This is your brain on power yoga

I tried something new this week and I would classify the experience as one of the most difficult workouts I have ever attempted. My husband took me out on a "yoga date" to the new Portland Power Yoga studio in Portland, Maine.

Yoga is not for me. I've always maintained that. I believed in the mental and physical health benefits but thought it was too slow and boring. Don't forget, when I'm doing something unpleasant my brain is counting the minutes until it is over. To me, that defeats the purpose. Then I tried Power Yoga.

A friend of mine attended the Baron Baptiste yoga studio in Massachusetts and told me she spent most of the time on the floor roasting and being unable to move. You see, that's the secret. They heat the room to one hundred degrees or so and you do yoga in this superheated sauna. Since I'm a cold person wearing fleece in the office in July, I thought I might like it.

Our instructor, Alice, told me not to worry about being a beginner. She said to listen to my body and rest when necessary using the child's pose. That advice turned out to be how I spent most of the 90 minutes of practice. Alice was skilled in explaining how to do the pose in a way that didn't make me twist my neck to look at her every time. She walked the room adjusting and correcting our poses while encouraging us. Meahwhile, it's getting hotter and hotter. I mean New York City in the middle of a heatwave at high noon, without the pollution.

About twenty minutes into the practice, I started to feel sick. We were doing some quick transitions from the floor to standing positions and my sluggish, non-yoga circulatory system could not keep up. Then came the spots in front of my eyes and I thought I was going to hurl, right there on my mat. I got up to leave but Alice stopped me and put me in the child's pose, telling me to rest. There I stayed, the sweat pouring out of me, occasionally making some feeble attempts to participate.

At the end of class I felt dazed and light headed. A cool shower later had me much refreshed. I felt calm, peaceful and tired but not in an exhausted way. I was able to take the time to reflect on what Alice was saying during the class. She spoke about transformation and said it's available to everyone. I really keyed in on that because how often do the voices in our head tell us we can't change or we always have to behave a certain way? She said it cuts across how we look and act, our careers and our relationships. That is a pretty strong claim. I felt good enough afterwards to try again so we'll see where the power yoga journey takes us. Namaste.