Hotter than your Average Bear!

With lofty aspirations of cut arms, I paid a hefty chunk of change tonight to the Bikram Yoga College of Houston. After four bikramless years, the prodigal yogi has returned, and it ain’t pretty. I remembered the classes being hot and causing next-day soreness, but to be honest I spent A LOT of time during this first 90 minute sweat-fest sitting on my mat, hoping not to pass out. The heat is oppressive. I love it.

Yoga is so mentally-demanding, something that separates it from running, my other drug of choice. With running, the goal is turn the mind off; with yoga, it’s entirely switched on. At any given moment, you are pushing your hips forward, tightening your glutes, sucking in your stomach, lengthening your spine, contracting your arm muscles, kicking out and stretching up. There’s no time for worrying about life outside the studio, or if there is, I’m not getting my money’s worth, and it’s my own fault.

And it’s different than a gym setting where I usually enforce a 30 foot bubble around myself to keep others’ smells and moistures at bay. This studio makes everyone scoot up close and personal, which is both exciting and challenging. As weird as it sounds, if it wasn’t for the fact that the room is over 100 degrees and we are all sweating gallons, I might mind the proximity more, probably because heat or not, I’m a sweater (I sweat;
I’m not LITERALLY a sweater, kids, come on).

I’m writing a book. It’s always been a goal of mine, and I’m really doing it now.

Speaking of books, I’m reading three books right now, two I’m excited about and one I feel will be a dud. The latter is The Shack. I couldn’t not read this book. Everyone’s talking about it, and the ladies that sit near me are having little office book club meetings about it. I’m maybe two chapters in and can already tell I am going to have fundamental issues with the plot and message. Not sure I will even both finishing it, to be honest.

The other two are Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy and a Suze Orman book…can’t remember the title right now. Both are great and get my recommendation.

I'm going to Galveston tomorrow and I hope I get to see Ben Seals this weekend!