I started doing yoga way, way back during my teens when I copied some asanas from a magazine. I loved the idea of getting into a 'strange'pose and holding it for some time. I loved the stretch. Of course back then I did it all wrong, the breathing and the way I got into the poses was wrong, as I discovered when I went to my first Iyengar yoga class in London. I knew nothing about alignment and about gently pushing without forcing. I risked dislocating my hips, the way I went about it without proper instruction. Fortunately at sixteen I was supple enough not to damage my bone structure. Thank god for that.
Over the years I established a pattern. I went through periods when I spent all my spare time going to classes and periods when I could not bear to go to a single yoga class, there always came a point when I just needed to get away from it. Then I'd begin to worry about losing flexibility and core strength and would start practising at home but found it boring to do it on my own and so I'd look for a new class and a new teacher. The sheer number of yoga classes that are in and around London would make you believe that this is a city inhabited by yogis. Almost every corner of London has a yoga studio of some sort! And there are so many styles of yoga around, it is most difficult to choose the one that suits you best. I have gone through my fair share of styles switching from classical Iyengar to hatha to ashtanga (sometimes in its power yoga variety) to my latest passion, Bikram, the hot yoga.
As far as I am concenrned Bikram is the yoga style for me, no sweat (excuse the pun). I started doing Bikram in NYC in summer 2007 because I had plenty of time to spare, the studio was within walking distance from where I was staying in the Village, I was missing my regular ashtanga class practice, I could not find an ashtanga class of my liking and the Bikram studio had an introductory offer of just $23 , unlimited classes everyday for 30 days. I signed up and it was love/hate at first class. I hated the fact that when I walked into the studio all I could do was lie on my mat, unable to move in that heat. And I prided myself in being a yoga adept! That was such a blow, I felt quite humiliated. I was determined to succeed and went back every day, learning the trick of drinking as much water as possible. After a while my body showed the beneficial effects of practising and my ribcage expanded. The heat and the sweat were great for my complexion. This far outweighed the discomfort of being in a sauna like environment for 90 minutes.
Back in London my ashtanga yoga classes did not appeal to me anymore, the approach was different, so I traded five years of ashtanga (which caused me a severe tear in my left hamstring, as I launched into a side split pushing too hard) for a yearly membership at a local Bikram yoga studio. Just like that.
I began the routine of going to class, sweating, getting rashes all over my body because of the heat and learning to fight the urge to get out half way through the class because I could not bear the crowded studio and the unbelievable heat. But I am the kind of person that takes on challenges, so I made myself stick to it, till I actually began to like the heat and bear the smell of sweating bodies. For months I went some three, occasionally even four times a week to the studio for practice. Bikram yoga cannot be done at home unless you build a proper studio for it, you really need the heat. Few people have the space and resources for their own personal Bikram studio and you need an instructor. So for regular practice you have to make time to go to class.
You have to understand that it all requires very careful planning. You need to take into account that practice is for 90 minutes and then you need to shower and change - a must after all that sweating - so you need to budget three hours to allow for all this plus travel within London which takes ages, transportation being such a problem. I was always calculating how far I was from the studio and when I could get away from whatever I was doing and whoever I was meeting to get there for practice. As soon as I woke up my first thought was: what class can I attend today? And I would have a quick look at the studio's schedule. Sometimes I would cancel meetings or social events in order to go to my yoga practice. At times it felt like a prison sentence - I must go to class was all I could think of and it weighed heavily on me.
In my second year my love affair with Bikram was still in full swing. I even did the thirty day Challenge (one class everyday) during the summer of 2009. I felt good at the end of it but very, very tired. I never repeated the Challenge, I just thought that it was a bit too much for me.
After the Challenge I began to slacken. I entered my third year and began to get bored. Class was always the same and I found myself performing the poses automatically and my mind was often elsewhere. Now that is a sign that things are not working at all, if you do yoga and you are thinking about what you are going to have for dinner, something is SERIOUSLY wrong. I began to make excuses to myself for not going and ended up attending only four times over a period of two months. I was a yearly member, in principle I could do two classes a day everyday and it would not cost me any extra money. I was wasting my membership. The feeling of guilt was unbelievable. But I just could not go, the very thought of going to class filled me with dread.
When it gets to this point you know you need a change. I decided not to renew my membership straightaway - I need a break I told the receptionist who immediately asked me with great concern "Have you tried the advanced class? Maybe that will help". Oh, the advanced class. It's by invitation only but I managed to get myself invited. I tried it. No way. First you have to do an ordinary 90 mins class then you do another 90 mins class with advanced poses. I was dead by the end of the first 10 mins into the advanced class and ended up with a sore neck because something went wrong when I attempted the second headstand (there are two types of headstands). And who's got 180 minutes to spare on a weekday?
So I did no yoga for five weeks. I felt uncomfortable, kept on thinking I should have been in class and this time I had no routine to practise at home. My body started aching, and I just knew I needed to go back. That intense stretching, someone coming to realign you when you need it, my body was screaming for it. I just had to go. But not Bikram.
I went to a different studio, was again lured by a special offer, £10 for ten days unlimited class attendance and I began the merry go round of trial classes. New place, new teachers. It's very exhilarating. First I tried Kundalini. How different. I had to work on my breath and never realised how bad it had got, I could not sustain a simple breath retention - obviously I had not practised correctly the breathing I was supposed to do in Bikram class, how come I' d never noticed? By the end of the class I was knackered. I went back the following day for Dynamic yoga which turned out to be a jazzed up version of ashtanga, so there I was doing again stuff I had not touched since 2007. Yoga is basically the same but the way you get into a pose varies according to the school you follow and there are certain differences which are quite important e.g in ashtanga you bend forward keeping a soft knee, in Bikram you lock your knee all the time. Also the asana sequence changes. In Dynamic you speed things up.
I have not yet completed the ten days trial. There is Jivamukti yoga to try - a girl told me last night in the changing room that it is even harder than Dynamic. And there's a couple more classess with odd names which I would like to check out.
But I am missing Bikram already. The thing is, deep down, I love the no-nonsense approach. Bikram is scientific, precise and bloody hard. I will go back of course. Just enjoying a change in routine. I have already decided that when I finally renew my membership I will enroll for the advanced class, I have heard there is a new one on Saturdays. Time to learn to practise for 180 mins in the heat!
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