Turning up the Heat

     This morning at 4:30 a.m. I woke up, put on my lightest workout gear, picked up my awesome friend Hannah and headed to Bikram Yoga.  We entered a room that was 105 degrees with 40% humidity (and a little bit smelly) and I spread out my yoga mat, a little nervous and a little nauseous.  This was my first time.  Hannah had tried to drag me there several times and I finally took the opportunity to go with her.  She whispered "the class is 90 minutes, by the way".   "WHAT?!" I asked, but was interrupted by the instructor who commanded me to stand and then went on to speak like an auctioneer in a polite, but quick and very punctuated manner for the next...yep, 90 minutes.  She literally walked us through every move with her words and descriptions of how to strike each pose.  What an incredible workout, bending, stretching and stopping in between poses to rest in the "corpse position".  I think I reached nearly every single muscle and all the nooks and crannies.  According to this Bikram Yoga calorie calculator  I burned a whopping 1191 calories!  Now that's some bang for the buck.  Strangely, I'm not a big sweat hog (I NEVER sweat) but I could actually feel a drip running down my back (That is progress! ) and I was shocked to see how others in the class were dripping wet.  Besides the obvious physical benefits of releasing toxins, stretching and building lean muscle, I felt emotionally cleansed and ready to face my day head on.  Of course, I popped a couple Tylenol to keep the soreness in check but besides that, I feel ENERGIZED for once!

Do you practice Bikram Yoga?  Has it aided in your weight loss?