Tired and Hungary

I’m writing this week’s entry in a state of exhaustion, mostly because we’ve just come back from a 90 minute Bikram Yoga session. There’s a studio in town that’s offering 10 days of classes for 10 pounds as a promotion, so we thought we’d try it out with a couple other girls. For those of you who aren’t sure, Bikram Yoga (also known as Hot Yoga) was invented by a man named Bikram Choudhury during the 80’s in Beverly Hills. The copyrighted sequence of 26 asanas and 2 breathing exercises is practised in a 104 degree room. The idea behind it is that the heat allows your muscles to stretch at optimum capacity, along with a slew of other “total wellness improvements” from exercising in the heat.

What’s my take on it? Well, I’m not that impressed with the idea of yet another Hollywood monopoly over an ancient Hindu practice. Usually classes are 9 pounds for 90 minutes (which is quite standard – all Bikram Yoga studios have to be registered through Mr. Choudhury – hence the crazy charges). And I suppose the other thing that bothers me is that yoga was never meant to be an intensely cardiovascular exercise to begin with – infact, yoga is NOT an exercise at all! But these classes have you sweating bullets, feeling faint half the time and nauseous for the rest, all while claiming to rid you of your impurities and de-toxify the body. I guess I’ll never get over my bitterness when it comes to the Americanization of yoga – or really the Americanization of anything…but let’s save that for another blog all-together :)

The class itself was extremely intense (and extremely smelly – imagine that heated room circulates the sweaty aroma of atleast 30 people three or four times a day), I was surprised nobody vomited or blacked out. It’s hard really to enjoy the union of mind, body, and spirit in a yoga class where your foot is so sweaty it won’t even unify with the floor. So I’m going to make the most of my 10 pounds (and maybe lose an extra 10 while I'm at it) and try it out several more times over the next 9 days. Maybe I’ll have a change of heart – or need one.

So let’s rewind two nights back, to Z and I hanging out with our friends in the city. We met this girl from Mississauga and got to talking about all the things we miss like Tim Hortons and Square One and….Moxies White Chocolate Brownies (mmmm)…and I guess we went home feeling rather homesick. Since we couldn’t very well come back, we woke up the following morning and did the next best thing: booked a trip to Budapest. I’m absolutely serious. The flight via Ryanair was 1 pence (that’s 2 cents Canadian). Of course you get taxed like crazy in addition to the 1 p but it still cost us less than 10 normal Bikram Yoga sessions. We’re leaving the weekend after we submit our first essay in November and it did the trick at making us feel less homesick – seriously, why go home when you can go take a Turkish bath in Budapest? It’s actually known as the “Paris of the East” so I’m really looking forward to my first real European excursion!

Nothing else that eventful really happened this week. We’re finally getting our phones tomorrow (anyone who wants the number let me know and I’ll e-mail it to you), we got a new couch today so our living room looks complete now (pictures soon, I promise), and our first week of uni was nothing special: basic review and lectures. Oh for all the Hindu readers wondering: my Naurath fast is going just fine, the grocery store here has some pretty decent tofu and soy products so I’ve been cooking with those a lot. Today I was browsing the National Space Centre website and I think we’re going to plan a visit next weekend – they’ve got a great exhibit opening on the 20th.

Missed you all lots this week (even post-Budapest booking). I’m going to numb my muscle aches now with more bite-sized brownies.

Cheers!