Feeling Thankful Friday : Bikram Yoga
I'm a little embarrassed to love bikram yoga as much as I do. I mean, it's such a hipster thing to do. And hipster, I am not! I've found, especially in a particular posh eastern Brisbane riverside suburb which shall remain nameless, there are so many yummy-mummy, SUV-driving, primped and permed, $5-bottle-of-water-drinking women who make a ballet performance out of Sun Salutations. I've mentioned before that I'm judgmental, right? Seriously though, I'm pretty sure I saw one of the Australian cricket WAGS at my studio during a recent cricket test here.
It seems that lots of people who aren't traditional 'exercisers' take to bikram yoga. For some, it may be because yoga is a form of exercise that doesn't seem like exercise. It can be passed off as meditation, for example, thereby flying under the radar of people who dismiss physical exertion of any kind. Yoga is really the only consistent exercise I do. I take walks, but more for my brain than my body. I think the attraction to yoga for me, and for many Type A personalities, has to do with the discipline involved, along with the fact that yoga demands surrender (which I think we all secretly crave).
At first glance, yoga is a bit dichotomous. It's associated with carefree hippies, but it has all these strict poses and specific routines. Sun salutations can be tweaked, much like recipes, but they go a certain way, typically. I can go to a yoga studio almost anywhere in Brisbane and kind of get the flow of things. The postures have been the same across centuries and across cultures. That's something that my home-loving, change-hating brain appreciates.
What I've realized over the past few months is that it's not really that dichotomous. Yes, there is structure in the poses, but the ultimate goal is freedom. That's the challenge - surrendering to the poses, not doing them better than everyone else. When I started bikram, I was aspiring to lose weight. I was in a calorie-counting competition, and wanted to just wake up each day kilograms lighter. I was fixated on everyone around me, particularly the flexible ones. I wanted to be just as flexible as them, or - who am I kidding? - more flexible. These days, my practice is entirely different. I don't care what someone on the next mat is doing. Often, I practice my poses at home using my laptop and yoga dvds so there is nobody on the next mat. It's about me and where I'm at with my body on that particular day.
Today is a good day. I woke up refreshed, ran across the road to the bikram studio (seriously, it's less than 60 seconds walk from my place - WIN!), had a great session, home for a quick shower, now heading to work.
I am so thankful that I stepped out of my comfort zone to try bikram. (In case you were wondering, I started here, and would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Unless you are a yummy-mummy WAG, in which case, please take your flexible self elsewhere!)
Posted by Katy Potaty CUPCAKE LADY at Friday, July 23, 2010 6:38 AM 
Categories: fitness, feeling thankful Friday
Categories: fitness, feeling thankful Friday
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