The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › Member’s Meeting Place › Member Chit Chat › Feeling stress/pressure to go to class
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › Member’s Meeting Place › Member Chit Chat › Feeling stress/pressure to go to class
-
AuthorPosts
-
Hi!
I was hoping someone might have some thoughts on expectations for getting to Bikram/ managing self-driven pressure/fatigue.
I am an A type personality and someone who has always put a huge amount of pressure on myself to achieve, probably to the detriment of my health. I had ross river virus last year and am still feeling really tired from it. This fatigue is definitely worse due to chronic stress/anxiety.
I joined Bikram a few weeks ago to try to cope with the chronic fatigue and general “stress head”/ mood issues. I got really excited and read a lot about Bikram, read the book “hell bent” and have Gabrielle’s books coming in the mail.
A lot of what I read says to go to bikram as much as possible, at least 4-5 times a week and every day if possible. Lately I am finding it hard to get to class more than 3 times a week. I work very long hours and find that I am too exhausted to get up for a 6am class. The time factor for Bikram is a big one! I feel constantly rushed and under pressure.
Now I am finding that I am stressing and feeling like a failure for not getting to class every day, and the Bikram experience is becoming another source of stress. Once I’m there I feel good – I try as much as possible just to concentrate on my breathing and the dialogue and forget about work/home stresses. It’s just the getting there, and feeling guilty when I don’t. I feel like going 2 or 3 times a week isn’t good enough. I’m worried I will quit because I feel like I’m failing already.
I’m feeling exhausted all of the time. I thought the yoga would give me more energy but it seems to be making me more tired? I feel like feeling healthy and having energy will always be outside of my reach.
Any suggestions or thoughts are much appreciated. Thank you 🙂
Bikram yoga does seem to attract the Type A personalities! I am not one of them (although I have all the books too), but I can see the attraction if you are someone so driven. You have identified that you are feeling more tired, and already came into this practice with chronic fatigue. Personally, I think it is more important that you listen to your body and gauge your practice accordingly than worry about how many times you show up.
I usually practice twice per week. This is less than I would like, but as you mention, this yoga is a huge time commitment, and I simply can’t do more than twice per week on a regular basis. Even so, I feel like I have appreciated many benefits even with this frequency of practice.
I took a posture clinic about a year ago with a well known Bikram personality. Someone said in his class “If you want to get better at this, you have to come at least five times per week.” He considered this and said, simply, “Well….you come if you want to come. Not because you have to.” He further said (to my surprise), “You could come once per week and still get something out it.” This was contrary to what I had heard, but it was nice to hear. No pressure, you come if you want to come. Period.
There may be other things you can focus on to help with the fatigue (I’m guessing someone will chime in on this soon), but ultimately you need to decide what is giving YOU the most benefit. Don’t beat yourself up about it, just take each class when you can, with an open mind.
One last point and then I’ll shut up! For me, I have found that I truly need to take each class separately, without expectations. And I need to find the right balance of pushing myself and not overdoing it. This is harder than it sounds! Because my body (and mind) is not the same day to day. If I push too hard, I end up having trouble making it through class. BUT, if I back off too much, I find my body (and mind) kind of giving up and I feel like I have even less energy. So I try to stay engaged and do the best I can without exhausting myself. My goal in class went from one of performance/achievement to a simple goal of achieving stillness. Only its not so simple!
Hope this helps…..one thing I have learned from doing this yoga is that it is not a competition, even with yourself. Letting go of that was truly hard for me.
Namaste!
-Kristin
Hello Jillian and Kristin
Thank you so much Kristin. You make my life easier! 😀 hehe
So I would also like to add a couple of points:
Jillian, what you are experiencing is very similar to so many other yogis. There is the notion that one should go EVERY day. That is not feasible. It’s not smart either. One has to be easier on oneself. I believe very strongly that your body needs rest from the yoga. Just as it does from every other pursuit. I believe that people CAN go everyday. But the obligation to go everyday should never, ever be there.
If you hunt around the forum you’ll find we have talked about 60 day bikram yoga challenges at length. Even Bikram mentions to take a day off every week. But somehow 60 day challenges have become gladiatorial accomplishments where one goes every day without fail. No excuses. And furthermore, if you miss a class you have to double up. Yikes.
My belief is that a 60 day challenge is great and achievable with 6 classes per week. It allows for a day where you cannot get to class even if you had planned to. Life happens. 😉 Then on that seventh day you decide ON the day whether or not your BODY can handle it or whether it really needs rest. That way a student COULD find that they go every day, but they don’t feel obliged to go with some crazy compulsion that ignores the signs that so many students get during their 60-day-don’t-stop-til-you-drop challenges.
It won’t take long for you to find evidence of many who come here complaining of terrible fatigue, horrible pain and still they keep going.
Right! Why did I go to ALL that trouble recounting that when you are finding it hard to go more than 3 times per week? Because it’s really very similar. You are feeling the pressure to go. But it’s been based on the lore of Bikram yoga and the say-so of others. Partly!
Partly because you, me and thousands of others feel addicted to that wonderful feeling we get from practising yoga in the heat. It’s very compelling. It’s so compelling it can be guilt-inducing.
True story: I felt that way too. I was going 6-8 times per week and I was love, love, loving it. And I could not make it and sometimes felt oh so bad.
So guess what? I forced myself NOT TO GO. I decided I had to learn how to live with NOT going sometimes because I knew I wouldn’t always be able to.
It really was a wonderful lesson right from the early days of my practice.
If I could offer you additional advice to that which Kristin has graciously offered, it would be to a) find your way to turn off that switch in your head where you feel guilty. b) to recognise that if you have chronic fatigue issues, you must be even more vigilant to the signs of exhaustion, stress and body-weariness. Notice this and RESPOND to this whether it’s at home, at work or during class. At work it could be as simple as arms over head and stretching side to side with coordinated breathing to re-energise or just 5 minutes of meditation (you’ll find your formula). In class, it will be breathing, focus and also determining IN THE MOMENT without planning, if you need to skip a pose, or a set to regain your composure.
Learning to be in the moment is such a bandied about phrase. It is possible though by using your yoga, your body, your stress and your breathing to learn how.
2-3 times is a very decent practice if you listen to your body, and do the poses to the best of your ability. 7 times per week is lousy if the poses are poor and the aim is just to be in the room no matter what (and worse to push through pain and suffering and real body- or heat-exhaustion).
Do what your body and mind can handle. It is possible to beat chronic fatigue issues. You’re already learning how to navigate through. Now it’s about listening! Taking one day at a time. Each class as it comes. Each pose. Each breath. AND being OK with it. :cheese:
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂I struggle with this myself.
Last month, I completed a challenge and this month…..not so much.
I too have found that I enjoy class more when I’m not feeling forced to go there.
I also think it’s a good idea to find a # of classes per week that you feel you are getting a benefit from, as well as your money’s worth.
For me, I have found that’s about 3 classes per week.
Hi Jillian
Any news on the yoga front? Would love to hear how you’re going.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂 -
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.