The 5 things to not do before a hot yoga class

The 5 things to NOT do for a successful Yoga workout.

I had a terrible session at Yoga last night. A 2 out of 10 at best. Only because I promised myself that I’d be honest I will confess all of the idiotic things I did and confirm that they are tried and tested measures to not take to ensure you have a successful workout. Here is what NOT to do:

1.

Don't eat a fat slice of chocolate cake at 2p.m. prior to your workout…Someone dropped off a piece of rich and decadent chocolate cake on my desk as it was his last day. I gladly accepted and it satiated my craving. You can imagine how I felt in the hot yoga class.

2.

If you want low heat yoga, find out prior to signing up for the class.  I didn’t. This class was in fact a super-hot yoga class which made my nauseous feeling even more pronounced

3.

Upon arrival at hot yoga class, do not go in earlier than necessary and wait for the class to start. When I got to the class and realised it was not low heat, I thought that since I got there 15 minutes early that I should go into the class and do my Sivasana for an extra long time whereby allowing my body to acclimatize to the temperature. Bad Idea! It made my 1 hour hot class 1hr and 15 minutes and I just about passed out a few times.

4.

Don’t wear a t-shirt or in my case a ¾ length sport top. Tank tops are the best in this situation

5.

Don’t have a vodka-soda in between work and the yoga studio if you’ve got 30 minutes to spare. I don’t actually know what you could do, but having a drink with a co-worker is probably not the best way to spend that block of time.

There. I wrote it. On the internet forever. But at least I went. So if you are hesitating to go to a workout because you have done one or some of the above, go anyways, because in a worst-case scenario, you will survive it J

The Yoga Challenge

I just signed up for a 3 month membership at a Hot Yoga Studio near my house.

I am still trying to make an honest go of the GLENJAV daily routine. Remember GLENJAV from my last entry? Goal Setting, Learning, EXERCISE, Nutrition, Journaling, Affirming, Visualizing.

So, at an attempt to have Exercise show up more frequently, I took this on to help get myself in gear.

One of the great things about Yoga, much like most forms of exercise, but particularly in Yoga, is that it serves as triple duty.  Not just as physical exercise but as mental and spiritual exercise as well. I’m by no means expecting to attain nirvana with any of these classes. I am a realist. But I’ve only been to a couple of classes so far and already I’m scanning the weekly schedule and trying to see how soon I can go back. And, this studio offers a variety of classes, which makes it easier to try out different types of yoga to see which fits best. There’s Hatha Yoga and Yoga Pilates. There’s Ashtanga and Vinyassa. No clue what all these different classes are but u can rest assured that I will try them all out and report back!

It’s 1 to 1.5 hours of physically pushing yourself, being very conscious about your breathing and being in a very quiet and peaceful environment without saying a word. I’m finding it very therapeutic. Very unlike my gym sessions with music blaring, 5 tv stations on 10 suspended tv’s, and fitness instructors with fat jugs of vegetable juice touting the benefits of spirulina and kale.

So join me as I embark on yet another journey. My journey into the world of breathing through your nose, heated rooms, downward dogs and a new vocabulary of words that remind of the my grandmother in Calcutta re-telling the stories of the Bhagvad Gita, Mahabaharatha and  The Ramayan.