The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › General Hot Yoga Discussion › Hot Yoga *faq* › Anxiety
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I just had the worst class ever. I feel so much anxiety after (and actually also a bit during). Normally I can get it in camel but it usually goes away.
I deal with a lot of anxiety and when I get it i cannot feel my arm and legs (right) I am also very sensitive to sounds, it is so uncomfortable to be in this.
I am new to bikram but i really like it. I also tried a meditation course but had to stop it because I got so much anxiety during the meditations. Every little noise freaked me out.
I am so afraid that this is the same is happening right now. What should I do?
Hi Mette
You are obviously quite upset about your experience. I want to make sure that we are on the same wavelength, so I don’t want to make any assumptions.
Can you please answer some questions for me?
>> How many classes have you gone to (and over what period of time)?
>> If releveant: How many per week?
>> Are you able to say what poses you could be feeling more anxious in?
>> Which poses do you not feel any anxiety in?
>> What poses are you unable to feel your arm and leg?
>> Did you mean it is on the right side that you cannot feel your arm and leg?
>> Which poses seem to make you more hypersensitive to sound?For the moment Metta, please try to avoid making comparisons between your meditation and yoga experiences. I think we’re going to get to a place where you see that they are very different for many reasons. I look forward to reading your responses to the above questions and anything else you feel is relevant to recount.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Dear Gabrielle,
1) First time of Bikram yoga was 3 years ago. I just started for about 3 weeks ago and been going for about 10 times.
3) It starts in the lying poses. Standing series are no problem.
3) It is when I get anxiety (just in normal everyday life) I have difficulty feeling my arm and leg. At least some weakness or some muscle tension.
4) And the same with sounds. When I feel the anxiety I start to get afraid of noises.Hope you can help 😉
Hi Mette,
I hope it’s okay that I weigh in on this. It’s interesting that you said you deal with anxiety outside of bikram, and that you encounter the same symptoms (lack of feeling in right arm/leg and noise sensitivity). Are there any consistent triggers between what prompts this in the situations outside of class and the floor positions? Is it quiet situations for example?
Assuming you haven’t already I would really recommend speaking to a professional about this – if it is happening a lot I imagine it would be really frightening and disruptive to your life!
In terms of anxiety, exposure therapy (with Cognitive Behaviour Therapy)is the treatment of choice so depending on your individual circumstances the best thing to do may be to keep doing the yoga – the more experience you have of being okay the easier it will become. It sounds like that class was horrible. The good news is you got through it. If/when it happens again in class, bring your attention back to your breathing and focus on that above everything else, even if that means you just lie there breathing, that is great (hope that is okay from a yoga perspective Gabrielle?).
I hope things start to improve for you soon. Great work on the 10 classes – that’s where I’m up to also!
Hello Mette and Jillian
Thank heaven for you Jillian! 8-/ How terrible that you Mette, got back to me straight away and then I did not respond. I had a few days back then where I was unable to post (technical glitches).
The most important thing is to know how you’re feeling right now.
Jillian, you are on the money. And you appear to have some knowledge/experience in the right places. So thank you for chiming in.
I also believe that if you, Mette, can learn to deal with the anxiety in the hot room, knowing that the environment is a safe one, you will develop the coping mechanisms to dealing with the anxiety ‘out there’.
If you’ve been keeping up your practice in the last month, you may have started to notice that the triggers are less ‘hot’. Perhaps you’ve noticed (or will notice) that sometimes what would normally trigger the feelings doesn’t work and other times it does. As Jillian suggests, the work with the breath is a big factor.
It is interesting that the anxious feelings only happen on the floor. I wonder whether that is because your coping mechanisms have a certain time limit (allowing you to get only so far in class). Or it could be a physiological trigger that has something to do with body position and or contact on the floor.
What are your thoughts or experiences considering the latest posts and the long time since you posted your responses?
My radar is out for your answer.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Just as an aside, I’ve felt like I was about to have a panic attack and that the room was closing in on me when I’ve been in floor series.
I would say this happens on average every few months and I also think it has to do with how much stress I’m going through during the particular time, sleep and hydration levels.
If I sit out I’m fine by the time I leave and usually for the next class.
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