Its true I did it!

You should all be proud of me I finally braved Bikram Yoga all by myself! :)

Before the class I went down to the local sports store and splurged on a cool lyra gym top and a mat.

The top because I was warned not to wear cotton and the mat because I wasn’t keen on hiring one that someone else had sweated all over hehe.

At 6:30 I nervously climbed the stairs to the Bikram Yoga studio and waited for the class to start - I had NO idea what to expect!

Before I go into the big story here’s the background on Bikram Yoga…

Bikram Choudhury brought his unique yoga style from India to the US in the 70’s and began offering his classes for free. It took encouragement from some of his celebrity clients for Bikram to start charging a fee.

Bikram Yoga is performed in studios heated to about 40 degrees celsius with about 40% humidity. The classes usually last for about 90 minutes and follow 26 specific "postures" and 2 breathing exercises.

Famous around the world, Bikram Choudhury lives in Beverly Hills and teaches at yoga schools around the globe. Bikram Yoga has had many celebrity converts including Madonna, Robert Downey Jnr, Gwyneth Paltrow and even Sting.

Yoga’s great for building strength, increasing flexibility, massaging internal organs, toning muscles, calming you mentally AND in the case of Bikram Yoga ridding your body of impurities because of the sweating nature of it.

Ok so back to my story . . .

The doors were opened and everyone geared up with water bottles, mats and the much needed towels piled in. The heat hit me first then the unusual smell (although you forget that fast). I just copied the others and lay down on the mat.

I was already feeling the sweat and then the workout started!

The session kicks off with an unusual breathing exercise that really works your lungs and abdomen. Did you know that on a day to day basis we only use 30% of our lung capacity - I learnt that today too! :)

From there you start doing the standing postures and thats when the sweat gates open. The postures were pretty hard but there was something really empowering about pushing your body harder and trying to maintain the balance.

I had to sit down a couple of times but I was told this was totally normal for a first timer. In fact some of the regulars sat down later in the session too (that made me feel better hehe).

Next we moved to the mat for the lying down postures - by this stage I was SOAKED!

The lying down exercises worked all sorts of muscles from your back to your legs to your arms and even some internal organs! I enjoyed this part the most PLUS the meditating breaks in between hehe :)

I’ve always thought of yoga as more of a relaxing thing as opposed to a cardio thing but Bikram Yoga reallllllly gets the heart rate pumping because of the heat and the way the 26 postures were designed.

By the time the hour and a half was up I had sweated more than I EVER had before but I was feeling really calm, flexible and well and truly worked out.

I bought a 10 day pass so I’m summing up the courage to go again tomorrow - I’m sure it will only get easier!

So there you have it my Bikram Yoga experience :)

To read more about Bikram Yoga grab a copy of Bikram Choudhury’s book by clicking the link below.