As mentioned in
previous posts, two activities that I have considered doing for years but have put off were
meditation & yoga. I dove headfirst into meditation about 3 weeks ago (blog
post to come) & haven’t looked back since, & on Saturday it was time
for me to take my first ever yoga class.
It turned out to
be a great experience which I have attempted to summarize below. Please note
however, we completed so many poses that I felt like I was drinking water
through a fire hose just trying to keep up, so to attempt to recount each pose would not do justice to my instructor who was wonderful. Instead, I’m
simply going to focus on the warm-up, cool down, & the 3 poses that were
most memorable for me.
The Venue
For my first
class, I opted to go with hot yoga which my girlfriend raves about. Being a big
proponent of the benefits of the sauna, it seemed to be a logical next step to
try hot yoga.
The room was not
actually as warm as I had expected, perhaps due to the amount of time that I
spend in the sauna & perhaps because it was the first class of the day so
the room wasn’t fully heated.
We arrived 15 minutes early, so we found a spot near
the back of the room & set out our mats. I watched as a wide variety of
people streamed through the door over the next 15 minutes; young & old, male
& female, fit & unfit. Our teacher arrived a few minutes later, &
my girlfriend informed me that she was one of her favourite instructors.
The Warm-Up
Promptly at noon
our class began with us on our backs doing several different stretches that included
a variety of ‘knee-to-chest’ variations. It was during these stretches that I
noticed I was getting a pretty good sweat on & feeling some tension in my
legs, thinking there might be something to this yoga thing. Then the instructor calmly said, “That concludes warm-up, now it’s time
to begin” That’s when I knew I was in trouble.
The Good: the Back Release
One of my
favourite exercises that I will be incorporating into my post-workout
stretching routine was the downward dog-to plank-to upward dog (or is it cobra?) combination. Each time I transitioned from the plank to the upward dog pose, I could feel the tension in my lower back loosening. Due to a decade of heavy squats &
deadlifts, I will occasionally get a dull ache in my lower back after lifting & I could
feel this pose helping with that ache.
The Bad: ‘Death lunges’
We spent what seemed like an eternity in variations of the lunge position,
which began with us lifting one of our legs while in downward dog (at this
point my arms were shaking, & my hands were not exactly ‘firm’ on my mat
which you will read about below). I was relieved as we swung our leg through
into what I would consider a lunge position. Since I do lunges at the gym
weekly, I thought this was right in my wheel house.
I was wrong. We
must have held this position for 10 minutes, doing various poses &
stretches, through all of which my thighs were screaming. At one point we
turned our upper body, got into prayer pose & looked upwards, with our
far elbow on the opposite side of the knee (sorry if I am butchering this
description). As if this wasn’t challenging enough, she then had us raise our close hand to the sky, look up, & if we could, lift up our back leg. I
wanted to laugh, in no way did I think this was even possible without crashing onto the yogi beside me, but as I looked
up I saw most of the class accomplishing this pose. Clearly, I have my work cut
out for me.
The Ugly: Yoga in a Swimming
Pool
During our series
of ‘death lunges’ & each time we switched back into our downward dog, I had
to consistently readjust my hands & feet because my yoga mat was a swimming
pool! By the end, I finally got the bright idea to put my towel down where my
hands were to go, which at least stopped my hands from sliding around, but did nothing for my sweaty feet or my hands anytime I had to adjust them for a different pose. By the end of the hour, things were a little slippery to say
the least!
Cool-down
Our instructor
saved the more spiritual aspect for the 5-minute cool down & politely
mentioned that anyone not interested in this aspect of the practice was free to
leave. We laid on the ground during this time & focused on our breathing,
which I certainly needed after that workout! I enjoyed the meditative aspect a lot
more than I once would have, so it is a good thing that I found
meditation prior to yoga, or this aspect may have thrown me off.
Day-After
I am writing this
review on Sunday, the morning following my first yoga class. To my pleasant
surprise, I am not too sore anywhere, with the exception of a few sore muscles in my back that I most likely had not ever used before. With today being a long run day, I was
worried about the effect of the death lunges on my legs, but fortunately it
seems they have held up.
Two positive
differences that I’ve noticed is that the tightness that I occasionally get in
my left groin has subsided, as well as the dull lower back pain that I
typically experience for a few days post-hockey. I will be interested to see
what other changes consistent yoga practice will bring to my body.
Overall, my first
hot yoga session was a resounding success, & is certainly a practice that I
will continue. Were there a few times that I looked up to see that everyone in
the room was doing something different than me? Sure, but I feel like that is
just part of the learning process.
Moving forward, my
plan is to attend classes on my off-days from the gym on Wednesday &
Saturday, as a way to decompress & reset for the coming days of
high-intensity training. I intend to continue this twice per week schedule up
until my race, & then hopefully, well beyond then.
100 Day Spartan
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