Hot Yoga

by Laura
(Sacramento, California, USA)

The best workout I've ever done was Bikram yoga. At first it was really tough, but after my third or fourth time there it became a fun expierience!

It was intense, for sure. Bikram yoga is basically yoga done in a room heated to 105 degrees farenheit.

The positions were hard. Many of the positions needed extreme focus and balance, like the tree pose, or the T pose.

We would hold such positions for a small amount of time, but we repeated them each two times over a course of 90 minutes.

The only equipment we used was a yoga mat, a towel to drain up the sweat, and A LOT of water.

The first time I did it, I was 17 years old. I found out about hot yoga through my friend, and in my town, the yoga gym is famous for its hot yoga.

I was not in shape at the time, since it was in summer, but what made it difficult was not that, but that I had to balance out the amount I ate and drank before going in so my stomach wouldn't feel bad.

It helped me physically. I lost weight, felt lighter, I would no longer have food cravings and I would drink a lot more water.

It helped me mentally in the way that yoga would. My head became cleansed, and I became a lot more relaxed.

There was a yoga trainer involved, and she pushed me hard to do the poses correctly, and to push myself more than I would have done by myself.

I was working with others in the room, and by the end of the exercise, EVERYONE was sweating. It was a one time workout, but it is recommended that you keep on going at least 3 times a week.

I was able to finish, and I was sore the next morning, but I realized that the more I practiced, the better I became at it.

I did not get injured, and I still do the hot yoga every week. I think other people should try Bikram yoga. If you do though, my advice is to drink a LOT of water, and to go on an empty stomach.