Thursday, January 12, 2012

A Topic We Do Not Discuss in Polite Company

I am not going to address that New York Times article. I have yet to hear anyone give it any credence outside of the idea that ego should be left outside the room. Everyone should know that already. If you don't, here you go, leave your ego outside the room. Now, in an effort to make hyperbolic journalism go away, there will be no further mention of it here...and NO links back to it. The last thing they need is more hits for bad journalism. That's just rewarding them for scare tactics.

Speaking of hyperbole, controversy, and infighting among yogis, I will now open myself up to attack by discussing the Bikram version of religion or politics, water.  Over my short stint as a Bikram yogi I have heard more theories on water than there are Indian restaurants on Devon Avenue. For you non-Chicagoans, trust me, that's a lot. The three main theories I have heard will be explained and point/counter-pointed below. Before going through this I would like to say a few disclaimers. In fact, to make it look official Im going to do it like this.* 

So why am I writing this? Because I know a lot of people have very strong opinions on water, I have found a method that was passed to me and works great for me. I would like to share it just in case you want to try too. The most common water theories I have encountered go like this:

1. Drink a ton of water. Then stop. Seriously, stop two hours before class so you don't have to pee. Then, drink water heavily through class. 

I kind of take issue with this theory, but I've heard it a lot. To my ears this sounds like, let your body start to dehydrate, and right when it's all out of reserves to process, ask it to do a lot of work in a hot room! It takes your body time to process water, so when you start drinking right at eagle, you still have a while until your body gets that water. I, personally, want my body as filled to my eyeballs with water as I can get it. I have only had to pee once in the classroom, and I will not lie, it was bad, like overfilled water-balloon bad. But you know what, I made it through, did my yoga to the extent I could and got through the class. So you have to pee? So what. The bathroom can't be more than a few steps away if you need it. I would way rather have to pee than not have my body filled with a store of usable water. Neat thing about hydrating to the last minute? There's a reason I never have to pee. I use the water before it gets to my bladder, how friggin' cool is that?

2. Drink all day, drink at least two water bottles of water in class. 

Not as counter-intuitive, and definitely recommended throughout the Bikram world. Coolio. I did my first year with this method. You are guaranteed hydration, your body stays full of water and you stay safe. Fantastic.

And here comes the kicker. The one I expect angry emails, posts, further attacks on how "anti-yogi" I am. It might help to re-read the disclaimer at this point.*

3. Drink all day. Lots. Stay fully hydrated. Then (drum-roll, please) leave the water bottle in the locker room. 

Yup, I said it. You don't need to bring water in the room with you. I've been doing it for over a year with the exceptions of when I visit studios. (When visiting other studios my policy is always, "When in Rome...") Before you start writing that comment, hear me out. The issues I had with the water bottle are two-fold. With the water there, it became my focus. If I was feeling dizzy, tired, warm (heck, I came up with negative feelings so I could grab the water), I would take a drink. That meant taking focus away from the breathing. Sometimes, that made it worse. I would take a drink (which, by the way, stops you from breathing) focus on how much better that felt, drawing attention to how awful I felt before. This would become circular and I would send myself into a mini-panic. 

The second reason is far simpler. There were certain postures I would drink after. Usually, the savasana between the standing and floor series was a guzzler. It is here you should start to see my issue. I would then flip over onto my belly, compressing all that water sloshing around. Instead of spending the first 45 minutes of class processing water out of my gut, I had spent 45 minutes filling it. And now I was laying on it. In a minute I would be stretching it, pulling it and rolling it back and forth. UGH. 

So there you go, take it or leave it. If you want to baby-step it (a sensible solution) you can take your water in and not drink out of it for a week before leaving it in the locker room. 

* See, down here it looks official. I am not a yoga instructor. I don't claim to have the only, or the right, way to do things. I only know what I have tried and what works for me. Everyone is different. I am not claiming superior knowledge to yours. If your method works for you, awesome, keep it up. Like my momma always said, if it 'aint broke, don't fix it... wait, no she didn't. She had me as a child, she said, "It wasn't broke, then you touched it. Now, fix it." 

19 comments:

  1. A note should be made that you are one of the top sweaters at the studio! Because of this, your relationship with water is different than mine. My body took quite a while to learn how to sweat and it took me some time to learn how to drink enough water both before and after classes. Once I had that figured out and my body learned how to sweat, then the challenge was my bladder. I learned that I had to stop drinking water an hour before class if I wanted half a chance of making it through without having to leave and pee. I started bringing my water bottle into class because that is what the official Bikram Yoga page said to do. I then weened myself off of actually drinking it in class and would guzzle before leaving the room. It took quite a bit to get myselfto let go completely and live it in the locker room! I do not have a problem being the only person in a class without a water bottle. I just do me best to keep the smug smile off my face when there are designated water breaks. :-)

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  2. I am a top sweater NOW. I was a glistener before. My body had to learn to sweat too. Anyhow, I will reference the footnotes, "Everyone is different." Also, I would like to note that I am not claiming that this is a superior way to do yoga. I don't feel there should be a smugness at all. If someone can focus on their breathing and roll on their bellies with the bottle, it might be proof they are better at this than I am. I, personally, don't have concentration skills at that level.

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  3. I don't mean to be counting my chickens or anything, but so far, NO nasty comments! Not on the Facebook forum posts, the twitter post, none of them! There is even a lively discussion on reddit with nothing mean (as far as I can tell, the yoga forum is the only section of reddit where you will not instantly come in contact with mean people and/or porn. I would suggest taking a peek). http://www.reddit.com/r/yoga/

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  4. Good stuff, lady!

    I will add to this my personal experience: I spent a couple of months leaving my water bottle in the locker room at one point in my practice, and then brought it back in because water is super delicious. But once I got used to practicing sans water and I knew I could do it, the water bottle stopped being a distraction and simply became a wonderful source for a nice sip of water every now and then.

    I hold to that now, especially since as a teacher I spend 3x as much time in the room and all water is good water! (I think I drink a lot less when I'm teaching than when I'm practicing because I get so caught up that I forget all about it!)

    (Of course in teacher training, that shit goes out the window entirely - I was bathing in a giant insulated camping jug filled with water, ice and fruit. Epic. I wish I had your illustration skills so I could convey the level of insanity that took over around week 7.)

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    1. Oooh, that's the dream, isn't it: not to be distracted. I would LOVE that kind of concentration. By the way, best description of water EVER, "super delicious." I love that. Heck, it's almost better than, "the passive-aggressive namaste." I can not wait until, someday, I take one of your classes. The combination of your word-smithing and such focus you forget about your water promises to make for a fun class.

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    2. Oooh, you've threaded your comments!! *irrelevant comment*

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    3. Threw it in when adjusting the leading. This template's code is a bit crummy and I had to call in the big dogs -- The Boy. He fixed it in seconds and added new features to boot! <3

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  5. Funny-a friend and I were just discussing The Water Topic Sunday. I started at a studio where most people (including the teacher) don't bring water into the room, so I got used to leaving my water in the locker room. For me, it was a surprise to have studios ask that all students bring water in the room with them, simply because I wasn't used to it. I've been feeling like I should bring water into the room for a few classes, just to walk on my wild side for a change.

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    1. A studio where most people don't bring water? My studio owner would swoon. :) I've gotten used to teachers drinking or not drinking water in class. Just once I want to see a teacher bust out a PB&J sandwich and chow down. I think that would be hilarious.

      If you add water, let me know how it goes, Wild-Woman! On reddit, some people said they successfully incorporate water into their routines by making it a routine rather than a thirst quencher. IE: Drink at 5 points during class -- the same 5 every time. I had been warned about making water routine, but Im not sure why. I'll have to ask my teacher. Maybe it has something to do with paying attention to your body.

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    2. I will, and it's Wild-Man. And I understand the fear of a routine. That's why I want to try bringing water in a couple times since never having water has become its own routine.

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    3. WHOA! SHAME ON ME! *Slaps hand* I am so sorry for emasculating you like that! I look forward to hearing how it goes!

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    4. No worries. In the world of yoga blogs, men are very much in the minority. I would have probably assumed the same thing!

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  6. This isn't something that I have done yet, but I have been working towards it. When I first started, I had a towel,hand towel,water bottle, hair ties, and whatever other crutch I thought I needed that day. They were just distractions, and so I cut them down one by one. Now I have a breathe mat and water bottle. I only drink during the first and last Savasanas.Its a process :)

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    1. No truer words have been said! It IS a process.

      HA! I love the 'kit' we all start out with! Mary Jarvis has a great description of students with a red drink, a blue drink, a water jug, hand towels, regular towels, sweatbands.... I love it because it is so true. My current problem is fiddling with my hair. I have a mess of it right now (for the first time in my adult life) and it's constantly frizzing it's way into my face. I'll be able to ignore it eventually.

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    2. I have a routine with my hair these days, high and tight, bangs clipped back. Its not pretty (at all!) but if someone else notices that, then their focus needs some more focus :)We have one student who is all "Eye of the tiger" with her bandanna, its hilarious, but it works :)

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    3. HA! "Eye of the Tiger!" We have a few of those too. I can not, to save my soul, figure out how to get my little fly-aways back. I keep trying bands and they either fall off or give me a MASSIVE headache. I think Im just doomed to have hair in my eyes. No worries, my focus will be awesome once I learn to concentrate enough. Ive actually gotten a post written about hair. Maybe I'll use it next week. :)

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  7. I stopped bringing my water bottle into the hot room...and lo behold, I stopped thinking about it! It really does free your mind to focus on your practice instead of being obsessed with your next sip. And a shout out to Bikram Yoga Davis. The owner has successfully converted many of her long time regulars to being non-water drinkers and we've all survived to tell the tale. :)

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    1. SO glad it worked for you!!! This is exactly the experience I had. Kudos to Bikram Yoga Davis too. Forming an environment comfortable enough for people to trust the instructors is no small achievement. Glad you found a good home-studio. :)

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  8. My studio strongly encourages no water during class. They don't even call for party time after eagle. At first I had a hard time adjusting.. I had a Pavlovian response after certain postures (eagle, triangle, fixed firm...)where I would all of a sudden feel really hot, thirsty and bothered. But after a few weeks I completely adjusted and I don't miss the distraction at all!

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