HOT (damn) YOGA

I got duped into a session of HOT YOGA two nights ago at Yoga to the People on 27th St in Chelsea. "Oh I didn't tell you it was hot yoga?" my friend asked 2 minutes before we entered the studio. If he had, i wouldn't have gone.  I'd never done any yoga before, and I wouldn't think one's first time ought to be in a room set at 110 degrees.  But since I was already there, and I have been looking for ways to improve my fitness, I decided to give it a go.

When we walked into the lobby, there were two sweaty men sitting on the floor whose eyes seemed to cry out, "heeelp ... meee." For some reason I didn't think anything of it.

I got changed, filled my water bottle and then entered the studio.  At that moment I realized I was in for something.  The heat in that room was unlike anything I've ever known.  When it's hot like that outside, the sun is usually beating down on you with bright light.  But this room was totally dark, so my body wasn't quite sure how to respond. The simple act of breathing was disarming because you could actually feel the heat in your lungs when you inhaled.

And it smelled like a sex party.

We were allowed to trickle into the room over the course of the next half-hour or so, I guess to give people time to come to terms with the fact that they'd be spending their Monday evening in an oven.

What happened over the next hour is kind-of a blur. It was challenging in that the poses, stretches and contortions weren't made up of my usual daily body shapes. The forms rely heavily on balance and the engagement of very specific muscles. At one point, my heart was racing and sweat was raining down onto my rented mat as though I'd just stepped out of the shower.

It's a very strange sensation to be standing perfectly still while you're pouring sweat and your heart is beating double-time.

I had to stop once and catch my breath while the class carried on.  I re-joined a moment later, once i realized that while you're in a room set on low-broil, there is no breath there to catch.

I thought I might vomit, or collapse.  And honest-to-God I considered running for the door, leaving and never looking back. But I pushed through.  Ann-Elise, the instructor, later said, "if you're feeling like you might be sick, maybe that means you haven't been very good to your body lately and the real you is trying to break free."

So many times we are tempted to stay inside our boxes of normalcy, never to venture outside of our usual, daily poses. And even when we do, something inside will say, "wait! stop! you shouldn't be doing this."  Yoga is good for the body and the spirit because it is about pushing yourself beyond what you think your limits are.  Your body gets to move in new ways, increasing circulation to remote areas of underused bloodlines. And in your head, you understand better how you do have your own personal limits, but they're never as restricting as you think they are.

I learned something about who I am the other night. The light inside and the untapped potential are dying to break free. And all it took was a solo game of masochistic twister to show me.

Incidentally, at the end of the hour, I lay there for at least 15 minutes, unable to do anything but breathe. When I mustered a little strength, i basically crawled to the window to get to fresh air. Later, when i was able to get up, I walked to the bathroom, stuck my head under the faucet and drank the cold New York City tap water and--i shit you not--LAUGHED because it tasted so damn good.

I'm going back tomorrow.