Sweating it out

All I could think was that I didn't even know my ears could sweat. Every time I raised my arms, I thought I might faint. I was surrounded by about 30 half-naked strangers, all dripping with sweat in what felt as hot as the eighth circle of hell: my first experience of bikram yoga.

Let me back up for a second and explain why I'm talking about yoga on my running blog. It all started when I realized that this winter weather is severely cramping my running style. I still have the drive and want to go out for my runs, but it does become a bit dangerous after heavy snows, when there are no shoulders on the roads and I spend most of my run playing Frogger and just trying not to get run over.

A couple weeks ago, I was interviewing Mike Walsh, a personal trainer from Brookline, for a freelance story I was working on, and he asked me if I was an athlete. I told him I was a runner, and we got to talking about having to give up a training schedule during these brutal winters. I asked him what people should do during these long New England winters if they traditionally do a sport that's outdoors.

"It's a good time to do something else," he told me. "Use it as a chance to break away from your mode and to become a more well-rounded athlete."

A few days later, my cousin came over and happened to mention that she had been trying out a couple of yoga studios and had been to a heated class that weekend, where the teacher had lit candles all around the room for atmosphere. It occurred to me that this fell under the category of trying new things to get through the winter, so I thought I should give it a shot.

So yesterday afternoon, I found myself at Mystic Fitness Studio in Framingham, Mass. It's a small place in the back of one of the clusters of plazas off Route 9--something I never would have noticed on my own. We took off our shoes at the door, and the receptionist had us sign a waiver and asked us if we'd eaten anything in the past couple of hours, which made me nervous. I didn't ask what the worrywas, I think I understand after I entered that room.

No candles in this bikram class, but there was a dark-haired Ukranian woman clapping rhythmically and counting breaths as she paced around the room and helped us shape our bodies into the series of poses. It was about a hundred degrees and so humid I felt like I was drinking water every time she told us to take a deep breath. In the first couple minutes, I started getting panicky, thinking I'd suffocate before the 90 minutes was over, but my lungs seemed to adjust after a few poses so I didn't get the same drowning sensation.

All in all, it was certainly different from any yoga practice I've experienced before, in style and in atmosphere--and I'm not just talking about the sweaty ears. Where other yoga focuses on flow and connecting movements, this had longer poses that were a bit more disjointed and required a bit of a rest in between. The instructor was loud and kept us focused on the way our bodies were moving, rather than playing music and creating that reverie that I typically associate with relaxing yoga experience.

It was intense, to say the least. That's the only way to describe it. Just when I thought my body couldn't push any further, we would take a few second rest and then try again.

And that second chance turned out to be what I loved about it. I expected the repetition to be monotonous, and every time she'd say "second set" after a really trying pose, my stomach would turn over in dismay. But my muscles are extremely tight and inflexible by nature, so I was shocked when we'd come back for a second try and I had really found my mode in the pose.

At the end, we were all lying on our backs, and I had my knees bent because my low back was bothering me--I threw it out a couple months ago and have had trouble with it ever since. The instructor came over and quietly asked if I was having low back pain, and when I nodded, she had me pull my knees up to my chest and slowly guided my legs in a circular motion, providing a bit of pressure to stretch out my back.

And guess what? The pain went away, and hasn't been back all today. I felt clear, limber and focused all day. And I was able to resist the temptation to have an after-lunch cookie... maybe not related, but I'd like to think so.

Look at me--I'm officially a yoga convert.