Are You A YOGI?

I've participated in Yoga classes on and off during the years but last fall I found a class that I couldn't walk away from. I think that the most important part of the class is the instructor. I've recently taken a few classes that were "good" but the droning voice reminded me to much of what I hear when I pop in a yoga DVD at home. This instructor makes me want to come back over and over to punish myself.

All Yoga is NOT the same. This class I've started taking is called Vinyasa. The room is heated to 85 degrees and it's pretty fast moving. You do hold poses but then you'll have faster flowing movement. You really have to connect with your breath to make it through this class.

The reason I describe this is because this class KICK'S MY BUTT! Sometimes I ask myself why I'm doing this when suffering through a spin class is so much easier, but I keep coming back.

I keep doing yoga because I think it has so many benefits. It helps you become in tune with your body and blocking out distractions, it burns more calories than you'd think and it's a great strength workout without hitting the weights. I'm talking the kind of sore that you wake up the next morning that you've worked out really hard but can still workout again.

I usually only do yoga once a week. It's hard to balance it with riding my bike but I've decided that every other week I'm going to hit two classes since I think it's so beneficial. On Thursday's the class is Vinyasa II. It's harder than the class I usually take but I've done it before. The reason I started only doing the Tuesday class is because the Thursday class went to 75 minutes and I didn't know if I could hack it but of course this week the class was 90 minutes long.

I thought 90 minutes would do me in and I'd look something like this:





But, I rocked it. I only hit child's pose twice to rest. And I made sure that I had my water bottle filled with sport drink I have on my bike rides. Why you ask? Well, you sweat a lot in these classes. I'm talking sweat like I don't think I've sweat any other time in my life. I've learned that I don't like a sweaty face at all, and had to stop a few times to wipe my eyes since there was so much getting in my eyes and bothering my contacts. BUT, I rocked out over 800 calories.

Girls, if you have an opportunity I highly suggest adding YOGA into your workouts. It's a great way to cross train from whatever else you're doing as exercise.

Try it! Mix it up! Find an instructor that works for you! It's not the tree hugin' meditating workout that you're thinking of, it's a core buster, arms and legs toner that you'll be thankful for!