Hot Yoga is also known as Bikram Yoga in Sanskrit. Ideally, the room was heated to 105°F (40.5°C) with a humidity of 40%. However, classes are guided differently everywhere. At the place where I attended classes, the heater was left running for 45 minutes throughout the duration of classes. Sometime 15 minutes before Savasana, the heater was then switched off again.

As you can imagine, a vigorous yoga session at this temperature promotes profuse sweating which believe will help you to lose weight, get rids the body of toxins and also makes the body very warm and therefore more flexible. It is essential to bring along a towel slightly larger than normal and your clothes should be of cotton or any absorbent fabric.

For my personal opinion, Hot Yoga has some con too.

1. It makes my facial skin very dry no matter how much water I drank after class.
2. I can’t tolerate with the intense heat. First 20minutes in the asana, I started to feel a bit nausea. After 30 minutes, I started to feel short of breath, giddy and wanna throw up.
3. I was told that too much of Hot Yoga may damage your kidney, dehydrate your body and etc…

And most of the time, I regretted coming to the class and get torture. Urgh… why do I pay to get tortured? Kinda stupid right? While huffing and puffing and perspiring all over, many question is racing inside my head like… I wish the instructor will switch off the heater now…. I looks fat in the mirror. No, it’s the clothes!… I can’t hold any longer in this asana. Gosh, I’m slipping…. That person in the front row is showing of… I can’t wait till this is over… Yea, right. Come back again tomorrow. Are you insane?… oh, I get to lie down again. This isn’t so bad… she is turning off the heater… phew… it’s over… finally!… towel… towel… I think i almost fainted…. nice music… nice savasana… Namaste!

Sanskrit: Dhanurasana

If you tilt your head to your left and put a little imagination, this asana looks like an archer’s bow. That is how the name comes by. While in the Bow position, pull your leg more towards the back to get a better arch on the back. The more you pushed your leg, you will find yourself being lifted away from the mat. You may rock yourself back and forth or get an assistance like the children’s wooden swing sets toy. That always add some chuckle in me.

There’s always some good benefits in every asana. When you rock yourself back and forth, you are giving your abdominal muscle some massage at the same time, reducing the abdominal fats, reliving of constipation and gastrointestinal disorders. If you want that slim tummy, go rock yourself now.

Namaste, everyone!

Sanskrit:  Malasana

Garland posture or better known Malasana is believe to help relieve menstrual pain.  However, you should practise the asana before or after your period as Yoga is rarely practice during a menstrual cycle.  Other than relieving menstrual pain, it is believe to help regulate menstruation flow.

As you exhale, bent forward between your legs, bring your arms back and around your leg and hold your heels from behind.  You bend lower down and rest your forehead on the mat.  Remember not to lift your heel up and keep them together.

Namaste, everyone!

This is yet another version of crescent moon posture.

For beginner, you may rest the back knee on the mat.  If you want a challenge, you may come up to this posture from Warrior 1.  This posture helps you to strengthen your back, arm and shoulder at the same time opening up the chest and hips thus improving balancing.  Look up to the sky instead of dropping your head to the back which may hurt your neck.

Namaste, everyone!

Sanskrit:  Chandrasana

If you look at my Yoga teacher or even advance practitioner, their half/crescent moon is really bent at a 90degree.  This is the maximum that I can go down.  Don’t even start me on back bending.  People like me with a bad back can’t really tolerate too much of back bending.  Still a long way for me then.

Namaste, everyone!

My kids always get excited whenever I lay out the yoga mat. I was thinking, maybe I should get another yoga mat for them since they like to kid around and I could have my peaceful practice at the same time.

Here’s a picture of my no. 3 in downward facing dog.

At the mean time, I refrained myself from teaching my kids yoga at home. I’ll let them watch and have a little fun not to the extend of teaching them cos they never had discipline and will not listen to my instruction which can be very dangerous and lead to injury. I will leave the task to a qualified teacher unless I know I am good. And I mean REALLY really good.

Have fun 😉 .

This post somehow completed the warrior version of asana. Remember when I posted the pose on Warrior I, II & III? From Warrior II place the rear hand down the back of your tight. I would prefer to bend my arm a bit for back support. You should feel the stretches on your side oblique and lateral muscle. Practise this asana in a slow and graceful manners. I always feel like I’m swaying.

Namaste, everyone!

Recently my colleagues (about 9 of them) enrolled in a private Yoga class paying RM100.00 for one hour session.  Among the 9 of them, there is one who is deaf.  Well, I know it is quite impossible for her but at the same time, I did not want to sound discouraging.  All I can advise is, “make sure you sit on the center.  No left, no right, no front, no back.  Right smack on the center so that you can copy the others even though you can’t hear the instructions.”  But of course, there are still many things that are disadvantage to her.  I didn’t want to make too much negative comment.  Just let her attend the class to find out herself what Yoga is about and decide later.

Well, the next day, they group gave lots of positive comment and how they love Yoga.  The only thing they are not happy about is the deaf colleague as they think that she (deaf) is slowing down the class and some of them have to explain to her in sign language in the middle of the asana.  That really distract them.  She (deaf) almost cried and blame herself on her handicap.  I felt sorry for her too but there is nothing I could do.

I’m not good at consoling others but I just had to.  So my suggestion to her, “Why don’t you pay for me to attend the class.  I will be your translator so that you won’t disturb the others.”  Well, I know her answer will be no cos she is famous of her kiamsiapness (stingy).  Well….. she nodded!  OMG!  I told her it was just a joke.  I wish I have the time for my own classes too 🙁

My Sister who is now in her third trimester of pregnancy was feeling rather uncomfortable and her movement was restricted as the day goes by. As the baby inside her gradually grow each days, she find herself quite uncomfortable when sleeping. You won’t understand how it feels if you are not a mother. Most of the time, she feels out of breath and need to be prop up with 2 pillows during sleeping time. But that can get very clumsy when sometimes you would prefer yourself sleeping lower and sometimes higher. Lately, she got herself a ‘S’ shape adjustable beds. The bed are shaped according to your body contour and the best part, it is adjustable with a press of a button. Not only that, the bed are equipped with a massage feature. That is great for me tho. I’m going to pop over at her place soon to try out the bed myself.

Sanskrit: Virabhadrasana I, II & III

Warrior pose is named after a mystic sage called Virabhadra.  This pose help strengthen the legs and back muscle at the same time opens the chest and shoulder while toning the abdominal muscle.

Whenever I am in this pose (warrior I & II), I will never forget to check out my toes.  Yea, you should bend your knee at 90 degree (only!) and should be able to see all your 5 toes. Oh, and also not forgetting, “TUCK IN YOUR TAILBONE!!!”  There you go.  So many reminders. lol.

Namaste, everyone!