First Time Sweat: Bikram Yoga

I’ve been trying to work up the balls to go to a Bikram yoga class for well over a year now. The thought of spending 90 minutes in a heated room doing challenging yoga poses sounded both terrifying and intriguing tall at once. On one hand I love a good challenge and sweaty stretch session. On the other hand I feared dying of dehydration and nausea. After google searching like crazy advice on how to survive your first bikram class, today was finally the day!

…And honestly, it wasn’t so bad.

What is Bikram Yoga:

Bikram Yoga is a challenging series of 26 postures performed in a room heated to 104 degrees with 40% humidity. Each Bikram Yoga session is 90 minutes long. The postures, done in sequence, are designed to allow you to work deep into every organ, tissue, muscle, tendon, ligament and cell in your body. At the same time you are doing a 90 minute focused meditation. You leave class feeling refreshed, relaxed and energized.

Source: Bikram Yoga Yorktown

How I Prepared: I arrived this morning having only eaten a Luna bar roughly 45 minutes before the start of class and pretty well hydrated. I’ve read various theories on water consumption the day before a bikram class but decided not to stress out about it too much because I tend to drink a lot of water every day.

What I wore: My outfit options were limited because most of my clothing is in Manhattan right now and I’m at my parent’s house, so I decided on a pair of lululemon running shorts and a sports bra. I wasn’t sure if a sports bra would be a great choice– I’m not one to typically bare my belly in a fitness class, but once I was in the toasty room I was happy with my outfit decision. The ladies were wearing a variety of outfits from sports bras to supportive tank tops and shorts or crops. Most of the males were wearing shorts and a tank top, no top or what looked like super short bathing suit bottoms. In other words, wear whatever you feel comfortable sweating in.

What You Need: I brought my own yoga mat (my old lululemon align mat) and a bottle of water. At the studio I ended up renting a towel. Next time I will bring my own full sized towel and a smaller one to wipe off my sweaty face. I was worried about slipping and sliding on the mat but experienced no problems because of having a towel on it.

The Poses:

[source]

 

The Class: Bikram Yoga classes always follow the same set of poses and same order- breathing exercise, standing series, savasana, seated series, breathing exercise, savasan.

While Bikram and Vinyasa yoga share similar concepts, the design of both classes are totally different. Vinyasa has more of a rhythm to it because you are gracefully moving from one posture to the next. Bikram is more choppy moving from one pose to another. I’ve read about the fact that there’s no downward dogs and chattarungas in bikram but it still felt a bit shocking to be in a yoga class without them since I’ve only ever taken vinyasa classes prior to today.

I always assumed that you would do all 26 poses once and then repeat the whole thing, which honestly sounded a bit monotonous, but you actually repeat right after doing it the first time.

My Experience:

Upon stepping into the heated room my first thought was obviously “oh, this is toasty!” and I desperately tried to find the least toasty spot…. only to realize that duh the entire room is going to be equally as hot. I anticipated the worst and expected the heat to be overwhelming, but it felt more like basking in the sun on a warm day. By the time we got started I was acclimated to the heat and felt ready to go.

The first half, standing series, was definitely more challenging than the latter half. I was sweating like a beast (apparently that’s my body releasing toxins? Eh it was probably my pores releasing all the sodium from the hibachi dinner I consumed last night). Because of this the most difficult part was getting a good grip in certain poses because my body was so slick from the sweat.

Most of my struggling was because the poses were new to me, not because of the heat.

I am happy to say that the only dizziness I experienced was more of that “oh I just stood up too fast” light headedness and it past quickly. I never felt an urge to leave the room. Before class the instructor, who was super awesome and welcoming, told me that my only goal for the day should be to stay in the room, even if I have the lie down and take a break. I am a good teachers pet that I aimed to stay in the room the whole time. Success.

As far as gulping down water we were allowed to drink water after eagle pose, I believe the 4th poses in. It’s adorably referred to as “Party Time”. From that point on you are allowed to sneak in sips of water in between poses.

Roughly midway through we had our first savasana break. My mind was like “it’s savasana time? that means it’s over!!!! That wasn’t so bad!!!!!” Silly Kayla, this isn’t a vinyasa class. So don’t make the same mistake I did thinking it’s all because you’re in savasana- you still have a whole seated series to go!

I’m happy I didn’t eat a lot before class, but I also got hungry halfway through class. Next time I might eat a tiny bit more food before hand.

The thought of a 90 minute yoga class deeply concerned me, I have the attention span of a gnat and get bored really easily. In the end it felt like 90 minutes and I “got my money’s worth” but I never felt “bored”.

Overall: I left there feeling rather accomplished for not fainting, puking or leaving the room. Kind of like when you get a shot at the doctor and overly anticipate the pain, I anticipated bikram to be this horrifyingly uncomfortable and painful experience so I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the room wasn’t that hot, and the instructor was super kind and encouraging. My only goal was to stay in the room the whole time and I did that, no problem.

And to be honest I kind of loved it. Sometimes it just feels so so good to sweat it out. I left there feeling like I often do after spin class, refreshed and renewed from sweating my butt off. I’ll have to start researching studios in Manhattan to see if any fit my budget and are close to my apartment it’s something I’d like to add into my routine and it hurt my shoulder less than vinyasa

 

[source] (This is how I envisioned bikram yoga. It was not this crowded…..)

My biggest concern was that I’d be so nauseous afterwards that I wouldn’t be able to get my beloved post workout morning soy chai. I am happy to say that I felt like a million bucks and promptly went over to starbucks.

I survived bikram! And it wasn’t so bad!

Have you ever tried bikram yoga?

What’s your advice to someone taking their first bikram class?