Can’t Take the Heat

It finally happened. After five months of practicing, I nearly fainted in hot yoga.

It happened in Monday morning’s Detox Flow class. I was properly hydrated and didn’t consume or do anything differently in the hours leading up to it, so I don’t know why it happened. The only thing I can think of is that the temperature outside has risen significantly over the past week, so maybe I just overheated (I’ve had heat stroke before and the symptoms felt similar). All I know is that about 40 minutes into the class, I suddenly felt nauseous and dizzy.  

As soon as it hit me, I sat down on my mat, guzzled water and chilled in child’s pose for a few minutes. I eventually felt better so I finished the remaining 10 minutes of class but took the easiest versions of each pose. I noticed quite a few people were in child’s pose and the instructor kept opening the doors to let air in, which confirms my theory that it was much hotter in there than usual. A few people even left early.

The moral of the story is always listen to your body, even if it means setting your ego aside. Prior to this experience, I’d never quit a workout before and there was a small part of me that wanted to push past the discomfort and keep going. But I kept reminding myself that voluntarily giving up was a much better alternative to involuntarily passing out.   

Unfortunately, my 30 day pass at Some Like It Hot expired this week, so I didn’t exactly end on a high note. In the future, I still plan to do a few drop-in classes here and there but on warmer days, I’ll stick to early a.m. classes, which typically aren’t as hot. I’ve also developed an appreciation for non-heated yoga so I’ll try to throw a few of those into the mix too.

Tuesday night’s workout was a million times better. After work, I went to one of the best BodyCombat classes I’ve ever taken. The instructor was a sub who’s been teaching for seven years and taking Combat classes since the very first release. Her obvious passion for BodyCombat was infectious.

In fact, I had so much fun that when she announced we were running late, I couldn’t believe the hour was almost up already. I was sure we had a few more tracks to go and I was even a little disappointed.   

And I know I wasn’t the only one who was feeling it. There was so much energy in the room and everyone was clapping and cheering after every track. After class, I  noticed a lot of people going up to her and thanking her for a great class.

The best part is, I wasn’t too thrilled about being at the gym when the class fist started. I’d had a long day at work and had tutoring later in the evening, which I was not looking forward to. I just wanted to go home, eat dinner and sleep but this class lifted me right out of my funk.

That’s one of my favourite things about group exercise – the right instructor and group of people can really get you energized, even when the last thing you feel like doing is moving.

Have you ever had to call it quits during a workout?

What’s the one thing that can get you excited to work out when you initially weren’t feeling it?