A Day Just For Me

Although I never blogged on Saturday, I have decided that this past Saturday will be the subject of this particular post.
I decided that Saturday would be a day just for me. The day before I had written my first Oral Practical exam and had a rough time of it, so I thought that a “girl’s day” was in order.
My day started with a good hardy breakfast and then it was off to hot yoga for the first time. It was a pretty amazing experience. I’ve never done yoga before, never mind hot yoga. One of my classmates had invited me to go with her and hesitantly I had agreed. I am so glad I went.
For those of you who don’t much about it, hot yoga is basically yoga performed in a very, very warm room. When you first enter you spread out your yoga mat with a towel laid on top of it and lay down on top of those yourself. You lay and deep breathe, getting used to the warm climate. When the instructor enters, the actual session begins. There are two different sets of exercises-the standing and lying down series. I was terrible at the standing series and had to keep sitting down after each one because I was getting incredibly light headed, but when it came to the seated ones, I began to enjoy myself. It was amazing to see how far I could actually bend in different directions and the yoga also showed where I lacked a lot of strength. You have to make sure you hydrate thoroughly throughout because it’s so hot in there and that coupled with the exercise makes you sweat like crazy. I think my elbows may have been sweating! I know, you’re probably thinking that this does not sound enjoyable at all, and at first it wasn’t, but as we continued along, I really began to like it.
By the end of the session I was completely drenched and in bad need of a shower. I had finished a water bottle and a half and polished the rest of the second off in the car on the way to lunch; where I proceeded to drink a mango smoothie and some more water. I can’t explain how good I felt afterwards. My body felt so light and almost-well, sort of cleansed. That night I slept like a baby. I’ve always been a good sleeper, but hot yoga made me sleep even more soundly. I was buried under bunches of blankets, flannel sheets and fuzzy pyjamas and I didn’t even sweat. I woke up feeling very revitalised and happy. Maybe it’s just a psychological thing, but whatever it was, hot yoga worked for me-I’m definitely going back!
That said, my day did not end after hot yoga. My classmate and I also stopped in at a little specialty tea store that was near the yoga studio and there I bought some ”chocolate mint” tea and “key largo” tea. Both are delicious!
Then we headed over to this Thai restaurant where we both chowed down. The food was amazing, cheap and you came away with a lot of leftovers.
Upon returning home, I had a long soothing shower, put on my pyjamas and spent eh night curled up with my new tea, a good movie and Glacier sprawled on my feet. All and all, it was a great “girl’s day” and was just what the doctor ordered after a disappointing exam. Not to mention, Glacier was fantastic for the entire day-even when I left him alone out in a little hallway for an hour while we did hot yoga.
So if there is ever a time when you’re up for a little adventure, or need a little pick me up, try hot yoga-it’s not for everyone, but some of you will find it fantastic.

PS: The instructors advise you to try it at least four times before you decide if hot yoga is for you or not. It takes that long for your body to acclimatise and therefore it may take you three or four times before you can truly enjoy it.