Day 2: Friday 03/14
Time: 6:30pm/Instructor: Molly
I knew from the moment I woke up on Friday that it was just going to be an overall bad day. I was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open. I had a million errands to run and I just didn't want to do anything. Class that night was no better even though it is only technically day 2 of my challenge, it was actually my third straight day of class. And despite the fact that I've taken class with Molly many times and she has a light and funny teaching approach - every inch of me wanted to flee from that room, but I somehow didn't. Every single posture was a fight and my muscles were just in flat out rebellion. I truly don't know how I made it through the class, but the next thing I knew I was saying goodbye to Molly and she said "see you in the morning."
Oh what sweet hell was this? Oh, that's right, since I slept through the morning class and went to the night class it meant my next class was a mere 14 hours away. I got home and drank as much water as I could possibly stomach before going to bed, hoping it would be enough to rehydrate me before the next class. Which brings us to...
Day 3: Saturday 03/15
Time: 10am/Instructor: Kaitlin
I have never taken a Bikram class in the morning before - this is somewhat surprising since I usually prefer to work out in the AM. It was also the first time I was taking class with Kaitlin (more on that later) and the first time I had taken a class that started immediately after another one had let out and OMG did that make a difference. As I entered the room it was humid and sticky and the heat was almost insufferable at first. Usually when I take the PM classes, the room has had a chance to air out for several hours, but this was like the entering the seventh level of hell. How was I ever going to get through this?
And then I realized there was a woman laid out in front of me who had just finished class...and was about to do another right after. That is three straight hours of Bikram. That is insane. Well apparently not insane, it's known as a double and apparently it's not completely uncommon for people to complete them. However, just no. I could barely wrap my head around taking class again after a 14 hour break, but a half hour break? No. No. No. No. No. (Note: I did feel slightly better after I found out that the woman is actually one of the instructors I had never met before. Slightly.)
Speaking of instructors, I really like Kaitlin a lot. She has a much more direct "teaching" style rather than just "guiding" and she doesn't let anyone get away with anything. Your knee is slightly bent and your kicking out during standing-head-to-knee? Nope, she's calling you out. Your looking at the mirror instead up during bow (guilty as charged)...again she's letting you know. However, she still manages to come off approachable, friendly, and 100% on your side. She's also realistic - when she noticed many of us dropping like flies (see the insufferable heat above) - she opened the doors several times to regulate the room temperature and make sure we were practicing in a safe environment.
The class overall was so-so. I was not nearly as tired as I was the previous night and I'm making serious progress on my standing bow pulling pose and fixed firm, but I took more breaks than I probably needed - helllooooo mental game - and my shoulders were absolutely on fire during the second half of the standing series.
Overall, it was not my best class, but I didn't feel like I was fighting through every last pose!
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