Yogahhhhhhhhhhhhh

So, as my rest period comes to a close, I've come to appreciate yoga even more (I've been a fan for quite a while, but don't do it as much as I know that I should). During the last 3 weeks I've been doing a LOT of yoga - some workouts to video at home, some Hatha-style at work, PiYo - a blend of Pilates and Yoga (which I'm taking a class to become certified to teach in a few weeks!), and today, a Hot Power Yoga class. I've taken a power yoga class before and really enjoyed it - it's my preferred form of yoga to practice at home. But while I've heard of hot yoga (the room is heated to 95+ degrees), I hadn't had the chance to try it out. Today, I joined a friend at a local studio for the Hour of Power - an hour of challenging power yoga, in a room that felt like a sauna, packed with UBER hard core looking yoga peeps. Gulp.

It. Was. Awesome!!!!!!! I sweat from places that I didn't know had sweat glands. By mid-workout, I had a waterfall running off my shoulders onto my mat everytime we entered into Downward Facing Dog. My forearms were sweating. My ears were sweating. My shins were sweating. It was amazing!

I am totally this good. Totally.

The best part, of course, is the last 5 minutes when you lay back into "corpse pose" and clear your mind and relax. Just let everything go, and melt (in this class, that's almost literally true!) into your mat. Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. While I love this, I also struggle mightily with this portion of the class. You are supposed to TOTALLY clear your mind. Frankly, I don't even know what that means! What happens when you clear your mind? Can you really think about NOTHING? Aren't you in fact, still thinking? But just about nothing?

I try. I really do. I try my hardest to clear my mind, focus on my "third eye" and truly relax. This is how well I did today:

Aaaaaaaah. That was a great class. I feel amazing. I love this part. Relax. Clear the mind.
Right - this is where I focus on that "third eye" thing. Ha ha. I'd look funny with a third eye. Maybe it could be a different color? Green. I'd pick green for my third eye.
Stop it. This is serious. Focus. On nothing. And relax.
Ok, good. This is good.
Wow. I'm really sweaty. And I'm now lying in a literal pool of my own sweat right now. That's kind of gross. I think I'm the sweatiest person in the class. I wonder if the teacher noticed. I wonder if there is some kind of prize for sweating the most. I'll have to ask afterwards.
Don't be stupid. That would be totally un-yogaish. We aren't supposed to be competitive here.
But I was really good today. And the sweatiest. I definitely would place in my AG, if not OA, in class today. If they did that sort of thing, of course.
ACK! I'm not clearing my mind. Ok, focus on that eye and let everything else go.
Man, my mat is seriously wet. How am I going to roll this thing up after class? It's going to be disgusting! I'll have to clean it when I get home.
How do you clean a yoga mat? I can put it in the tub, I guess. Good god, when is the last time I cleaned the tub? Ok, I'll clean the tub first, then put my mat in there. Yeah. that'll work.
Wow! It's time to wiggle our fingers and toes already? That was GREAT!

Clearly, I need to work on this.

Tomorrow, the alarm will go off at 4:30 and I'll be on the bike by 5:00 for an hour. Then there is a short afternoon run. Back in my element!!!!!!! I can't wait!

But I will also keep up with my yoga, for I truly do believe that figuring out how to totally clear the mind is a good thing. In the meantime, I'll try not to giggle when I think about my pretty green third eye the next time I'm in Savasana.

Namaste, my friends.