I admit it.  I am a germaphobe.  My friends and family laugh as I Purell myself after riding on the bus, or after shaking hands with too many strangers, or after being near anyone with a cold.  But at Bikram, for whatever reason, it is ok — the bodies packed together, someone else’s sweat dripping onto my mat, even the occasional arm bump during full locust pose — all ok. Maybe it is the calmness I feel in class that gives me the clarity to handle the germs.  Maybe I am so sweaty anyway, it just doesn’t matter.  Maybe it is just out of necessity. Whatever it is, the class frees me from this phobia for the 90 minutes of practice.  I feel centered and focused on other things such that the germs become less of an issue.  I am grateful for that.

Today during class, the instructor walked on my yoga mat several times.  Not around my mat, not grazing my mat, but on my mat with both of his feet!  This was during standing series of course.  I almost laughed out loud realizing that I had been envisioning a blog post on practicing as a germaphobe and here I was faced with it head on (or foot on!).  I am happy to say that I was able to shrug it off and continue my practice.  In fact, it was a really uplifting class for me today.

In the interest of full disclosure – I do still wear socks in the studio unless I am on my mat.  And I really do hate to touch other yogi’s feet during the sit-ups.  So, I guess my yoga practice hasn’t cured me of my germaphobia entirely… but I am making progress.

Do you worry about germs in class?

Do you find Monday classes to be more difficult? I often do. My practice is usually limited to weekdays with my weekends filled with other activities (i.e. kids’ activities, errands, hiking, golf).  In my mind, I look forward to returning to Bikram on Mondays, but my body sometimes betrays me.  At the start of class I feel unusually stiff, creaky, and tight.  I take it slow, breathing deeply in the initial breathing exercise, letting the yoga do its magic to relax the body and work out the kinks from the weekend.

This Monday was no different.  I had played golf over the weekend so I was perhaps a little more sore than usual, especially in my lower back.  The breathing exercise helped, but I still felt tight heading into all four parts of half moon.  Second set was noticeably better. It took the full warmup to loosen things up, but the yoga worked its magic and my body was righting itself.

One of the my favorite things about Bikram yoga is that the sequence is the same every time.  It doesn’t matter the day of the week, the teacher, the geographic location – the class is that same.  I find this very reassuring, especially on days where I am stiffer than normal heading to class.  I trust the yoga and the experience, knowing that that while my body feels one way now, it will feel better by the end of class.  I can’t wait until Tuesday.

Does your practice change depending on the day of the week?