Sweating it out at Bikram

After dabbling with yoga as a university student, I took it up properly (ie every week) in 2002. I started doing ashtanga yoga and loved it from the start. Round about the same time, Bikram yoga was becoming popular in London and as I read more about this hot, sweaty yoga, I decided to give it a go. I think I went 3 or 4 times altogether. I would have liked to have done more but the only Bikram studios at the time were in north or west London and going after work, doing an hour and a half class and then getting showered and changed and back down to deepest, darkest south London soon put me off.

A little while ago, someone mentioned that there was a Bikram studio in Ibiza town. A quick search on Google (what would we do without Google now? I think I've lost the ability of tracking down information without it!) located the studio and I went earlier this week. My Spanish teacher Moly also goes to the studio and so we both rocked up to the class on Tuesday afternoon. I was somewhat unprepared as I'd forgotten how much you sweat and didn't bring a small towel with me, nor my yoga mat but at least I remembered to bring a bottle of water. As we waited for the class to begin, Moly said to me in Spanish "get ready to suffer" - I started to feel a bit nervous....

The teacher is a lovely French guy. When I signed in, he said the class is conducted in Spanish and I said "yes, that's fine" because by now I can converse quite well in the language. However, doing a yoga class where all the instructions are in Spanish is something else, particularly as I haven't learnt the parts of the body so half the time didn't know what he saying. So I did what I always do in this situation - identify the person who looks most advanced and I can see clearly without turning my head round too much and copy everything they do. If it'd been an ashtanga class conducted in Spanish, I probably would have been fine as I know the sequence fairly well and could just roll with it. Anyway, I didn't have to copy the others for too long as Sebastian (the teacher) very kindly started conducting the class in English as well as Spanish for the benefit of me.

The room was about 42 or 43 degrees. I don't think I've ever been in a room this hot and I started sweating even before the class had started. After a little while, I found myself getting dizzy - not helpful when you're doing a balancing pose and you keep wobbling and toppling over. The dizziness got so bad that I spent a large chunk of the middle of the class lying down but better that than passing out on my mat. When I did manage to get involved with the class again, I was so sweaty and slippery that it did get in the way a bit. Anyway, finally we got to the relaxation bit at the end and I could lay down and have a long rest, listening to some Oriental music. The music confused me a bit and as my mind wandered and I thought of leaving the class and saying thank you to the teacher, the Japanese for "thank you" kept popping into my head instead of Spanish. This is what happens when you have four foreign languages under your belt but have never specialised as a linguist!

The day after the class I ached all over and it felt like I had a big knot in my left shoulder blade. I normally have a constant knot on the right side so it felt a little strange to have it on the other side as well. I was going to go again for another class (I've got a special deal where I've paid 20 euros and can go as many times as I want for a week) but decided to leave it as my ability to move in a fluid manner had been hampered slightly.

I went again today (Friday) and am planning to go again on Sunday and Monday. Today's class was better. It wasn't so hot in the room and I didn't get dizzy or have to keep lying down. Excellent - this must mean I'm making progress! I'd still get light-headed and at one point it was quite bad and I kept stumbling around but soon regained my composure. Bikram doesn't have the dynamic aspect of ashtanga (I think everyone would have a seizure if it did due to the heat) so it doesn't feel like the class is moving along that quickly. But before I knew it, we were at the end doing the relaxation and listening to the tinkling Oriental music.

I had a quick shower and got ready to leave. Although I wasn't surging with energy, I didn't feel tired. Nor did I feel hungry and this surprised me a little. I was anticipating a gnawing hunger after the class but it didn't happen. I still haven't fallen in love with this yoga yet but doing two more classes over the next three days may seal the deal. I have noticed one thing though - all that sweating has left my skin feeling really soft! It feels great!