Hot Yoga and I

Hot Yoga and I

The $6 promo class begins at 8:30 pm and it’s on a first come first serve basis. I just got home from work and quickly shoved a tee, towel and shorts into my bag accompanied by my trustee water bottle. My girlfriend was outside and we proceeded to pick up another buddy who wanted to try hot yoga as well. As we stormed through traffic we finally found the alienated spot where hot yoga takes place. We enter the facility just in time, took our shoes off in the front and stormed into the change room where we were hurried by one of the employees. I slapped on my tee and shorts and noticed my buddies sweat pants and tee, what a grave mistake he made. We grabbed our mats and continued inside to the hot room and as we opened the door to a much dimmed out room the floor was filled with people lying down in rows of 4-5 which had at least 10 people in each row. We quietly stumbled across the floor, tip toeing trying not to step on anyone I noticed my girl friend already settled in and thought to myself that was probably a record time for a girl coming out the change room. My buddy and I found the last two spots in front of the mirror and lied down on our mats. 

I closed my eyes and began to accept the peaceful environment; the room was at a perfect temperature compared to the snow reddened outdoors. My breathing was now in a pattern and I had come to peace with my mind but that was all stolen from me as the instructor began the session. We started out with some basic stretches, hands to feet, a little arm movement and semi rotating the neck. I thought to myself this was pretty easy for someone who had no idea of what to expect but how wrong I was in the next 45 minutes or so. The instructor gave us a brief introductory and what to expect, she wasn’t really demanding and was very chills which was really cool eliminating any sort of pressure I had. We began with stretching our arms and maintaining a steady breathing pattern, I took my glasses off and couldn’t really see so I glanced into the mirror and over my shoulders to check what other people were doing and tried to mimic. Halfway in the session I clearly realized the modifications I have implemented on each of the stances and was a little embarrassed but managed to hold it on down with some corrections from the instructor. I also realized the amount of sweat that was pouring out of my face and body, I was literally raining on the mat throughout the night. It began to get a little more intense as we entered the second half and before I knew it, it turned into a boot camp where we were laid down on all fours and got right back up with one foot sticking up or something continuously, the whole night was connecting the oddest body parts to another.

After the intensity is over, the instructor would ask us to lay down again to recuperate and with the soothing experimental music playing in the background I must say it is then when I became one with myself, feeling everything from head to toe. Albeit the sweat, and the smell of alcohol from my sweat it was the best detox, it was perfect. Before we knew it, an hour and a half had passed and the session was over. As everyone stumbled out I found my buddy who was now shirtless and sweaty as fuck which almost reminds me of the time we saw Fake Blood and in fact this actually was the closest thing I could compare it with…a less intense version of a rave.

At last, a breath of fresh air and my body all relaxed and renewed but most importantly my lungs felt solid so I rewarded myself by smoking a cigarette. Overall hot yoga was quite enjoying and universal, being as late as we were we still managed to hack out the entire session without fleeing the scene, but a man my size  is definitely unnecessary for me to sweat as much as I did on a regular basis. However the night was still young and after the shower we went to my buddies and drank some good old scotch, so much for the detox.

-Calvin Tong