Before baby Kai, I was an avid bikram yoga goer. When I was pregnant, I stopped going to bikram yoga and took up power vinyasa instead. Surprisingly, my progressive Doctor said running and bikram yoga was fine while pregnant. I was cool with power yoga, running and spinning but I drew the line about bikram yoga. For me, 26 poses in 105 degrees for 90 minutes seemed a little much while pregnant. So, I took some time off from the bikram yoga. After Kai was born, I was so wrapped up in sleep deprivation and breastfeeding that bikram yoga wasn’t on my radar. At 10 months old, going to bikram yoga seemed doable.
The day I decided to go to Bikram yoga, I thought of really good reasons why I “shouldn’t” go. Clearly, I was concerned about dehydration. It really is a mental and physical workout so I didn’t want to hurt my milk supply. My husband said, you’ll be fine, just go-so I did. Wow, it was crazy hard and beyond hot but thinking about going all day was just as hard. Sometimes, I think the getting there can be worse than the workout. Especially when you know you’re going but you play these mental games about not going.
I drank a ton of water that day and paid a lot of attention to what I ate. I was a little shocked when I saw the thermometer which read 115 degrees and 12% humidity. That is a little high even for Bikram. It was hotter than heck but I did it. I had told myself that I didn’t have to do all the poses but ended up doing em all. I had the best buzz for 36 hours. It literally felt like a yoga hangover. Best kind of hangover, if you ask me!
Of course, when three days had passed I was eager to go again. I knew it was hard but I wanted my back to purr again. So, I hit it twice last weekend. Foolishly, I thought maybe it’d be a little better after a few classes. No, not so much. It was just as hot and terrible during all of the classes. And my third class might have been the worst. For some strange reason I was painfully nauseous. Maybe it was that orange I ate an hour before class? Or maybe it was just one of those days? That’s the thing I respect about bikram yoga, everything matters. What you eat, what you drink, and how much sleep you’ve had-it all comes out during that 90 min session. And with the bright lights, mirrors and high temperature it can get ugly.
If you haven’t been before but are considering it, don’t wear pants. Your littlest, tightest workout outfit will serve you best. I wore pants my first class because I like to workout in pants but I learned the hard way, it’s too hot to care what you look like so less is better.
As uncomfortable as a bikram yoga class is, there is no substitute for the way it makes my back feel. Amazing!
Drinking a ton of water and eating plenty was the ticket for me. After 3 bikram yoga classes, 2 runs and 1 spin class last week, my milk supply is just fine.
-Namaste
Tags: Bikram, breastfeeding, Yoga
4 Comments
Bikram yoga isn’t for me! I am sweating profusely just reading this! Keys are all wet and water is forming in between them! I have to stop before the entire computer goes under water!
Namaste
Yoga yoga yoga!
Smile
I so agree with you. Huge challenge and so much of it is the mind.I start revving up the day before and it’s kind of a team effort. Throughout the day it’s “bikrams tomorrow” to anyone and everyone that I talk to. And of course I always say to Dad Remember, bikrams tomorrow-you gotta get up early and get that coffee going.” lol
Mom, yes, the mental challenge for Bikram yoga is huge but there are some “special teachers” here. Let’s just say that 105 degrees and 90 minutes isn’t good enough for some of these teachers. I’ve been to 5 classes in the last two weeks and most of them have been with that one “special teacher” who insists on having the temperature at 115 degrees and can’t possibly squeeze all 26 poses into 90 minutes so 100 minute classes have been the norm. Bummer because I’m a clock watcher and there is something that shifts in my mind after 90 minutes of torture. After saying all of this, I’m wondering when I’ll go this week?!