MYFOXNY.COM – This has been one hot summer in New York City! Imagine a room thats even hotter.. and doing yoga inside.
via Bikram Yoga.
Bikram Yoga may not be for every body, but those who have found it and enjoy it are also enjoying many health benefits. It may be worth a try!
Demi Moore, currently starring in “The Joneses” says that she and hubby Ashton Kutcher have recently started practicing Bikram yoga. Bikram yoga is practices in extremely high temperatures, which helps to loosen the body, plus allow you to detox your tissues, due to the large amount of sweating you do.
via Demi Moore and Aston Kutcher Sweating It Out in Bikram Yoga | CMR.
The heat is on as James Cracknell submits his Olympic gold medal-winning body to a challenging class of Bikram yoga
via Bikram yoga vs James Cracknell – Telegraph.
Funny article written by a male Olympic Gold athlete’s point of view.
I decided that I was done with my month long hietas from yoga. It was definitely not intentional break. I just realized how much easier it is to do a daily yoga practice when there are lots of studios around you to keep you motivated. From now on, I just need to incorporate more home practicing when there is not a class to go to.
Today I practiced at home and did a Bikram series. It was interesting how much my muscles had stiffened up. In bow pose, I felt this really weird sensation in my hip that was like my leg was about to give out. I came out of the pose for a few seconds and then did it again. The feeling passed, but I think it was tension releasing. Besides not doing yoga for a month, last weekend while trying paddle boarding for the first time, a big wave picked up my board and slammed it on my foot. Ouch! It really hurt, and bruised the top of my foot, causing me to limp around for a few days. I’m guessing this could have added tension in the other hip. Anyway, I’m going to continue with my daily yoga journey. I might have to change the end date to a month later now. 
One year of yoga equivalency!
Good class. The instructor changed the last two poses which is not really what Bikram teaches, but I think it was good to do. She had us do lizard pose, then splits, then pigeon pose, then final spinal twist. These are all good stretches that I like to do to improve my flexibility. It was a nice flow to do them this way.
It was nice to teach again. I have not taught a class in about 2 years, but it came back to me relatively easy. I only felt stuck once when I almost skipped separate leg stretching pose and started to go into triangle. One of the regular students reminded me and I quickly went back to separate leg stretching. The students were very nice. They all appreciated me teaching the class and did not mind that I felt a little rusty. Maui is very laid back. A little different than the mainland. Anyway, I will be happy to sub for the studio again.
Today I went back to the Yoga and Kick-boxing Studio, to get more of a feel of it before I teach on Saturday. Yikes! I’m a little nervous about it since I have not taught in a while. It should be fun though. The class today seemed to move well and I really pushed myself in the poses. It felt good to sweat!
Today I found a new studio in Kihei. This one said it had Bikram classes online, but it was not on the Bikram website, so I went not sure of what I would find. It was only a 15 minute drive which is much better than driving to Kahului. The studio is a Yoga and Kick-boxing studio and apparently the guy who teaches the kick-boxing was a Champion. His partner is a Bikram yoga teacher from Long Island. She had several Bikram studio’s there. The inside was painted blue with dolphins and there’s a Shiva painted on the wall as well. They let yoga music continue to play when they started the class and the kick-boxer James, inserted a couple yoga poses he wanted everyone to do. It was a fun class and after it was done I told the owner I was a certified Bikram teacher and I just moved back. She said, “I had been praying for you this week. I need someone to teach on Saturday.” How could I refuse when someone puts it like that? I will be teaching a class here on Saturday morning.
I tried it again today. I was even worse. I started out good, but by the end I started a Yin type class when I got to the floor poses. My mind started to drift and I held some poses a long time while I was thinking of what I had to do that day. I think tomorrow I need to go to a studio.
Yesterday I drove to the Kahului Bikram studio which is about a 40 minute trip. I did not anticipate the road construction I ran into, so I was 5 minutes late and the door was locked. So instead, I did my Costco shopping, which paid off because they had some composters in! I picked one up because it was the exact model I had been looking for. This will work well for us since we want to start a nice garden and the key to a healthy garden is nutrient rich compost. Not to mention the amount of waste this will reduce!
Today, I practiced at home because it is such a far drive to the studio. I didn’t have the heat, but that was OK. I can see now that the problem doing it at home for me is I tend to shorten the time I hold the poses. I found myself counting to 20 instead of 30 seconds. Oh well, more time to work on my garden!