Not Your Average Yoga Class

Me today at work:

Pull out chair at desk . . . ow
Sit down . . . ow
Roll forward to reach my desk . . . double ow
Turn on computer . . . little ow
Realize I have a meeting in 10 minutes that is upstairs and in a different wing . . . oh shit ow

No I am not "hitting the gym" extra hard to get my bod summer/swimsuit/cruise ready (feel free to laugh). No, no. I am doing something more challenging. I am bringing my spirit and my physical wellness to a whole new level by melding the two together in the form of downward dog and other various animal poses (including fire hydrant (and no I am not lying, and it IS ok to laugh)).

I joined Sunstone Yoga recently, and for 60 or 90 minutes (depending on if you want the strenuous "stretching and alignment" to be super intense, but for a shorter period of time, or not as intense, but for a kick-ass period of time), you work your way through various yoga poses in a room heated to 98.6 F with 60% humidity. Basically, you are paying $$ to work out in conditions similar to the average early July-ish summer day in Texas. HOT!

Old yoga, for me, used to conjure up images of light stretching and maybe some humming for good measure. In the few classes that I took, I would easily get bored, thinking that I would rather be spending time doing cardio or that I should be doing something more productive like cleaning my house instead of pretending to enjoy touching my toes. However, with classes called Fire 90 and Metal, Sunstone Yoga isn't your average yoga class. It's intense. The poses are designed to stretch your body and crank up your heart rate, giving you an all over toning workout without having to deal with all the skin-fried boys grunting with satisfaction at themselves at the local gym. At the end of class, a powerful exhaustion comes over me as I lay in savasana, and I have to say that it is the most wonderful sense of completeness and serenity that I can comprehend. Words cannot describe it, but I imagine it is similar to a runner's high.

Yesterday I took a particularly difficult Wood class which has more pilates (read ab strengthening exercises) than the average yoga class. It was fantastic! I slept like a baby last night. And today I am feeling the pain pretty much everywhere (but in such a good way!)

I plan on getting everyone I know hooked on hot yoga becaue it is just that awesome!