Namaste

I have a confession to make - I'm scared of yoga. Or, rather, I'm scared of doing my first Bikram yoga class. I've taken yoga classes before, but they were never of the hot variety, and I'm nervous. I've exercised in hot conditions before; it's unavoidable if you run and live in New Orleans. I love to sweat, even. I feel like a workout isn't a workout if I'm not at least a little drenched. Mostly, I'm worried that I'll get nauseous. See, I fear nausea like most people fear heights, or spiders, or flying. Even just thinking about it is making my heart beat a little faster, and herein lies the problem. I have panic attacks when I feel sick, although I'm not sure which comes first - sort of a chicken and egg problem. These, of course, make me feel more sick, and this leads to a vicious cycle of sitting on floor trying not to hyperventilate and telling myself that I will be fine, and I'm just freaking out, and there is nothing really wrong with me.* This has happened once before during a spin class due a super-elevated heart rate and a broken fan in the spin room...it was embarrassing. I practically fell off the bike in my hurry to leave the room. So, while I'm looking forward to the class (I've been sort of in love with the idea of detoxifing my body lately. I even stopped drinking coffee), I'm also a little terrified. So, if any of you readers out there have done it before, please lend me any wisdom you might have.

*Clearly, this sort of behavior indicates that I may not be altogether sane, and I'm a little embarrassed that I've just admitted it on my blog.