It's Getting Hot in Here

I currently have two kids napping, one in the backyard doing her homework on the kids picnic table, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven.  I've been a blog slacker for the last two weeks and if I am lucky, I'll get this entry out before the timer goes off or the kids go off, so to speak.
Yesterday, my yogi friend and I travelled to Seattle for the day to do yoga.  We went to take a couple of yoga classes, in lieu of going on an annual yoga retreat.  We decided on a morning anusara class and an afternoon hot yoga class. 
The morning anusara class was fantastic, great teacher, beautiful studio.  (If you aren't familiar with anusara, it is all about expanding your heart and your mind, but I didn't notice it to be dramatically different than other kinds of yoga I practice.) The teacher was encouraging, gentle, honest, authentic, all the things I love about a good teacher.  She talked about fall being this season of mulching, about surrounding yourself with support and stuff to mulch with.  I looked up the definition of mulch, because I thought I knew what it meant, but wasn't entirely sure...mulch is "a protective cover placed over the soil to retain moisture, reduce erosion, provide nutrients, and suppress weed growth and seed germination".  It's obvious isn't it, in these drier, colder months, we tend to go more inward, just like nature (leaves returning to the earth, apples falling from the trees, etc).  And as we do this, it is important we surround ourselves with people who keep us warm emotionally, eat foods that nourish us - lots of soup, warm and wet, and create time or space in our lives to reflect and study ourselves, as a way to suppress weed growth (root causes of suffering) and to germinate seeds (all the goodness and grace, light we can create for ourselves). 
It was a dark and wet day in Seattle and the yoga class felt right for the day.  We had a yummy lunch at a Japanese noodle restaurant in U-Village, wandered around in and out of shops and it felt good to me to have the freedom of the day, to be away from my routine, to be in good company.  We headed off to Bellevue in the rain, to find the hot yoga studio.  They required newcomers to be 25 minutes early.  We arrived early, on time, and filled out the proper paperwork.  The proper paperwork entails agreeing to stay in the class even if you feel like running out, bring a towel and wipe up the pool of sweat you leave behind, sounds enticing, doesn't it?  We still had 15 minutes or so to spare and sat in the lobby waiting to go in to the class. 
I had never done hot yoga before, nor had I been to a hot yoga studio before.  Sitting in the lobby, I felt much more like I was sitting in a gym or athletic club type lobby.  It smelled a bit like a tanning salon and there were men in shorts with no shirts and women in sports bras, tube tops and shorty shorts.  It was fascinating to watch.  There was a teacher training in session and I could hear the instructor "yelling" at the students "I said breathe through your mouth." My friend and I giggled as we waited, wondering just what we were in for. 
Eventually, it was time for class.  I was blasted by heat when I walked in.  The studio is 105 degrees, yes 105 degrees.  I am still amazed that people don't fall over from heat stroke or faint on a regular basis.  It is hot.  The floor has radiant heat and there are heaters hanging from the ceiling, so you are getting it from both directions.  No where to run to, baby, no where to hide.  I was thankful my friend had suggested I bring short pants or my skimpiest yoga clothes for the class.  I had thrown in an old pair of climbing shorts at the last minute and thank goodness, I might have fainted had I had any more clothes on.  The instructor marches in when it is time for class to start.  She begins ordering us into poses.  The feel of this was like night and day from the morning class.  The morning class was all about trying something different...like if you always really push yourself, see what it feels like to back off a little.  The hot yoga was all about, don't give up, go deeper, push harder, sweat more.  I was praying about 20 minutes into the class that this was a 65 minute class and not 75 minutes.  It felt a bit like torture.  Not only did my clothes feel like I had jumped in a swimming pool they were so wet, my head felt like it was going to explode every time I bent over.  I do have to say that for the first 15 minutes or so, it felt good, and after that it was all down hill for me.  I had a strange experience at some point, where I felt like a knife was being pierced through my scar from the strep infection I had over the summer.  I'm not sure if it was scar tissue doing something, or if there was something left from the infection that decided to cut loose in my leg.  It was fierce, whatever it was.  It was more challenging mentally than physically.  The instructor said at some point that our bodies are made to do this.  I'm not so sure I believe that.  Mine definitely is not.  I think there is some detoxing that goes on when you sweat like that and that is good for you.  It's good to rid the body of the junk we don't need.  Unfortunately, my body gets really dehydrated in that environment, despite having tried to prepare for it.  I felt like throwing up the whole way home and had a headache that I began to wonder if it was a migraine (I've never had one.) 
I woke up today thankful to be home, thankful to not be feeling as disgusting as I felt when I went to bed, and pretty certain I will not try hot yoga again, ever!