Bikram Yoga, or, How I Sweated a Lot

Well, I survived Bikram Yoga in Naperville. How do you like that? Here's the rundown:

I got my 8 miler in prior to yoga class, since I figured I'd be in no shape to run afterwards. Good weather, low wind, and new scenery since I was on the prairie path in Naperville. It's nice to be on soft trails for once, with lots of random birds. Yes, random birds. It's a preserve after all.

After I got back to the house, I briefly cleaned up (no point in showering since I was told I'd be sweating a lot more in the class), grabbed my stuff and headed out with my cousin.

The Bikram Yoga classes are held in downtown Naperville (fact: Naperville has a downtown). After filling out a form and signing a release, the instructor talked to me about what to expect. Here is the list:

1. No talking inside the room
2. No shoes inside the room
3. Expect to feel dizzy and/or nauseous
4. Don't drink until I've finished the first 3 warm-up poses.
5. Class is 90 minutes long and has 26 poses.
6. Just lie down if feeling dizzy or nauseous.
7. Goal of first class is just to not leave the room

Well, that sounds swell doesn't it?

So we put out stuff away and headed into the room. The first thing I noticed, besides the fact that the thermometer was set at 114 degrees Fahrenheit, was the floor. It looked like wooden flooring, but once I stepped on it, I noticed it was squishy. Perhaps to absorb the buckets of sweat? Either way, I want that flooring in my apartment. It felt really cool.

I also noticed that pretty much everyone was wearing as little clothing as possible. You know, again with the heat. There were a bunch of dudes in the class too, which is always a nice thing when you're a single girl. I'm sure it's great if you're a single guy too, as once again, women outnumbered the men.

We all set up and class began. Basically, the poses were pretty easy. There were advanced variations on the poses, of course, but I was advised to not try them this time. I did try a few. Hey, I used to be a dancer. Less than 5 minutes in, I could feel the sweat dripping. My ears were sweating. I think my eyeballs were sweating. But I didn't feel dizzy! I just felt really, really, REALLY hot.

Seriously, I've never sweated so much in my life. Ever. That includes marathons.

There were two other newbies in the class who had to take a few breaks. The one guy even brought his inhaler. Poor dude.

So, I survived! I didn't need to take a single break, nor did I feel like I wanted to vomit the cheerios I had consumed 3.5 hours before the class. In fact, other than really sweaty (I was able to wring out my clothes and lost nearly 3 pounds of water weight), I felt great. I felt like I had gotten a really good workout. I think this might be a good cross-training method for me, especially because it'll help acclimate me to doing strenuous things in the heat. We all know how the heat is kryptonite for me, after all.

And I was able to get my shoes!!! After the yoga class, my cousin and I walked to Naperville Running Company (also in the aforementioned "downtown" area). I walked up to one of the shoe guys and pointed to my Nikes.

Me: Please, please say you have these shoes in a size 10.5 for me. Please.
Shoe Guy: I'll go check...

Like magic, he came back with my shoes! I happily purchased them and received a $10 discount because I'm a member of a running club in Chicago.

I guess the suburbs ARE good for somethings...