Hot as hell and happy

Yoga tourist that I am becoming, I took a Bikram class today in Norwalk, and it was heavenly. Sure, I tuned out the teacher, who rambled incoherently as Bikram teachers tend to do,, saying at one moment, "Look in the mirror at your leg and make sure it is straight, like a lamppost, you have no knee" and following it minutes later with "The way your pose looks on the outside is not important". But, oh, the heat. The heat....

It was delicious.

Within minutes, my flesh was melting off the bone. Sweat was dripping from the cuffs of my yoga pants as if I had just emerged from the bathtub fully clothed.

Funny thing about all that sweating though: it doesn't make it easier to get into certain poses, and in particular, it can make binding incredibly unwieldy. When my fingers get all pruney, it's hard to get a grip in Supta Kurmasana. And yeah, I went there after "Shavasana", as they call the resting pose in Bikram. And although I got my bind easily in Marichyasana A, which I also did after "Shavasana", I felt like my shin was sliding down away from my armpit, messing up my "alignment", if such a thing actually exists (and arguably, it does, in the sense that the pose is a lot more useful in terms of opening the chest and in softening the front hip joint if your shin bone is tucked neatly behind your armpit, as opposed to sliding down your bicep).

If you don't practice these poses - Supta Kurmasana and Marichyasana A - then you have no idea what I'm talking about right about now, if you're still here at all. But you should. Because they feel so damn good.

Since I was too pruney and spent to do any backbending immediately after class, I went home and did my backbends. I got so enthusiastic that I took some photos to see my progress. Alas, there was none. At least none that I could see. But here, for posterity's sake, are two photos from today...the first inside, the second outside (obviously). Looking forward to more al fresco yoga soon!

YC