early morning bikram yoga

holy moley did i get up early today! i drove dane, my boyfriend, to the airport at 5:30 am and then booked it back to the city to catch the 6:00 am bikram yoga class. i must admit, if you were on the roads that early and saw a white saturn weaving and running yellow lights, it was shamefully me. i need a bumper sticker: will speed for yoga. next time i am getting frustrated by a crazy driver i hope to be able to say, huh, maybe he's running late for the next yoga class.

here's the thing about bikram yoga (besides the fact that it's 105 degrees with like 50% humidity) - they lock the doors when the class the starts. just goes to show you yoginis must be timely, or else they miss the hardest 90 minute workout of their lives.

so in those 90 minutes, you work every muscle, joint and organ in your body while doing 26 poses, while dripping

with sweat (and i seriously mean dripping...the first class i finished i was shocked that i even had that much sweat in me), while quietly breathing in and out through your nose. in a word, it's challenging. in another word, it's amazing.

you start with a breathing exercise that i honest to goodness think has helped with my allergy and exercise induced asthma. i haven't taken my inhaler on any of my runs since i started bikram, and yesterday for my five miles i didn't even take a preventative puff of my inhaler. kinda crazy, right? but it expands your lungs and forces them to be stronger. and i think mine are.

so that's bikram yoga for you. one of the most memorable classes for me was during my second week - i touched my toes. me! gina - the girl who wanted to puke when it was time for the sit and reach test in gym class. for the next 60 minutes, as sweat dripped from random places and others tried to hide their winces, i could not stop smiling.

if you have any questions or are looking for recommendations in chicago, please let me know. i have been studio-hopping so i can check out all the studios and get the introductory rate of $29 for the first month. i have been to two and appreciate them both for different reasons.