Bikram Yoga

Firstly, I have just begun to attend Bikram yoga classes. We go once a week to the TGIF (Thank Ganesh it's Friday), in Kapa'a. Typically a Bikram class can run from 12$ to 18$ for one session, however on TGIF it's only 5$. Perfect for the humble wwoofer. It's brand new and has been opened by two sisters from the mainland, it has a great vibe and I have really been enjoying the heat and sweat. I would say I lose about 6 pounds in sweat during a 90 min. class. Some may be alarmed by this, but you gain all the weight back in water over the next 24 hours. Having all your pores open up and all your sweat glands working can really invigorate your skin and detoxify your system. I always feel incredibly energetic/light headed/giddy/fantastic from these classes. After only three classes I can feel and see the difference in my flexibility in my hip flexors and especially my hamstrings and groin. Being a tall guy, all these areas are susceptible to being very tight and unflexible, so it feels great to work on those areas.

So for those of you who don't know Bikram, it's known for it's rigorously scheduled and strict methods. There is no talking in class, you are only allowed to drink water at certain points, and it is a fast paced and intense workout. The final key to the puzzle being that Bikram Yoga is practiced in a room heated to 45C. Add on top of that 15-20 people sweating for 90 minutes and the humidity can be unbelievable at times. It is this that makes the gains so incredible. When working your muscles in such a hot environment you can't help but feel supple and loose. It would be compared to the 20 min. dynamic warmup I would perform before a game in Volleyball. You need to warm up the body, and a 45C degree room will definately do that...

So, we're mid class...only the teacher speaks and all the students are changing postures only when she says so. It is a focused environment and there is never a distraction. You listen to your teacher as she takes you through the class, and you focus on yourself that is it. So you can imagine my surprise when Graham starts to whisper my name in SuptaVirasana. Now, this is so uncommon, I think I'm dizzy from the heat and ignore him. But there it is again, Alex Alex!!! Now I'm a bit annoyed, not only is he breaking the energy in the room, he's pointing it at me. I know I'm not all they way down in this posture but that's the limit of my body, so I'm getting annoyed that he is bringing attention to this...I ignore him again....

ALEX ALEX ALEX!! Now the whole class has stopped the teacher is silent and staring at Graham, I finally come up out of my pose and look at Graham and he says..."There's a bug under your knee". Now I'm really upset, a little bug is not a big problem and I shrug it off and look at him incredulously....but he keeps pointing under my knee and I finally get out of the posture fully and look down....CENTIPEDE!!!!!

Now, on Kauai there is almost nothing that can hurt you. No spiders, no snakes, nothing. It's a beautiful place, but it does lack in wildlife, hence the price to pay for living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. However, we do have the fabled centipede. Which as you can see can reach 4-6 inches, and they have an incredibly painful bite. Some are even quite afraid of them ie: our teacher from Utah who just moved here and has never seen one. She starts to scream oh my god oh my god what do we do!!!! Hahahaha the whole class is disrupted people are getting up and moving away from me and yelling to get it out!!! get it out!!!! All in all it was quite the 5 minute scene as we attempted to remove this centipede from the studio. In the end we did manage to get rid of it and I was finally able to understand why Graham was saying my name out loud in class.

Morale of the story...funny things happen on Friday the 13th..

WW

PS: after the class we all laughed about the situation but mostly about how calm Graham was to begin with, I mean I was practically laying on the centipede for a whole minute as it twisted in and out between my knees, and all he could muster was a hushed whisper..."Alex there's a bug under you". I mean geez, I could have been bitten....hahahaha