In my morning Bikram Yoga classes a handful of people usually leave early — some after the standing series and some about 15 minutes before class ends. Hey, I get it — 90 minutes plus shower and travel time is a lot in the morning, especially if you need to be at work at a particular time. Teachers at my studio do not seem to mind — too much — and I often hear them say that some class is better than no class. But is that really true?
Does your yoga practice help you deal with a physical disability or other health issue? Mine does. I have a moderate hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). It can be very frustrating and physically exhausting. When the tinnitus really flares up, it can be quite debilitating, making it hard to think, and my balance can suffer. It can sometimes lead to feelings of vertigo or extreme dizziness.
But through it all, I turn to my Bikram yoga practice for routine, for solace and for strength. I recommend yoga and meditation to all my friends with hearing loss as a way to deal with the frustration, but also to give the body and mind the strength it needs to survive and thrive despite the challenges we face every day. I think this is the case for many people battling physical ailments and infirmities.
How time flies when you are having fun — and doing yoga — and writing about it. Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary for Hot Off The Mat. It has been an incredible year of sharing my experiences both on and off the mat with you. Thank you to all of my readers for your support, likes, comments and just for reading. It is a wonderful community for me, and I hope also for you.
This week, click through to enjoy some of the most popular posts on Hot Off The Mat this past year. Enjoy and Namaste!
I am new to meditation, but as my regular readers know, I am working to incorporate it into my daily life. So when I had the opportunity to meditate with Buddhist monks at a Zen Center in Colorado for a week this summer as part of a yoga retreat, I jumped at the chance. It took me 11 hours to get to the Zen Center from NYC, and the meditation practice began with a wake-up bell at 4:30 am, but the experience was amazing! And most importantly, since I returned, I have been meditating every morning. I hope that I can keep it up.
Teachers often talk about how one posture drives the next in the Bikram series, and even that some of the postures we do later in class set us up for the earlier parts of class the following day. I always understood that there was a flow within the class itself. For example, Camel comes alongside Rabbit so that the spine can work in both directions and Standing Head to Knee comes first after the warm-up so that the locked knee is firmly in place before other balancing postures are attempted. But I wasn’t always sure how the postures of one class set you up for the following day — until recently with Standing Head To Knee Pose.
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