Yoga - Do you really get anything out of it?

I get asked that question a lot.  And I am sure those of you who do yoga do too.  I know I used to ask it myself - before I started doing yoga on a regular basis.  Now, I am not a yoga expert, you won't find me doing a forearm stand in the middle of a park, but I can hold my own. 

I am the type of girl who likes a good, hard, intense, sweaty workout.  I am no pansy.  I played soccer my entire life - even in college at Penn State.  I was a forward and played against girls who were 6 feet, 180 pounds - ya - not fun runnin' into one of those broads, let me tell ya.

My friend Amy, whose blog is linked here - asked me to go to a "hot" yoga class 16 months ago.  I said sure!  Little did I know it would be on a Sunday morning and it was titled "Power Hour."  Yep - the hardest class offered at the studio and here I was doing "down dog" like a complete jackwagon.  Flip your dog?  Excuse me, what the hell does that mean!?  Crow?  Standing split?  Pigeon pose?  Tree pose?  Seriously - what is going on here!  No clue what I was doing, but I kept an eye on Amy and followed her.  I survived and have been hooked ever since.

I try to go at least 2 times a week maybe 3.  I love, love it!  The reason why I am posting about yoga is to tell you what happened this morning.  The 8:30 am class is titled, "power flow."  It is an hour and 15 minutes long - hot, vinyasa style yoga.  Dana, the owner, who I adore, taught the practice.  I wore my heart monitor, just to see how many calories I would burn (I have done this before).  At the end of the class, I haphazardly looked down at my watch expecting to see the usual - about 500 or so calories (which is a lot mind you).

I BURNED 868 CALORIES!  Holy sh**balls!

I about fell over!  Some of the other women could not believe it either!  I was shocked!  I felt so good, I was literally soaking wet with sweat and had an amazing workout.

So for those of you who think yoga is for sissies and you can't really get anything out of it - try again!   If you live locally - check out this yoga studio.  It is a great place.

www.yogainnovations.com

Okay....off my soap box...FOR NOW!