lee

I am quite overweight and have been practicing yoga since May, however lately haven’t been able to go regularly because of work.

During standing series my heart rate gets high early in the class, Awkward Pose usually and I have to lay down. If I push myself past that I have a bad class because I can’t get my heart to slow much. I have learned to rest before my heart rate gets too high. I know it’s because I am out of shape and eventually I will get better and do more, right?

The thing is, no one else is like me. Even the new people can do the entire class with out a break. Sometimes I only do one set of each posture or skip some altogether. I feel like I will never get any better and I feel like other people notice and judge me, I’m sort of embarrassed. It makes it hard to stay motivated to go to class even though I love how it makes me feel.

Do you guys have people in class like me? Or are any of you like me?

I started off exactly like you, and still am to a certain extent. Awkward Pose can really get to me as well but then there are days it is fine. Yes, you will eventually be able to do more. I was literally 3-4 inches from being able to even reach my knee or foot in any pose when I started. I still remember the day I got my arms just onto the towel, never mind underneath me in half-locust. All of that has continued to improve dramatically. One suggestion I’ll offer is focus on your breathing. If you start breathing through your mouth it will drive your heart rate up as that interacts with the body’s fight/flight nervous system response. Also holding your breath, which if I’m not careful I’ll do in Half-moon and Awkward, will make your heart speed up. So keep breathing and breathing through the nose.

I’ve also seen MANY people who looked very fit struggle greatly in the first classes. I’ve also seen many people, myself included and even teachers, with regular practices have days when they had to rest. Everyone comes in each day with a body and brain that will be unique for them that day. What happens, happens. It isn’t good or bad, it just is. As long as you are putting forth your best effort at that moment to do what you can correctly you will be getting 100% of the benefits.

Don’t worry too much about the other people. They are probably WAY too focused on their own practices and issues to be judging yours. If anything it has been my experience that the more truly proficient yogis recognize and admire your struggle and determination.

Is your doctor recommending you get regular aerobic exercise? Has he specifically restricted your activities in some way? I would ask about heat but perhaps in a more general way so he or she can relate to it. Would it be ok to push a lawn mower in the yard on a hot, sunny afternoon?

My experience is that most doctors have no concept of what Bikram or hot yoga is. My cardiologist can’t wrap his head around the idea that yoga can be aerobic. With my blood pressure and other blood work now in the ideal range and having lost about 100 pounds doing Bikram yoga, he still wants me to take a walks a few times a week.

Remember also you are always in control during your yoga class including how hard you work your heart.

Take Care,
Lee

The heat assists your muscles in warming up making them easier to stretch. So you may not find the same depth of pose. On the other hand, you won’t be working against the heat, so the poses may be easier.

I’ve done the full 26 & 2 sequence while traveling many times and Freiamaya is right on track. Pay attention to what your body is telling you. I find the shifting in balance between strength and flexibility quite interesting.

Lee

Maybe you need more time between eating and class. If I ate 2 hours before practicing I don’t think I would make it to after class before throwing up. For me 4 hours is about a minimum and 5 or more is better. You might also consider what you are eating. For some reason apples and bananas don’t sit well with me before class but oranges do. As a Personal Trainer friend likes to say, “It’s your body and your science experiment”.

Lee

You might consider weighing yourself before and after class. In my case I generally sweat out about 4 pounds. With water weighing in at 8 pounds per gallon, that tells me I need to drink an additional 2 quarts on the days I do yoga.

Lee

How Yoga Works by Geshe Michael Roach and Christie McNally

Meditations from the Mat by Rolf Gats and Katrina Kenison

The Divided Mind by Dr. John Sarno

Take Care,
Lee

Kia Ora everyone,
I have a question – for the first perhaps… 3-4 postures I feel absolutely exhausted! Is that normal? Something to do with the heat, or what I eat? I normally go to class in the morning, 9.30/10am and eat breakfast about 2-3 hours before I go. It makes me really self-conscious standing there and yawning, 😆

Welcome to the practice. It really does amazing things. For the exhaustion, I suggest paying close attention to your breath. I find that at the start unless I pay particular attention it is very easy to lapse into holding my breath during a posture. By the time they call the water break not breathing is no longer an option so it takes care of itself even if I don’t intentionally. Gabrielle also has a great video on breathing here on the web site. Her suggestions really added a lot of energy to my classes.

Enjoy,
Lee

Due to work schedule and other commitment, I can only commit to do once or twice a week (Sat & Sun and/or stat holiday) at best. Am I still going to see result or is it a waste of time and might as well not doing it. I am thinking of doing back to back class or even a morning class follow by an hour or two break and then an afternoon class. That will be three classes in two days.

I think any yoga is better than none. Also consider that once you know the postures you can do some on your own even when you can’t make the class. Some days I run through one set of each in about 30 minutes.

Does keeping the stomach tight while doing pose really help to burn the fat in the tummy and work the abs? I have yet to understand the benefit of the breathing exercise. What does it do or has anything to do with flatten the tummy/burn fat around that section?

First off, spot reducing is a myth. However, keeping the belly in does help strengthen those muscles. That can help with your posture and make you look better. It also helps expand the lungs and for me helps release tension in my lower back.

Does it make a difference between doing the first morning class or last evening class? I mean doing it in the morning means you haven’t eat anything heavy yet so you are using stored fat for energy. If I take the evening class, I’ll be burning calories from the food I eat during the day. That means I am no burning stored fat. Is this concept correct?

My experience is that fat loss is more a result of the total daily balance of energy in (food) and out. Each class time has benefits. Morning classes make me more aware of my body throughout the day. Evening classes make me think about what I’m about to eat and how it will feel later. Both tend to result in better eating choices. You’ll also notice a difference balance between strength and flexibility between morning and evening. The best class time is the one you can get to.

Take Care,
Lee

My point of contention is that when I started I remember thinking “well if all these poses haven’t even started yet, I must be wasting my time in this impossibly hot room”. Fortunately about the second or third class an instructor clarified that the benefits were still coming as long as you were honestly trying the right way.

Lee

As for ‘toxins removed from the body’. I really DON’T like to subscribe to that theory. The whole idea that everyone is filled with toxins that you have to do something special to remove is to me totally ludicrous.

I agree, as you said elsewhere, when did the by-products of normal metabolism become toxins? A good example is the recent article about how taking anti-oxidant supplements can counteract the benefits of exercise.

Vitamins Found to Curb Exercise Benefits

As with most things it is all about balance. In the right amounts, reactive oxygen compounds seem to act as a signal our body needs to adapt and improve. I’m a systems engineering type. I think we are often lead astray by too often looking at one thing in isolation [a good scientific and research technique] but then applying it in a hugely interactive system like our bodies without giving much consideration to the larger system or whether we have a clue what all the interdependencies are.

Take Care,
Lee

My son Mark is 17 now and was 16 during the championship in February this year. He began practicing shortly before turning 16. At this point he does not plan to compete again. He “just wants to do the yoga” which is fine. BTW there’s a nice interview with David, the boy who won and his mother/coach online at http://www.yogacup.com

Mark was having a lot of knee trouble which we’d been told would probably require surgery (at 15, yikes!). Knowing Bikram’s knee story, several teachers who’d had knee issues and how this yoga healed my back and sciatic pain, I got him to give it a try. After about 8 weeks I asked how his knee was and he realized he’d completely forgotten about what had been almost constant pain. The transformation from stiff to limber and strong he went through that first year was amazing.

Lee

I run my yoga stuff through a rinse cycle with baking soda first. Then a full wash cycle with baking soda, soap and whatever other cloths need doing.

Another side benefit of hot yoga, I stay caught up on laundry.

Take Care,
lee