Hot hot hot: Bikram yoga

I have tried out something new. Again! In my quest for getting rid of my leg injuries I am constantly searching for new remedies. As you might remember, three weeks ago I started muscle therapy and my therapist tells me that my leg muscles are too tense. I have to stretch more; both more often and harder. I am trying to do this but not always succeeding to set aside enough time and effort everyday. To loosen my muscles I thought yoga could be a good idea.

To be honest I never considered yoga seriously before, because I don't think it is proper training on its own. (I know many people will disagree, and I have several friends who are eager yogis). I do see that it gives flexibility and body control, but I do not see any cardiovascular or muscle strengthening effect. However, for my purposes it seemed to be a perfect addition to running and strength training. When I discussed the matter with my trainer Ketil, he mentioned that Bikram yoga was something he had considered trying. This is a type of yoga done in a hot room (40 degrees C), and all poses mainly target stretching and flexibility. Also my muscle therapist Rune agreed that this would be a very useful thing to try, in particular because of the heat. Both Rune and Ketil say that sweating is good, and especially now when I am running mostly outside in the cold, I am probably not sweating enough during training. Sweating is supposed to help carry away bad stuff from your muscles. I do not have any scientific evidence here, but all experts in training seem to agree that sweating is beneficial.

For me the sweating was the most scary part of this adventure. I tend to be naturally warm, and I usually get very uncomfortable when the temperature goes above 30 degrees C. I am for example not very fond of hot tubs and saunas, except for a short while when I am really cold after skiing or running in the cold. On the other hand I do have quite a bit of experience in training in warm and humid conditions (though never above 30 degrees C), both during full classes at Barry's Bootcamp Bergen and early morning runs during summer holidays in Turkey. So I felt confident that I could manage Bikram yoga, and thought it would be good exercise of strengthening my will power, in addition to the benefit to my muscles. I was pleasantly surprised to find a very convenient place for this: Bikram Yoga Bergen situated very close to my work place. They have a very reasonable trial offer: 380 NOK for 10 consecutive days of yoga. Of course I will not be able to go everyday for 10 days, but if I can go around half of them I will still be very happy.

Friday afternoon right after work, I went to my very first Bikram yoga session. I read all the instructions on the web page, so I kept drinking water throughout the day to be properly hydrated, and I chose the lightest training clothes I have. This yoga studio is an entirely mobile phone free zone, and the whole atmosphere is very serene and calm, so I did not find it appropriate or possible to take a picture, but my outfit for the session was exactly the same as shown in this picture, except the shoes and the socks (yoga is done barefoot):

As soon as I entered the yoga room, the heat hit me like a wall and my first reaction was panic: "I cannot breathe, I have to get out". I did stay inside the room though, and I slowly moved to find a proper spot to place my mat and lay down to relax for the 10 minutes before the start of the class. At first my heart rate was very high, and I immediately started sweating. OK, off with the tank top! Most ladies were in their sports bras, and most gentlemen had bare upper bodies, so this seemed both appropriate and necessary. After five minutes my heart rate calmed down and the sweating stopped, and I was very relaxed, almost asleep when the instructor entered the room... Then the fun began!  When I got up the heat hit me again, it was much cooler down on the floor than higher up in the room. And did I mention that every session lasts 90 minutes?!

A session consists of two breathing exercises and 26 poses, and everything is done twice. To my pleasant surprise I was able to do most of the poses quite perfectly. Thanks to my personal training sessions with Ketil twice a week, I had the strength and balance to do all the exercises that required these. I was also much more flexible and bendable than I thought I was, although the back of my right leg really hurt on the first set of most poses, but behaved much better already on the second pose. Only on three of the poses I did not manage to go all the way, and this was mainly due to my hips not being bendable enough. But I feel that I can get there in no time, because also here already the second set was much better than the first. The real challenge is definitely the heat. During these 90 minutes I sweated like I never did before or even thought was possible. The sweat was not dripping from my fingers, elbows, chin, etc; it was literally running! My towel on my mat became very quickly completely soaked, and I could squeeze a lot of liquid out of it after the class...

At the start of the class the instructor told us, the new ones, that we should take breaks as we feel necessary, and our goal should be to manage to stay in the room throughout the session. In my experience this was unnecessarily scary. I felt no need to leave the room, and I did not need to take any breaks except for trying to understand the details of a pose by looking at others. Perhaps they do have experience with people wanting to leave the room. I think, since I don't like the heat, I was prepared for the worst, and that might have helped me get through the session with less troubles than I would have otherwise.

I think yoga can be good additional and alternative training for all runners. I plan to go as much as I can during my 10 day trial period, and then try to go once or twice a week, at least as long as it is cold outside. I am not sure how to find time for it all. Perhaps I can negotiate with Ketil that my totally training free rest day of the week can contain a yoga session?! Some people are laughing at me because I am all the time trying out new things, but if I did not then I would not have so many things to tell you about :-) I think life is a one time adventure and one should be curious and eager to try out as many things as possible. Keep a positive vibe, be perceptive to the possibilities that come along, widen your horizon, and live fully every single day. Today the winter weather in Bergen is incredibly beautiful, and I have the pleasure of having planned what I expect to be a wonderful hike up to my favorite Bergen mountain Ulriken with super pleasant company. And guess where I'll be off to in the evening... Yes, Bikram yoga, indeed.

Namaste!