Decoy Savasanas

Went to Candlelight Restorative Yoga yesterday and went to Hot Yoga today. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum.

When I went to my first hot yoga class last Saturday, I knew the basics: take two towels and water. I also knew not to wear anything that would become transparent.

Crystal via Patti also advised not to eat too big of a breakfast.

What I didn't know was the other stuff so I was surprised when the instructor told us to make sure that we could see our forehead in the mirror and, when he monitors the room, he makes sure that you are gazing in that direction. I read this after the first class on Yoga Spy's blog:

I do Iyengar yoga, not Bikram yoga, which involves looking at one’s mirror image while doing asana.

Jeremy a.k.a. The Yoga Nazi doesn't usually teach on Thursdays but, as I entered the room, Patti whispered to me that that Jeremy would be the teacher.

I put my mat near the back and near Patti. Looked at Patti and got tickled. Luckily, I made it through the giggle phase because there was really nowhere else to go with my mat. When Jeremy came in the room, he moved people around and I ended up back near the front again. Oh well...

As you might have heard, I'm the hard one. That's what Jeremy said before he laid down the law:

Water breaks between poses, no looking around, no closed eyes and no leaving the room. If you think you need to leave the room, raise your hand and I will have a discussion with you about it. If you get tired or cannot do a pose, stand in Tadsana (Mountain Pose) or kneel in Vajrasana (Sitting Pose). No fidgeting. If you absolutely have to wipe sweat off because it's about to roll in your eye, do it...

I felt like the heat didn't bother me as much this time but I also felt more worn out. Jeremy had us doing yogic sit-ups then planks. We kept going from our backs to our stomachs and there were a couple of fake savasanas thrown in.

When we finally got around to the real savasana, Jeremy actually said Namaste before he left the room.

During Downward Facing Dog, Jeremy said that I our feet should be hip width apart and that our hands should be shoulder width apart. He came over to me and said Your hips are not that big. Guess my delusions of grandeur kicked in again...