It seemed like a good idea...

Since my last case wrapped up in early March, I've been "on the beach" waiting for our client to come through with more funding so we can do the follow-on work. "On the beach" is a consulting term that technically means you're not staffed on a client project but you are helping out with internal firm-building activities like writing, recruiting, training, etc. And I am doing all those things. Seriously. But you eventually get to a point where all those things do not take up 8 hours meaning that you essentially have a lot of spare time.

I have been trying to fill my "beach time" productively. Today's adventure (I'll post some of my past adventure soon, but today was just too much) was Bikram Yoga

What is Bikram Yoga? It's essentially 90 minutes of yoga in a sauna (the room is between 90-100 degrees).

Why would I do this to myself? After a couple of weeks of Wii Yoga, I was beginning to realize that yoga really was a tough workout and helped a lot with breathing, so I wanted to get a bit better at it (Tree pose in my world is better known as Timber!). Several people who I consider reasonable, sound decision makers with an average threshold for pain swear by Bikram Yoga and recommended that I try it out.

At Noon today, I did just that.
And I learned 5 things:

1. The Swedes were right about what should be done in extreme heat. The Swedes love their saunas. The go in, sit down, swear, and occasionally throw water on hot stones. This is reasonable. Bending your body into unnatural positions for 90 minutes in a sauna is not reasonable.
2. My internal organs can sweat. This is the only way I can describe my body's ability to produce so much sweat. 10 minutes into the class, I looked down at my feet and the had beads of sweat on them. At the end of the class I went to shower and could literally wring sweat out of my underwear. Think about that. I produced enough sweat to make my underwear as wet as if I had jumped into a pool. That is not natural.
3. The only pose I can do is "Dead Body". Seriously, that's the name of the pose. You lie on your back with your palms up and breathe. And I even had to get corrected on this pose (my palms were flat).
4. Oak is more flexible than I am. I knew that some of the more crazy poses (like when you stand on one leg, kick your other leg back, reach your hands over your head and grab your leg, essentially turning your body into a giant O balanced on your one leg) were not going to happen. But when you can't even flex enough to touch your toes, it's just embarrassing
5. I should have started this experiment in the winter. It would have helped me appreciate the -20 degree days more because, I assure you, once you spend 90 minutes in a sauna nothing makes you happier than cold air

What does all this mean? I'm going back tomorrow for the 3:00 class. And I'm bringing extra underwear.