Saluting the Spirit

A couple of weeks ago, I participated in "Saluting the Spirit--Yoga for Cancer," an event sponsored by Better Bodies Yoga and several other yoga studios in town to raise funds and awareness for the Wings Cancer Foundation. It was held at the new Cancer Survivor Park (if you live in Memphis, you should go). We set up our mats around the labyrinth (used for meditation) and did Sun Salutations for 30 minutes. I am the one in the pink shirt and black pants on the right side of the photo. (Note to self: don't wear a hoodie during Sun Salutations-- it gets in the way). Sun Salutations are 12 poses performed in a flowing, repetitive sequence. It looks really cool with a whole group doing it. The weather was beautiful and the energy was incredible. My arms were sore for 3 days afterward, but it was worth it. I dedicated my practice to my mom and my mother-in-law-- both cancer survivors.

Adventures in Bikram Yoga

After a year of doing vinyasa (or "regular" yoga, as I call it), I decided to explore the mysterious, uncharted waters of bikram yoga. This style of yoga is named for this guy Bikram Choudhury, who is considered by some to be a rebel or "bad boy" of yoga because his style departs (to some extent) from traditional yoga practices. He developed it using poses from hatha yoga (you all can Google these yoga terms) specifically to rehabilitate his own knee injury, but it supposedly works every muscle and organ in the body. Bikram yoga's claim to fame is that all sessions are conducted in a room where the temperature is set at 105 degrees (like a Tucson summer) with 60% humidity (like a Memphis summer). The session consists of the same sequence of the same 26 poses, with the instructor barking out orders in one breath and telling you that it's ok to come out of a pose if you need to in the next breath. Water breaks are only allowed at certain times. Wild stuff. I think anyone going into it without any yoga experience would be blown away by it all.

Why would anyone do this to themselves? Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but after a month, I am still going a couple of times a week--even at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesdays (Perhaps the heat affects the rational judgment part of the brain). I decided to try it in the first place because I am a "heat" person. I don't mind hot temperatures and I've survived many a 5k run or tennis match under similar conditions. (I am still waiting for Mark and Katrina to move to Florida or Hawaii). Believe it or not, after a while, you don't notice the heat per se. Sure, you and everyone else in the room has sweat pouring off them, but you don't think-- "hey, it's 105 degrees in here!" What I do think is "wow! my skin looks good" and "Wow! My knees don't hurt after doing this" and "I really can touch my head to my knee!" However, it does make for a less than pleasant laundry basket. Speaking of which . . .

Namaste, everyone.