Entering The House Of Torture

For quite a while now... like the past 2 months or so... I have been thinking about starting practising Bikram yoga. I'd found this deal at a Bikram yoga studio where you pay £20 for unlimited use during 10 days.

However, my previous experience of Bikram yoga made me come up with all sorts of reasons for not being able to go. Reasons such as "It's raining today and I've got a hole in my shoe and my socks will get wet before I get to the tube station" or "I think I've got a cold coming on and it would be a real shame if I couldn't take full advantage of the 10 day offer".

Anyway, a couple of days ago I decided that it was time. And believe it or not, it was raining outside and my socks got wet but I still went (took an extra pair of socks with me, yep).

When I entered the yoga studio the first thing that hit me was the smell. Eeewww, the sour smell of damp, thick clothes that never dried properly, d'ya know what I mean?
And then there was the heat.

Bikram yoga is being practised in a room heated to 40.5 degrees Celsius (105F) with a humidity of 40%. You only have to breathe to start sweating. And there's no point bringing a small hand towel to wipe your face with because you'll continue to sweat straight away anyway.

The above photo could have been of me just with longer hair and a less chiseled jaw line. The evil look in his eyes I share with him.

Now, having said all this it wasn't actually as painful as I remembered it. The series of postures are not that hard and you basically get into each posture, stand there, and sweat for a bit. An Ashtanga yoga class is much harder, believe me.

I went back again today and I'm now looking forward to getting fabulous skin considering all the toxins that must come out through all that sweat. I can wait to see myself glowing.