Hot Yoga (1st Class) @ Cityoga

Major discovery - I need a towel for my yoga mat!!!!

I've gotten away with not having one for a long time, and sure I'd slip a tiny bit but nothing crazy. Hot yoga is a whooooole other story. I was slipping and sliding everywhere. Luckily, I brought a small hand towel anticipating the heat, and did my best with that to help with my footing.

I've never taken hot yoga before, but it's very popular right now and I've been dying to try it (I'm always going on to my friends about how I want to do yoga that works up a sweat.) Well, I think I released my body weight in sweat after this class.

The class: About 7 people total. The room started at about 86 degrees, but by the end got up to about 90 degrees (I was close to the thermostat). We went at a fairly slow pace, doing only 1 or 2 sequences a little faster.  Vinyasa flow was incorporated and the poses were kept fairly basic. Even the most basic poses get a LOT harder when its HOT though! My hamstrings were still somewhat sore from the Core Vinyasa Flow class a couple days ago, so I wasn't 100%, but still. I'm not sure I've ever sweat that much in my life. Absolutely dripping. Downed my big bottle of water in a heartbeat. It was definitely worth all the sweat though! We wound down class in corpse pose, and used eye-bags scented with something (lavender?). I felt like I was literally melting into the floor, and the eyebag along with the scent really helped to open my senses and calm me.

The skinny: I felt absolutely FANTASTIC coming out of that class. I was soaked in sweat head to toe, but was so full of endorphins and zen-y goodness that I didn't care. And the class was challenging, but not impossible, which is a plus for me. I would definitely take this again- consider me a new fan of hot yoga! Also, if you are going to do hot yoga, a mat towel is a MUST.

Side note: A bath towel works just as well as one of those designer towels! It may not look as snazzy, but if you're on a budget like I am and don't care what your towel looks like, a bath or beach towel is just fine!