I think I would not go back more than five years, maybe to get a little of my t op end speed back, but other than that...happy to be where I am.

That's great RnR! I have been doing yoga on and off for several years, but usually more in the 1-2 x a week range, and then weeks/months at a time with none when life intervenes or we're too busy traveling. I have read and heard that to achieve real gains, you really need to up it to a minimum of 3x a week and stick with it, none of this taking months off at a time like I've done. Kinda like cycling, eh?

I practiced twice a week for five months here last winter/spring and did make gains, but I am making more strides now that I've been going 3x a week since the first week in August. I was SO sore at first and felt like I was starting all over again. If I can keep it up and not get sidelined by injuries/illness, I can see that my strength, flexibility, and hopefully balance (one my biggest challenges) will improve further.

I found myself nodding when you mentioned the 70 year old woman and the side crow as where I practiced in Belize, there was a 72-year old tiny lady who was AMAZING. She could do many, many things I couldn't, including a beautiful side crow, and sneaking peaks at her only proved to me that age is only a number. With yoga just like cycling, running, and many other disciplines, consistency and time are key.

You are the exact same age as me, so you give me hope!