this is how stretching keeps you young

Truth be told, I started my first yoga lesson without researching about it. It’s more popularly known as Bikram yoga. 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises every single class for 90 minutes in a 105°F room. I didn’t want to give myself a chance to chicken out so I went, signed up for a 1-year unlimited pass and I showed up at the studio for my practice 5 times a week. I made up my mind to commit, and I did.

At that time, I wasn’t lifting weights or running, and it was the lowest entry workout for me being in so much pain. I didn’t even need fitness shoes! Just bare feet and all. In the beginning, I really had this idea that yoga was about doing “poses” to form a certain shape with our bodies. Boy, was I wrong. Making it happen in a hundred different ways was just so you wouldn’t get bored.

I guess even the ancient gurus knew that. These were picked from basic hatha yoga series but it made it 10 times harder when you’re in a hot room. But I’m glad I started there, it helped me transition into yoga beautifully. I personally prefer not to do it in an air-conditioned room as much as possible. Even though most regular yoga classes do so. Unless it was an outdoor event under the sun.

I found out Gurus used to assign certain yoga postures like a doctor’s prescription to target certain pains and diseases in the body. Especially if you’ve got a tendon or ligament issue, it can be “fixed” with yoga. But you have to do it. Now, I don’t do 5 days a week for almost 2 hours each session anymore. It’s just a…