Wednesday, March 29, 2023
I went to my first Bikram Yoga class last Saturday. In a word, it was FANTASTIC! I went to my second class today, and it was even MORE FANTASTIC! That is not to say there wasn’t any difficulty, because there certainly was, and it was in two main areas, heat and flexibility (or lack thereof 😊.)
First, a little information about Bikram Yoga. Bikram is all about better health. There are plenty of websites to provide this information, such as the Introduction on the Danbury Bikram Yoga website and an article, What you Need to Know, on Shape Magazine’s website. Concisely put, Bikram is an instructor guided series of 26 poses done over 90 minutes in a hot (105 degrees) studio. The “hot” is so that muscles and other tissues are warmer and therefore more pliable. There is focus of doing the poses correctly, as well as proper breathing technique. The walls have full length mirrors on them, so, you can see your posture to help with doing the poses in the right way, your body aligned properly. There is an instructor who verbally guides you through the 26 poses, step by step, throughout the 90 minutes. The instructors for my sessions were very welcoming, making it a comfortable environment.
As for my difficulties: First, there was the heat. Bikram takes place in room temperature of 105 degrees. I thought the heat would not be a problem. I consider myself to be in fairly good shape in terms of cardiovascular health and breathing, due to my cycling and hiking activities year-round. It must count for something, I figured. So, in the first session, I entered the room and said yes, this is hot, but no big deal. But, when we were about 45 minutes into it, I was feeling it. I was feeling a little too hot. I think the poses that require one to bend over, bending then rising, made me feel a little lightheaded at this point. So, I stopped, and I took a walk out into the hallway, where it was a nice 69 degrees. I sat on a bench about three minutes, then headed back into the studio. I felt better, and shortly after that, the sequence of poses and stretches switched to those laying lying flat, kneeling, or sitting. I had no further light-headed symptoms, and the heat felt just fine. And in the second session, today, the heat felt fine. No negative side effects at all.
Second, there were the poses. The issue here is my lack of flexibility. All that cycling combined with not having done appropriate stretching, throughout my life, has resulted in the majority of my muscles, tendons, and ligaments – all these tissues dealing with my joints – being very restrictive in their flexibility and motion. I have a very limited range of motion, truth be told. I am watching others do their poses and I am like, WOW, what a difference. I can also SEE how much they can stretch, and I can see how little I am able to stretch, as Bikram studios have mirrors all around the room.
So, considering these two things to be “problems,” what does one do? I could say, “this isn’t for me.” That can happen with difficulties, one can choose to walk away for a number of reasons. Or, one could adapt, one could adjust to the stress of the moment. I believe spending more time there, going to more sessions, will help me adapt. Just like going to train at altitude will help develop one’s cardiovascular system, though it takes time to do so. And it can be hard. One goes to a high-altitude location, where the body works hard to adapt to the fact there is less oxygen at altitude, developing more red blood cells and making the cardiovascular system stronger.
My body will adapt to the heat. My joints will adapt to the stress I am putting on them. It will just take time. Commitment and consistency are key to this adaptation. I figure if I can make a 1% improvement per month, in my range of motion, that will be wonderfully amazing, and 1% per month is a huge change over the course of a year. My friend Heather told me an analogy about slow but real change. One can fill a glass of water drop-by-drop-by-drop. It is slow but, over time, the volume does increase, until one day the glass is full.
These experiences, like the analogy of water drops filling a glass, made me think of the pace of change in several areas of life. So much in life seems to be going so fast! The drop-by-drop analogy is a reminder that we cannot (should not?) rush some things. Look at how the seasons change, at how plants sprout and grow, at how leaves form and open on trees. In general, these are slow processes. The process of improving my flexibility and range of motion will be slow. To do it fast, that could cause damage to muscles and other tissues, it would be counterproductive. Slow down.
My “difficulties” notwithstanding, there are significant benefits available. It seems generally acceptable that yoga can be good for you. However, to put more support on it, in addition to people’s anecdotal stories, there are many scientific, evidence based articles published in literature databases, such as PubMed and PubMed Central, about the medical benefits of Bikram Yoga in particular, such as The Effects of Bikram Yoga on Health: Critical Review and Clinical Trial Recommendations., as well as of yoga overall.
Additionally, numerous medical practitioners have identified yoga as a tool to provide benefit for mental and emotional health, such as these three articles (The Benefits of Yoga: How It Boosts Your Mental Health; The Benefits of Yoga; and Benefits of Yoga for Mental Health.)
From my perspective, I see several beneficial opportunities here in addition to the physical benefit of increased flexibility. There is increased strengthening of muscles and improved posture. There is also increased mental-emotional strength from the discipline of focusing on the present moment, letting other matters fall away from your thought patterns. Additionally, there is a potential for and awareness of community with others in the room, a connectedness in purpose, action, and spirit.
Other than “yoga” difficulties, I/we sometimes run into other difficulties in life. These difficulties, which may be real (or occasionally imagined) run a range of phenomenon, including issues with relationships (family, personal, business), money, health, and time, among others. At times, I have been in situations where I would just like to push a button and, as if by some miracle, the issue is resolved. It seldom works out that way, and resolving the issue takes time and patience. Sometimes, there are a series of adjustments to make, a slow but steady action. Commitment and consistency.
There may be times when quick action is necessary, especially when personal safety is involved. Often it is the case that change is better done as a slow process, taking the time to address an issue fully, having faith that there are improvements and progress being made daily, even if incrementally small at times. Make a plan, put it into motion, review and update it when necessary. And give it time. Have faith that, with your commitment and persistence, it will work, that it is, in fact, already working.
One’s desire/decision to deal with any difficulty, be it a yoga position or something else, can be seen as a seed. With proper care, that seed can germinate and grow. We need to be patient with our changes, with our growth, cultivating and nurturing for better health and well-being.
What do you think?
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