It was time I caught up on my yoga, so i decided to try something in Barcelona. Hesitated between Bikram yoga (hot yoga) and Hatha, then decided to go cheap and went for the latter option.
Having arrived to the Yoga studio on Plaza Universidad, I ran around the square searching how to enter the building and finally succeeded. Surprise, surprise, they spoke English! The prices are reasonable, it costs 7 EUR per a single class, and a monthly card can be around 50 EUR.
I felt like a new kid in the neighbourhood. Changed and then realized, that maybe its not the best country to leave valuables unattended, ran around a bit more, then some lady assisted me on how to lock my stuff in a locker.
I arrived last to the class, the helpful lady turned out to be the yoga instructor. Everybody was already seated and I didn’t have a place, nor a yoga mat. Ran around a bit more, till finally the yoga instructor sighed and said that the mats are on my left, I picked one, then she said, it is somebody’s and that free mats are a bit further. I started feeling more and more stressed, got a mat, but still had nowhere to seat. Everyone was staring at me, so I got yet a bit more stressed. The whole class engaged in a game “find a place for Alina”, and finally I got a seat.
What struck me quite, is that a lot of men were there – in Latvia and Sweden, it is mostly females who go to yoga classes. And, as typical as it is, the guys who do yoga have this airy and absent i-am-a-yoga-nut look in their eyes, which for some reason pisses me off.
So the lesson started. With a meditation. On the very first minutes, I realized that the meditation was in Spanish. Sure, I can handle that. The new kid on the block just needs to pretend a lot.
During the Hatha I realized that I saved some cash by not going to Hot yoga, it was hot yoga already, the temperature outside was still scorching hot, and soon I felt like in a proper Finnish sauna. With every downwards-facing-dog my wet hands automatically glided further down the carpet, making the posture just perfect. I seriously swear I never felt sweat drops dripping like this, and I started to understand why everybody had a small towel with them.
So yes, I have never done Bikram yoga in my life before, but now I think I have.
wasn’t you going for Hatha? How did you end up with Bikram?
it was a bikram simulation ) i know how bikram is without actually going to it)
Still late as usual
in my defence, i got carried away drawing on the square