I love hot yoga!

Yesterday morning Caitlin and I had planned to run four miles, but we cut it down to two miles (in 22:29), because the arch/ball of my left foot was still hurting.  It hurt the day before during our six mile run, and then it felt better until I started running yesterday morning.  I have been wearing different shoes to work that have a very slight heel to them, so I'm testing out today wearing flatter shoes.

Yesterday I read about Ashley's 30 days of yoga challenge, and I decided to try it.  I am going to try to do at least 10 minutes of yoga each day.  I did not do too well on my last ab and strength work-out challenge, but I am hoping to stick with the yoga.  Ashley then invited me to a hot yoga class that she was attending last night, and I was actually able to attend it this time!  (If you recall, a month or so ago I had plans to go to hot yoga but my plans kept falling through mostly due to work.)  I LOVE HOT YOGA!  The class was scheduled for 1.5 hours (of course I thought it was 1 so that was a surprise), but I think it went over a little bit which was fine with me.  When I entered the room, there were space heaters all around the room.  I got a spot in the back which was right near a heater that was set on 96 degrees Fahrenheit!  Needless to say I started sweating pretty quick.  The instructor of the class decided to focus on hips and hamstrings, and for me the class was intense.  I was not able to do every pose, but I did try.  There were only a few times where I had to take a break for 30 seconds and sip some water.  I have never in my life sweat as much as I did last night.  I was completely and totally SOAKED with sweat.  My mat, the floor around my mat, my towel, my clothes, my hair... all dripping with sweat.  We did a pose (forgive me for not knowing the name) where you are laying on your back and your legs are over your head, and sweat was dripping off my legs onto my face like it was raining.  It was really gross, but it felt so good to just clean out my body by sweating.  When I left the class my hair was dripping wet. 

I loved that there were other students (?) who were there to walk around and help correct your poses.  They were very helpful!  One of my favorite poses that we did was where you are essentially standing and folded in half to touch your toes.  Then you put your hands completely under your feet (I did not know I could do that!) and your feet massage the palms of your hands.  What I really loved about this pose was that it really stretched my upper back which felt AMAZING!  That is where I tend to hold all of my stress, and it felt great to feel it stretch.

At the end of the class you are laying down and relaxing while cooling off.  The instructor had us imagine our facade, that front that we put up for the world to see.  She said to picture it just falling away and revealing our true self.  Usually I would have thought of my true self as my more vulnerable self, but I was actually quite surprised when what I imagined was the part of me that feels less confident (in terms of being able to accomplish my goals at school, including my candidacy) was my facade and it was falling away to reveal what I felt was my true positive self that could do anything.  It sounds really silly when I type it out, but it actually brought a smile to my face in class.  When we were leaving, Ashley even commented that I looked refreshed, and she was completely correct.  I have not felt so calm and refreshed in a long time!  I definitely want to go back to that class.  While I personally cannot afford to go on a very regular basis (I am a graduate student after all), I plan on making time to go at least every other week.

I am feeling a bit sore today, but it is the good kind of sore.  I am looking forward to my at least 10 minutes of yoga tonight!  I hope you all have a great day!