Yoga/Pilates Challenge!!!!

I never ever do yoga OR pilates so of course I'm challenging myself to 30 days of yoga/pilates at least one class per day!  * there will be a little break for Thanksgiving because I won't have access to any yoga/pilates classes.

Day 1:

My bright idea was to go to 105F BIKRAM Lincoln Park.  I've heard a TON of great things about Hot Yoga so silly me thought I could just waltz in and then I'd sweat some and feel all ya-ya yoga.  Looking at the website now after taking the class I obviously hadn't even noticed how little they were wearing in the pictures online because I walked in a tank top and long pants!

About 10 minutes into the class I was rolling up the pants and considering taking them off all together!!

So yeah the instructor was super nice and she made sure to pay special attention to me.  I definitely got the vibe that the class was full of regulars especially since one guy showed up wearing this:

He was to the right of me so any time a pose turned towards the right I got quite an interesting view….

Like, here's an example of one of the poses….

Which btw, I can't do sitting down much less standing up! 

All the poses in the sequence can be found here.  There are 26 poses total and 2 breathing exercises.  Honestly, I find the breathing exercises hard!  The breathing is slow and deliberate and I just can't exhale for that long!  

I was okay for the first few poses but once we hit Triangle Pose I was starting to feel DIZZY.  Somehow I couldn't handle the standing upright parts, I just wanted to put my head upside down to feel LESS dizzy!  

I'm really bad about panic attacks and I felt like I was on the verge of one for at least 20 minutes.  The number one rule I knew in Hot Yoga was NOT to leave the room.  Towards the end I saw my water supply slowly dwindling and I had no watch or clock in the room so I wasn't exactly sure how much time was left!

This was my best pose: 

Would I try 105F Bikram again? 

Probably not.  Unless I decide to do it again on day 30 of my pilates/yoga challenge.  I might try a beginners class but the location closest to me doesn't have a beginners class and the other locations aren't close to my apartment.  Also classes are 90 minutes so it's a big commitment.  

When you go to 105F Bikram Yoga your clothes and if you use a yoga towel WILL be soaked.  My yoga towel took at least 3 days to dry out!  I wanted to use it on day 2 but realized that wouldn't be an option!  

I also feel like the poses were all really advanced for my practice right now.  I mean we didn't do downward dog once, and I thought that pose was pretty basic?  I think I'd have to do the beginners class in order to really judge if I could add 105F Bikram to my practice or not.