We entered the Moksha room and the heat smacked me in the face.
37 Celsius is hotter than I expected it to be.
This is HOT yoga, not warm yoga, I reminded myself.
Then again we’re just coming out of a long Canadian Winter and I haven’t felt the heat in months, so it’s relative. I could feel the blood tickle my cheeks as my skin flushed from the heat.
Ange and I were the first to enter the practice room, which made me happy because I love being early. Best of all, I could pick my spot at the back of the room to hide. I totally wanted to hide even though I felt like there was no place to hide in this room. It was open and airy, with several large windows, bamboo floors, and floor to ceiling mirrors at the front.
So much for hiding.
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I carefully and quietly rolled out my Lululemon mat and placed my large bath towel over top, which Ange told me was a great sweat catcher. You also do not talk when in the practice room…if you do, the floor will open up and suck you out in one quick motion.
I left my Sigg water bottle and small face towel near the wall and I lay down on my back…because that is just what you do, I quickly learned.
I later found out that this is called ‘Savasana’.
‘Lying flat on the back with the palms turned up and the feet slightly separated, we start a challenging practice in relaxation, allowing our expectations to fall away and be replaced by the potential for pure experience.’ [source]
The Savasana was great because it allowed my body to adjust to the temperature. After about 5 minutes, I felt comfortable again. Calmness started to slowly come over me as I inhaled and exhaled in silence for about 10 minutes before the class began. Any sense of anxiety that I felt prior to the class was virtually gone. I started to wonder if yoga might be the natural remedy for my anxiety that I’ve been looking for.
I hear others walking past me, some lightly… some not, but I try to tune out the distractions. I’m eager to sit up and look around at my fellow classmates, but I try to focus on breathing.
‘Welcome everyone to our Moksha 75 minute class.’
We stay on our mats and just focus on our breathing for several minutes. While we breathe, the instructor speaks to us in a soft tone:
‘The to-do lists might be swirling through your mind right now. You are thinking about your day or things that you have to check off your list. Let this 75 minutes be just for you. Don’t think about anything else except where you are in this moment. Allow your to-do list to leave your mind. This is your time.’
I like her already.
We’re standing up now and looking to the front mirrors. A single bead of sweat drops from my brow as I get up. My skin glistens and my face is looking rather..flustered. I quickly glance around the room and I notice our class is made up of mostly women, with a few men. All shapes, sizes, and abilities. There was about 15 of us. It wasn’t a classroom full of 6 foot amazon yogis like I imagined.
‘Now, meet your gaze in the mirror.’
I look directly at myself, feeling mixed emotions. She looks strong, but weak at the same time, I think. I’m not sure I like that thought.
As if the instructor was reading my mind she said, ‘Now, meet your gaze in the mirror with KIND eyes. Soften your eyes and look at yourself with kindness.’
I tried again. This time with kind eyes.
For a moment, I felt emotional by this simple act of looking at myself with kindness. I was grateful that it was easier to do than it used to be, although I know that I still had a ways to go yet.
I immediately know that this is going to be much more than a workout.
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We move into the standing series which is ‘a cardiovascular set of postures. The focus is on building strength, balance and endurance through hot yoga postures done from a standing position. Postures are held anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute, allowing the skin to sweat and detoxify the body.’
I fell in love with Dancer (left) and Eagle pose (right). I’ve done them both at home, but never with a mirror to see my body bend and balance more than I expected it to.
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I feel amazing when doing the dancer pose and it reminds me of my ballet days as a young child. Much of what I love about ballet, like discipline, could also be applied to yoga. This excites me.
‘Focus your thoughts on your breath if you find your mind wandering. Inhale….hands planted on the floor, legs extend out…exhale…downward facing dog.’
After a short while, my skin is beaded with sweat and it drips off my body uncontrollably.
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At first, I’m a bit embarrassed by sweat falling off me, hitting the towel strategically placed on my mat. A quick glance around the room assures me that everyone has sweat dripping off them. Like a faucet. I feel less gross. Surprisingly, the room doesn’t smell funky and I wonder what line of natural cleaners they use.
‘Keep breathing.’
After the standing series, comes the floor series:
‘The floor series works on strengthening the upper body, spine and abdominal muscles. Having thoroughly warmed the body in the standing series, we now begin to open the hips and spine. The floor series relieves tension, treats lower back and knee pain and improves posture.’
I feel loose as a goose in the second half of the class. This heat has me thinking I’m much more flexible than I am and it’s motivating because I feel like I can do this. The poses feel smooth instead of painful and tight.
We end the class where we began- Savasana. We are told to pay particular attention to how we feel in the Savasana, as compared to the beginning of class. I’m amazed by the difference. My breathing now is long and deep, effortless and unforced. My body feels calm and despite being soaked in sweat, I feel just right.
And that feeling of ‘just right’ or calmness carried with me throughout the day as I found myself anticipating my next class.
Oh I love Bikram, love love love. It’s so intense and invogorating. It feels like I got a 90 min massage when I’m done.
Sounds interesting. I’m not sure I could handle the heat, but sounds like something I should at least try.
What a informative, and insightful post! Good for you for focusing and getting your mind into the workout, hot yoga is TOUGH. The first time I tried Bikram Yoga, I remember looking at my mom about halfway through wondering why on earth we had decided to voluntarily participate in this….but by the end of the class I felt fresh and rejuvenated :)
I love this post…I think the feeling at the end is exactly what we all strive for in our yoga practice!
Ooh, I want to try this! I’ve taken yoga classes before, and one of my favorite things about practicing with a mirror is having to look myself if the eye for an hour or so. I have to be honest with myself, and doing that twice a week for several months really helped me feel better about myself, for some reason. I guess it’s hard to look someone in the eye and tell them that you don’t like them.
Love that :)
Thank you so much for reviewing your hot yoga experience. I’ve heard more and more about it this past week and have been really interested. I’m brand new to yoga though, do you think it’s too advanced for someone just starting out?
Yes I definitely think Moksha is friendly to beginners! My favourite so far has been the regular Moksha class. I dont know many poses at all and I was fine with it. Also, no one expects you to be perfect either!
Awesome! Thanks!
I looove savasana… my fav thing to do are chaturanga’s though, love the arm workout :) downward dogs feel soooo good too.. now I want to meditate!
I have been doing Moksha yoga since March and I absolutley love it. I love doing savansana at the beginning and end of class. I had never done yoga before and went into the class not quite knowing what to expect and when I came out after that first class I could not wait to go back.
There is something about stepping outside of your comfort zone and really growing as a person and as a yogi. I love trying new classes and coming out feeling like I got such a great workout.
This is totally inspiring. I had a great yoga class last night, too. It’s so amazing what it does for your mind and body. Unexplainable!
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The style in which you wrote this post seems different from your normal writing. I like both. :) I’ve heard a few bad stories about hot yoga (basically dehydration stories from not drinking enough water before going) so it was nice to hear the positive.
Great post. I have done yoga on my own for over a decade, but had never done a regular studio practice until this past November. Hot yoga came to town and I was hooked (like 5 days a week hooked!). The heat just felt so good through the winter. Now that it’s warming up though, I find that I’m not enjoying the heat as much. I took a few “non-hot” classes when I was a way for work, and appreciated the opportunity to “build my own heat” through the various postures and series. Enjoy your classes. I encourage you to try a variety and styles and teachers, since each will give you a different experience.
Go you for trying out hot yoga! I know it can bring up a lot of mixed emotions about your body. I tell myself that I can’t think of it as a workout, I have to think of it as, “being nice to my body”. You don’t have to be the most flexible or hold the poses the longest. A good yoga teacher will remind you that being a good yogi is all about going with the flow and accepting your body as it is in the moment. If you know your body needs to spend 15 minutes in child’s pose that day, them you are being a good yogi. being at one with your sweat is being a good yogi. Breathing is being a good yogi. Letting go of negative self talk is being a good yogi. I like to think of it as an experiment, and every time I do it I’m coming into deeper knowledge about my body.
Enjoy!
So inspiring. I went to hot yoga for the first time in a year this week and was suprised how much the heat knocked me out. I am so glad I read your post-it gives me inspiration to return to class!
This post makes me want to try hot yoga!
this post was beautiful, angela. i also took ballet for years growing up, and i think it was inevitable (or perhaps just lucky!) that i found my way to the yoga mat as an adult. yoga has done so, so much for me, from improving my overall fitness (i am so much stronger now than when i just ran/did cardio at the gym), helping me get over an injury, and most importantly, making me a more confident person. there’s something really special about mastering a difficult pose that makes you feel like you can do anything when you’re off the mat and in the world. i also love how yoga teachers encourage students to see class as time away from life and time just for yourself – it really shifted my perspective on exercise. and it’s helped me become much kinder to myself as well.
i guess the point of this rambling is that i’m thrilled you experienced some of this! i hope you’re able to keep going to classes and i really look forward to reading your thoughts on them!
I’ve never heard of Moksha practice before. From your review it seems similar to Birkam with the high heat but just different positions to go through. Makes me miss the studio. I’ve only done hot yoga once but it was amazing. My body is craving it. Too bad memberships are soooo expensive to yoga studios in general.
I have been very reluctant to try Hot Yoga and this may have just been the nudge I needed! I can always use a little encouragement to look at myself with kindness, plus a little sweat never killed anyone!
Loved the details of your experience!! I really miss that dripping sweat. It’s so refreshing + cleansing!! I am not a big sweater when I’m at the gym. Even doing an HIIT cardio workout and lifting weights, I don’t break much of a sweat. However, hot yoga always left me standing in a puddle. I need that back!
This class sounds magical!