The Art of Yoga

Recently, I decided that I needed to get myself centered… in New York, I was used to regular chiropractic, masseuse and acupuncture sessions and I’ve really been missing that therapeutic routine. Coupled with the stress of living in a foreign country, being robbed and facing near homelessness, I was in a desperate need of a way to physically and mentally de-stress here in Paris. So on Sunday I came across the website of a Yoga center near my apartment. Now I’ve taken tons of yoga classes so I wasn’t expecting anything too different. Granted, I haven’t worked out in months, but yoga was never something terribly strenuous or difficult for me so I walked into the studio super cocky about the session.

Folks, yoga kicked my ass last night.

First of all, let me preface this by saying that this was a BIRKRAM yoga class… meaning it was 90 minutes of 110 degree heat with 50% humidity in a small studio packed with people. I didn’t think too much about it honestly—even though I’ve never taken a Birkram yoga class. I just figured I may as well get the added benefit of the sauna-like heat— probably good for the skin :o)

Anyway, it started out fine. There are 26 postures that you go through and we repeat each one twice. As soon as I walked in I started sweating, but up until about the last leg of the stretches, I was doing ok. At the end of the class, a handful of people were still lying out on the floor recuperating, but the only thing I was thinking of was getting out of that hot smelly room. So I jumped up, rushed into the fitting room, threw on my coat and left. As I was walking to the subway, I started to feel a little queasy but I assumed I just needed to walk it off. Then as I was standing on the platform waiting for the train, it got worse… I was feeling beyond nauseous. But I didn’t want to leave the station b/c the train was arriving in 2 minutes and I would have to wait another 10 mins for the next one. So I discretely threw up in the trash can and got on the train, praying that I wouldn’t get sick again during the ride (a few of you will remember last St. Patty’s day… my experiences with public transit embarrassment). Thankfully I made it. But I pretty much threw up every 20 steps until I reached my apartment. And I was sick pretty much the entire night…

My hat goes off to anyone who does Birkram yoga… it is NOT easy. I’ve had some serious workout sessions, but this was beyond. Naturally, I have to go back and do it again. There is no way I’m letting a little heat and stretching get the best of me! We’ll see how Round 2 goes…