Back to Hot Yoga Class Once Again

Step up Your Practice!

Hot Yoga Again! I can't believe it's been a whole year since my last hot yoga post. I have to admit, being a boomer almost got to me but I know it was because I became inconsistent in my practice. I kept up with my practice all of last year, although I was fizzling out on it, until last September. So what happened?

When I was practicing 3-4 times a week, my stomach was flat, I was wearing a size 6 pants, down from a size 10, and I felt great. My skin felt amazingly soft from the sweating in class. When I started to get tired of the time it was taking to go to class the last couple of months, I was only practicing about twice a week. This wasn't enough to keep my mid-drift from getting bigger and I wasn't feeling the energy and flexibility.

So, in September I just decided to quit and go back to classes at the YMCA. I already go to tai chi classes there. However, after 6 weeks of no hot yoga, I am back to size 10 jeans and a fat stomach.

On December 1, I am going back to hot yoga class. I know when I am consistent with my practice, I feel better about myself, I can keep my weight down without resorting to starvation and I can be back into my skinny jeans in a month.

I realize now, that being a baby boomer, I probably shouldn't be trying to get so deeply into the knee poses and I have a shoulder issue I need to be careful of. Still, for me, I've found the benefits out weight the limitations.

One thing that has helped me a lot with my practice and doing the poses correctly is the book, Hot Yoga MasterClass by Gabrielle Raiz, which is pictured above. Whenever I've had issues with pain in my shoulder or pain in my knees, I found I was not doing the different poses incorrectly. I could read up on the pose in Masterclass and find out the best way to perform it so I could get the most benefit and not hurt myself.

Unfortunately, when you're over 60 and you hurt yourself in any way, it can take months to get back to normal, if you ever do. My advice, if you are younger than 60, is to start practicing and stick with it!

Bikram Yoga -Why I Decided Not to Give Up

Can't believe I've been going to Bikram yoga classes for nearly 6 months! I haven't had a chance to

Rocky the Rescue Kitty is helping me with my blog

catch up with my blog in a while but wonderful changes have been taking place in my practice.

I must confess though, I nearly quit hot yoga two different times in this 6 months. Going to class 4 times a week requires a big time commitment since the classes are 90 minutes long. I have to get there about 25 minutes early to get a good spot in the second row (I wear glasses so I can't see myself very well in the mirror if I'm further back-lol) After class, I come home and take a shower so most of my morning is tied up in going to class.

I decided not to quit hot yoga but sometimes I admit I do need a break from the regimen. Last week I only went twice and the other days, I did some of the workout at home and worked on my tai chi, which has been sadly neglected since I started Bikram.

In those few days, I resolved to just stop going and do other things with my time-like clean the house! Why did I go back? Well, one of the main reasons I started hot yoga was because I have some sort of mysterious nerve condition which causes tingling in my body 24/7. Sometimes it's better and sometimes worse, but it's always there. After a few weeks of Bikram though, I realized that I wasn't feeling the tingling hardly at all, at least it wasn't so bad I was noticing it all the time. After 5 days of not going to class, the tingling returned with a vengeance! Back to class I went.

Still, there are so many other benefits to going that it is very addictive. I've lost some inches without dieting at all, and at my age that is a very hard thing to do!

I"m get comments all the time from people who have known me a while that I'm looking good! My skin glows and it's really smooth and healthy looking. I'm slimmer and people want to know if I've lost weight. My neighbor down the street told me he and his wife really admire my commitment. They are about my age and walk their dog daily but don't do much else for exercise. When people ask you what you're doing that's making you look glowing and healthy, it's great.

I feel so much better too and that feeling would be hard to give up if I stopped going to hot yoga class. I feel lighter and more flexible. My core is stronger. I feel proud of myself for each little gain in any of the postures. Bikram actually makes me feel younger!

As to the Bikram postures. I can get my foot straight out about a third of the time on the standing head to knee pose. With the spine strengthening poses, I can keep my feet and legs glued together now too. So many little advances in each and every pose but still a long way to go.

I guess the great thing about Bikram yoga is that you start to look and feel better after only a couple weeks of class so it isn't like a diet where you lose a pound a week and struggle daily to maintain.

At this rate, I guess I won't ever be able to give up going to hot yoga class until I'm about 95. That gives me 33 more years to perfect my poses:)