Hot Yoga Fail

Lululemon is sponsoring an October yoga challenge with a free daily class at various studios around Portland. I was so excited when I saw the calender at the beginning of the month........ and then I didn't go. Since the end of month is rapidly upon us, I was determined to go last night, even if the class of the day was hot yoga. I have avoided hot yoga like the plague because I really hate the heat. I am a native Maine girl, bring on the snow.



But since it was free, and since my legs really needed it after the Harvest Half on Sunday and a killer hill workout yesterday, I decided to give it a whirl.

The room was already pretty full when I arrived, but I managed to smush myself into the back row. No way was I going up front. The heat didn't feel too bad as I lay in child's pose waiting for class to begin. Then, we started moving. I was dripping sweat in no time. The class had a much different flow than any yoga class I'd been to before. Mentally, it was a nice change. Physically, it was intense. I gave myself to permission to take it easy, something I rarely do in exercise classes. I always go for the advanced move. I was barely making it through even with the easiest modifications. It was humbling. I am a marathoner for Pete's sake.

Outdoor yoga this summer? No prob Bob. Hot yoga? Fail.

When the instructor mentioned that the class was 90 minutes (I thought it was an hour) I almost cried. I kept thinking about how much longer I had to go. I just couldn't get out of my own head. I couldn't surrender. If I had been able to stop thinking, to stop worrying, I think I would have been okay. I needed to live in each individual moment, and just ask myself, am I OK right now? But instead I let my fear of the heat, of the unknown, dominate me.

And that annoys me to no end, because now I feel like I need to try it again, to try and do better.