Fiirst Ever Yoga Class

So, I have done a little bit of yoga before, but just in a few home workout DVD's and with a couple of friends showing me some moves. Stretching feels so good to me and I usually incorporate a couple of the yoga moves I do know into my stretching after Curves sessions. In particular I have really taken to Triangle Pose and have been doing it every time I stretch for the last year or so because it gets really deep into my pain-ridden hips:

I'm sue I don't look this balanced when I do it - but it really feels great.

Anyway I'd been wanting to try a yoga class for a while now. Especially since I recently decided - less cardio, focus on my strength & flexibility. I had planned to start last week taking yoga classes, but it was period week so I held off. I am planning to do Curves M-W-F and Yoga Tu-Th. So yesterday morning Ian and I headed off to the rec center right by our house - he was going to do another workout while I tried the yoga class. My gym, Lifetime, doesn't have any of the yoga classes I want (beginner ones, and no hot ones) in the MORNINGS on Tues-Thurs... but the rec center does. I had seen on the paperwork that there was an additional fee for yoga... but I came to find out on arrival that the fee is $9?!!!! I mean seriously. $9/class, twice a week? That's almost $80 per month. I already pay for Lifetime and Curves monthly, which is the whole reason I have just a punch pass to the rec center and not an annual membership. So they say oh just get an annual membership and then the class is free..... bah. No thank you!

So I went to the 6pm yoga class at Lifetime last night. Yoga Basics. I was nervous because Lifetime is a more fit place, a lot more hard bodies than at the rec center. I tried to tell myself I was being silly and surely a lot of average people take yoga. Guess what? There were a good 20-25 people in my class and I was clearly FAR more overweight than anyone else there. Worst fear realized. You see pics like this and think, not everybody looks like that in a real class...

But they did! There were a couple guys too. Also thin & fit.

However, I tried to not let this discourage me and instead looked at it as a good thing. Kinda like if you're driving around town looking for a good place to eat, you pick a place with a really crowded parking lot because that means it's good. If I pick a class full of skinny, fit people..... that should mean it will help me get skinny & fit too, right? :)

So I wanted to report in on how the class went for me. Firstly, I was trying to avoid any hot yoga classes due to my arthritis & inflammation issues. FYI hot yoga means they actually make the room super hot to raise your temperature and make your muscles more fluid. They set the room at 100 degrees. Well they had it right before the class I took, so guess what, the room was still 95 degrees. So much for avoiding that :-/ MAN that was hot!!!!!! I don't think it aggravated my inflammation too much though that I could tell. So that's good.

First thoughts - I need my own yoga mat. The ones the gym provides STINK like nasty old locker room and you have your face right up to it half the time. Yucky.

The class was harder than I thought it would be, and not in the ways I had been thinking. I was able to get into most of the poses without any modifications - that part rocked!! Only a few things I couldn't get. But it was the holding.... oh the holding!!! My muscles absolutely SHOOK trying to hold some of the poses for as long as we were supposed to. I had to give up a few times. Downward dog is a pose I have done many times before...... but we kept coming back to it over and over and over and over so by the end of the class it was f'n hard to keep holding myself up. We probably did it 30 times in the class. Maybe more.

Downward dog:

My poor arms. But man what a good tricep workout.

I also found that one of the hardest things was just the amount of PRESSURE I had to put on my hands/wrists throughout the class. They hurt like a bitch during, and they are sore today. I don't know if this is because it's new and something I'm not used to, or if it's worse for me because I'm still a good 50+ pounds heavier than anyone else doing it... or what. But that was something I never once thought of or expected, and was one of the most painful aspects.

Some thoughts on a couple specific poses. This one is pigeon pose, and then pigeon pose folded:

Surprise - I can DO this one AND I was pretty awesome at it. (But see what I mean about face to the mat? Stinky gross ewww.)

Then from this pose you want into holding your back leg for the stretch:

This I couldn't get.  I was able to grab my leg one time when the teacher helped me do so, but I found it was hurting my back knee, putting a lot of pressure on it, so I couldn't hold it. This is one to work on.

And another surprise.... this one is called bow pose and I had never tried it before...

Surprise surprise not only could I do it.... I LIKED it.... and I could even rock like she asked us too. I didn't get my legs up as high as this, my thighs still touched.... but I was pretty proud of myself.

Overall yoga class was one of those things where I was cursing the world through the whole class because it was hard - REALLY hard - and it really hurt my hands. But afterward I felt pretty good.... and I can really see a lot of benefit this will have if I keep up with it. Not only will I get stronger and more flexible overall but it will definitely strengthen my core and back which I sorely need.

I am SO SORE today it's crazy. I am sore in places I didn't know I had. I still have to do Curves this morning but I may have to not use my Curves Smart key tag and just do things lightly.... because I'm also supposed to go hiking today! Eek! Soooo sore.

I am going to keep this up, and try a few different types of classes. The one I want to try tomorrow is called Yin/Restorative Yoga. But I can tell you before that class I am getting my own yoga mat.

FYI this first class Yoga Basics was a 60 min class -but according to my watch we actually went 72 mins!- and in that 72 mins I burned 450 calories. YEAH thank you heart rate monitor :)