Let's get the good news out of the way: I survived! Which seems like nothing short of a miracle, thank you God for small favors. Like I said, I'd never really done any yoga before, other than wayyy back in the high school days (how is it five years ago already?!?) so my expectations of myself were low, to say the least. This is sort of what I was expecting:
Thankfully, it wasn't like that. At all. Although there was an old guy in short shorts and no shirt ... *shudder*
Oddly enough, and unlike any other yoga I've attempted over the years, Bikram worked for me. The heat, the stretching, the internal focus, and the way it all combined into a seamless 90 minutes was perfect for me. I read a comment board where at least ten people documented - in detail - how sick they got taking Bikram, how they passed out, how they were nauseous, etc, which was obviously terrifying. Fortunately the instructor wasn't a yogi Nazi like some I read about, and laying down was totally allowed during the session. Which a lot of people took advantage of, but I found I didn't need at all. Even though those 90 minutes were sweaty, and strenuous to the max, I found that as we got further into the sequence of movement, my body just sort of figured out what to do, and went with it. It was pretty damn cool.
But, some words of advice:
DO drink PLENTY of water, before, and during if you need to
DO figure out - quickly - how to deeply breathe
DO NOT worry about how much you're sweating, because everyone else is just as gross
DO NOT make fun of the poses, or laugh in the back of the class
DO repeat the instructor's "namaste" every time she says it
DO NOT make the other people in your class mad by snorting when asked to do ridiculous poses
and lastly, advice from Amy: "Do not eat Taco Bell within the hour before your class starts. Just don't. " Which, when it comes to Bikram, might be the best advice I've gotten yet.
