Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

The verdict is in: I am a Tim Burton’s dream come true … well, the lower half of me that is. I went to my massage therapist yesterday and he confirmed to me what I had been suspecting for weeks. I am a twisted-up, crooked mess!

My body’s alignment was so off kilter that not only was my left leg jammed all the way up to my ears (well practically so) my ankles too were twisted and jarred and jammed up as far as they could go. And when the one ankle unsuspectingly popped at the same time as my leg being reefed back into place, I am not ashamed to say that yes I let out a cringe-worthy yelp. While I’ve had the leg issues before, the ankles were a first, and it freaking well hurt fixing them up!

Looks like I’ll be continuing my break from running, she says as she gushes out a disappointed sigh 🙁

My massage therapist suggested I strengthen my core to help prevent injury from happening the next time. And how, when I hate every aspect of strengthening the core, do I do that?

  • I do sit-ups, planks, balance ball, blah, blah, blah at home, which probably won’t happen.
  • I obtain a personal trainer to hold my hand through the process, which is probably my best option.
  • I sign up for hot yoga. WHAT???

When my backpacking girlfriend (who just got engaged in Italy; so exciting!!!) suggested hot yoga to me this morning, I almost emailed her back asking if she had taken the crazy pills. Firstly, despite doing regular yoga in the spring, I’m not a fan of the dirty hippie activity which is a widely known fact, and secondly hot yoga freaks the crap out of me. See, I don’t enjoy super hot things. Unless they come in the form of Alexander Ovechkin, Andy Schleck or Robert Downey Jr. packages, I ain’t interested. I have no desire to hang out in saunas, or have germs crawl up my butt in hot tubs, or get bored on a beach in Hawaii. And I don’t know if the heat would affect my insulin pump or my blood sugars or what. But my backpacking girlfriend, she was insistent. Before I had a chance to email her back, she had already emailed me a second time, defending her case. This is what she wrote:

I wanted to strengthen my core, help my back and my hips and lower my stress. And hot yoga did all that. I honestly was so blown away. I went to 20 classes in two months and I never felt better in my entire life. I have never ever seen such amazing results from anything else. And I used to do Pilates and go to the gym and go for runs and everything! I know different things help different people, but I absolutely swear by Bikram Yoga.
She also went on to state that it absolutely is hell on earth for the first 5 classes. I thought I was going to puke, walk out, cry, pee, puke again, and pass out…

And while that may dissuade the normal person, I’m a runner, and we runners like to torture ourselves, not normal. My backpacking girlfriend, it seems, knows my weaknesses!

Have you ever done hot yoga? What did you think of it?

5 thoughts on “Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!”

  1. Well…I couldn’t just let this one go without a comment..ok maybe slightly a novel 🙂

    There are two different types of Hot Yoga…Bikram’s & just Hot Yoga. Bikrams is comprised of the same 26 postures in the same sequence EVERY TIME. Hot Yoga on the other hand can vary from class to class. Now if you don’t like heat or saunas, which i really really don’t, then it makes it a little difficult & you look forward to the poses on the floor & that little bit of a slightly cooler room. If you are a bit grossed out by other people & smells etc than you gotta get over that before attending a hot class, with people rolling around in their own sweat covered mats. Bikrams classes tend to “push” you into postures, where as a hot class may not or a regular yoga class may not.

    In all honesty you can reach the same benefits from a non heated yoga class. There are many different types of yoga & doesn’t have to be a hatha class (which is basically what you & i did), there is Kundalini (which I also teach) that guarantees to whip your butt & mind into shape quickly, there is Vinyasa or Ashtanga or etc, the list goes on & on..there is even Heated which isn’t quite as intense as hot.

    Check out http://www.vancouveryogareview.com, i wrote an article on their about my experience at hot yoga. While I realize its only my experience might make you think a bit.

    And last but not least if you are interested in exploring the yoga world & can’t decide whether you want to heat it up or not, buy a passport to prana (www.passporttoprana.com) they are $30 & gets you 1 class at over 40 different studios throughout the city, then you can try different teachers, different classes (including Kundalini, Ashtanga, Hot & Bikrams) before you go full fledged into a membership.

    Or come see me & I’ll help you kick your own asana!

    1. Lovely blog – first time here! – I have to say I agree with this comment though. People think that hot yoga is some insane calorie torcher 0r “detox” method…but it’s not – it’s doing the same poses you would do in a non-heated class…but it’s hot. Your sweating…but I sweat just as much sitting in the sun on a hot day outside really. But it is a nice change of pace!

  2. Have not tried Bikram Yoga, read a couple of articles and they both agree with your girlfriend. The puking thing turned me against it.
    Did buy a WII fit and do yoga on it. Managed to hurt myself with that, but at least it was in the privacy of my own home with no witnesses and nobody else’s body fluids.
    Looking forward to reading about it after you attend a class:)

  3. I got to your blog from Runner’s Kitchen. I love Bikram yoga. The warm room makes your muscles feel really good and loose. Maybe I am boring, but the same pose regimen is comforting to me. Good luck.

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