The hot yoga experiment

Well, I finally got my kitchen back, with its brand-new light fixtures and a freshly painted ceiling. Ah, bliss once again falls over the land.

However, I haven't been using it much as of late. It was a busy week last week, so we didn't end up sitting at home much. Despite this, I am quite proud of the state of my home. The office is being cleaned out this weekend (thank the deity of your choice for long weekends), and then I will finally have the giant bookcase out of my living room.

Another facet of being the Perfect Housewife is to take good care of yourself, through good grooming and exercise. I've been a horseback rider for nearly 13 years now, but last week I decided to try yoga. Not only yoga, but hot yoga.

Now, I've been doing yoga on and off for awhile and I love it. However, I was terrified by the prospect of doing it in a room heated to 40 degrees, in front of people who have been doing yoga for years. Because of horseback riding and a genetic predisposition to being completely inflexible, I have a ridiculous lack of flexibility in my legs. My back is the most flexible thing on the planet, but tight hamstrings (honed by controlling a large pinto) prevent me from reaching my toes without bending my knees, and contribute to occasional out-of-control back spasms.

Thus, I headed off to my first hot yoga class with trepidation last week.

Yes, it was hot. Yes, it was hard. And yes, many of the people in the class were way more flexible than me. But honestly? I loved it. I came out drenched in sweat, but calm and happy. Exhausted and thirsty, but happy.

To make sure it wasn't just a one-off, I tried it again earlier this week. Again, I returned home calm, happy and high on endorphins. I think I've found something new and exciting, and I plan to return to class a few more times before my experimental pass runs out next Wednesday. After that, it will be a weekly treat to myself. Perhaps I won't get more flexible, but at least for an hour I can turn my brain off and just breathe.