Yoga FAQs

Before you go shopping for your Bikram Yoga costume, think about what you’ll feel comfortable wearing to class. Remember, the room is going to be hot. A traditional Bikram Yoga class is heated up to 105F with 40% humidity. You’ll be in there for an hour and a half so be prepared to sweat a lot. You’ll want to wear minimal clothing that stretches easily and feels comfortable getting sweating and sticky in. For ladies, this generally means shorts, capris or leggings with a sports bra or tank top. For guys, this generally means any type of shorts with a liner. Shirts and tank tops are optional for guys.

Shorts

I prefer wearing shorts in class because I sweat a lot. The less material I have covering my sweaty skin, the more comfortable I feel during class. One of the downfalls with wearing shorts is that sweaty skin makes it hard to grip onto. Also, you will be bending over and spreading your legs open in certain postures. Avoid giving your yoga neighbors a peep show during class and go with a form-fitting short. I love tie-side boy shorts for this very reason and they’re super flattering on all different body types. If you prefer a looser fit, choose a running short with built-in liners. Guys, longer board shorts or bike shorts are always a good choice.

Cropped Tights

Don’t feel comfortable rocking shorts in class? Go for a pair of cropped tights (or leggings) to give your legs full coverage. One huge benefit to wearing tights is they allow for a sturdier grip over sweaty legs. When choosing a pair of tights, be aware of translucent material. Always opt for a thicker material. Cheaper, thin material may become see-through when you add sweat and bending over to the mix. To prevent any sort of embarrassing situation in class, do a wide-legged forward bend in front of the dressing room mirror when trying on a pair of tights. If you can see your underwear when you bend over, you can guarantee you’ll be giving your yoga neighbors a peep show in class once you start sweating in class.

Capris

If you don’t feel comfortable wearing shorts, but get too hot wearing tights, go for a pair of capris. Capris are the happy medium between shorts and tights. You still get the sturdy grip over sweaty legs with a pair of capris, but the material ends just below the knees, giving the legs more breathing room in class than a pair of tights.

Sports Bra

Since there’s little to no impact in any of the Bikram Yoga postures, you wont need a sports bra with a whole lot of support. When choosing a sports bra for Bikram Yoga, it’s all about choosing the coverage you’re comfortable with. My favorite type of sports bra to wear in class is one that fits snug even after I start sweating, fully covers my front side and has sturdy back straps to hold everything in place. I want to avoid exposing myself to anyone during class as much as possible so I prefer a tighter fit and more coverage in the front.

Tank Tops

Don’t feel comfortable with just wearing a sports bra in class? Neither did I for the first month of practicing Bikram Yoga. If you want more coverage on top of your sports bra, choose a tank top as long or as short as you feel comfortable in. Avoid wearing cotton and steer clear of anything baggy. Cotton absorbs sweat, making it feel heavy during class. Loose fitting tank tops can fall forward in downward poses making them super annoying and uncomfortable. Comfort is key when taking a Bikram Yoga class so if you choose to wear a tank top, choose one that’s form-fitting and made of sweat-wicking material.

Shoes

Leave your shoes at the front door. Some studios allow you to wear shoes into the changing room, but they should NEVER be worn inside the yoga studio. Bare feet or socks are only allowed in the practice room.

Whatever you decide on what your Bikram Yoga costume will be, always remember the lighter you dress, the better you’ll feel in class. Choose a costume that’s form fitting and made of sweat-wicking material. Don’t make the same mistake I made when I first started practicing Bikram Yoga by wearing head-to-toe cotton. Cotton is rotten! It will weigh you down and make you feel more uncomfortable than you should be. Nowadays, my yoga costume consists of sweat-wicking, form-fitting boy shorts and a sports bra. Even the headband I use to keep the hair out of my face is made of sweat-wicking material. Trust me, class has gotten quite a bit cooler and more enjoyable since I made the wardrobe adjustment.

Yoga FAQs

My challenge isn’t with practicing yoga. It’s with getting myself to the studio to practice. If you find yourself struggling to get to the studio like I do, here are 6 tips to help get your butt out of bed and into an early morning yoga class.  Read more…

Yoga FAQs

You don’t need to bring a whole lot with you to a Bikram Yoga class, but there are a few essentials I always like to bring with me to make class more enjoyable. Here are eight things you should bring to a Bikram Yoga class: 1 – Yoga Mat Everyone needs his or her own […] Read more…

Yoga

There’s never been a better time to start a yoga home practice than right now. Just like you, I’ve been spending a majority of my time at home lately thanks to the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. I get out in my neighborhood for a walk each day with the dog and make the occasional dash to […] Read more…

Teaching Yoga

You know that feeling you have after taking a yoga class? Some call it yoga bliss. You feel a little happier. Life feels a little lighter. You may feel inspired to try something new or take on a new challenge. You might even be motivated to tackle a daunting item on your to-do list. Wish you could bottle up this feeling and carry it with you long after class? You can! Try setting an intention for your next yoga class. Setting an intention is the easiest way to bring your yoga practice into your daily life. It’s also what makes yoga less of a physical exercise and more of a mental exercise.

An intention could be a thought, quality or virtue you choose to think about and focus on during class. Examples of an intention could be Being Present, Gratitude, Patience, Self-Love, Forgiveness, Letting Go or Finding Inner Strength. An intention could also be a big event happening in your life. It could even be another person or an animal. Setting an intention is a great way to help connect whatever you work through on your mat to your thoughts long after class.

When I first started practicing Bikram Yoga over six years ago, my practice was purely physical. Yoga was my workout. It was my gym. Each class, I’d muscle my way through each posture. I’d continually push my body to my edge, even if it didn’t feel all that great. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago when I started realizing there was more to yoga than just physical exercise. At this point in my practice, I knew the Bikram Yoga sequence like the back of my hand. I didn’t always have to tune in to listen to all of the instructor’s cues for each posture. I was finding myself, more often than not, coming to class with something heavy on my mind. By the end of class, I’d have a plan or solution for how I was going to resolve whatever I had been thinking about. It was like magic. Yoga magic. I’d leave class thinking more positively. I even found myself making better decisions throughout the day. Just like that, yoga had become my good energy creator, positive thought processor and a hell of an effective decision-making machine. The whole concept of a 90-minute Bikram Yoga class being an open-eyed meditation started to make sense to me.

After taking my first yoga class at CorePower Yoga last year, one of the differences I noticed right away from all of the Bikram classes I’d taken over the years was that CPY instructors would always invite everyone to set an intention for their practice. At first, I thought the whole intention setting thing was a bit too “woo woo” for me. Couldn’t we just get to the yoga? After taking a few more classes at CPY, I realized I had already been setting an intention for my practice in my Bikram classes without realizing it. I’d come to class, focus on whatever was rolling around in my head and then take all of the positive thoughts that had come up during class and apply them to my daily life after class.

Whether the instructor guides you into setting an intention for your class or you do this process on your own mentally, know that you can manifest and attract anything into your life when you focus on it. Need a few extra good vibes? Need guidance on making a big decision? Looking for inspiration or motivation to make a change? Want to shift some negative thinking into positive thoughts? Set an intention for yourself during your next yoga class. I guarantee you’ll leave your mat feeling a little better and brighter than when you came to class.

Yoga FAQs

Just recently, I started showing back up on my own yoga mat for a regular, daily practice. All I needed to jumpstart my practice again were two things – the fact that I only had two months to train for my upcoming PCT thru-hike and a studio wide 28-day challenge for the month of February. At first, I was motivated by the daily gold star I’d get on the board for the challenge after each class. The more classes I took though, the more I could feel my body start to transform, which motivated me even more than the gold stars to keep coming back. I stood a little taller. I slept at night a lot better. The aches and pains in my lower back, knees and ankles became less. My balance and flexibility started improving tremendously. All of these changes in my body reminded me of why I began practicing Bikram Yoga in the first place, many years ago. 

I love doing my yoga first thing in the morning. There’s less traffic on the road. I’m done before most people eat breakfast. I’m left with a big pep in my step for the rest of the day. Early morning yoga is also good training for my body and mind for thru-hiking the PCT because being up that early enables me to watch more sunrises on trail instead of sleeping through them. 

Even though I’ve always been a fan of the 6am classes, getting out of bed early doesn’t come easy for me. I’m not a natural morning person. For me, practicing first thing in the morning takes regular discipline and requires a considerable amount of preparation. My challenge isn’t with practicing yoga. It’s with getting myself to the studio to practice. If you find yourself struggling to get to the studio like I do, here are 6 tips to help get your butt out of bed and into an early morning yoga class. 

1 – Pack Your Bag the Night Before

It all starts with preparation. Fill your water bottle the night before. Pack toiletries, a shower towel, yoga clothes and a change of clothes for work before getting into bed. Picking out your work clothes and the clothes you’ll wear to class the night before means you won’t have to waste time in the morning trying to figure out what to wear. Having your bag ready, packed and waiting by the door also eliminates talking yourself out of going to class in the morning.

2 – Go to Bed Early

Gift yourself at least eight hours of sleep the night before class. Trust me, the earlier you go to bed, the easier it will be to get up early the next morning.

3 – Don’t Hit the Snooze Button

Just don’t do it. As soon as the alarm goes off, pull off the covers, get out of bed, turn the lights on and brush your teeth. For me, getting out of my warm bed is the hardest part about any dark and early morning, but once I’m up, I’m up.

4 – Eat Something Small and Easy

Energy bars are a good morning go-to as well as toast or anything you have prepared ahead of time that you can easily grab and eat in the car on your way to class. Just keep it easy and light. You don’t want to eat anything to big, filling or greasy before taking a yoga class.

5 – Give Yourself Plenty of Time

I like to get to the studio at least 15 to 20 minutes before class starts. This gives me plenty of time to deal with traffic (if there’s any), park my car, chat with the teacher at the front desk, set up my mat in the room in my favorite spot, get settled into the space and adapt to the heat before starting class. 

6 – Set Up an Accountability System

I’m a goal-oriented person and I love gold stars. If you do too, setting up an accountability system can help you maintain a regular practice. The system doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, the easier it is, the more likely you will be to follow through with it. Your accountability system can be a yogi partner, whether it’s a friend, co-worker or a family member. Your accountability system can even be a public challenge, like the 28-day challenge I signed up for at my home studio in February. 

Getting out of my warm bed when it’s dark and cold outside can be the hardest part of an early morning yoga class. Know that there will be hard days. On the hard days, remind yourself its part of the process and go to class anyways. I’ve never gone to a yoga class and by the end of class wished I hadn’t gone. I always leave class feeling like a better version of myself, both mentally and physically. Remember, it’s usually the classes you don’t want to go to that are the ones you need the most.

I’ve been practicing Bikram Yoga for the past 6+ years and I love it. Over the course of the last few years, I’ve had a number of people ask me some of the same questions over and over again about the practice. Here’s a list of those popular questions I get asked the most:

What is Bikram Yoga?

What’s The Difference Between Bikram Yoga and Hot Yoga?

Benefits To Practicing Yoga In A Heated Studio

8 Things You Should Bring to a Bikram Yoga Class

What Should I Wear To A Bikram Yoga Class?

Etiquette in the Yoga Room

What Time Should I Show Up For Class?

3 Things You Should Bring With You to Every Yoga Class

Can I Eat or Drink Before Taking A Yoga Class?

What’s Your Favorite Time of the Day to Practice Yoga?

Can I Take Two Bikram Yoga Classes in One Day?

10 Tips For Surviving a 30 Day Bikram Yoga Challenge

Who is Bikram?

Have a question about yoga that isn’t covered here? Ask me! I’d love to help! Fill out the form below to send me your question. If I get the same question asked over and over again I’ll turn it into a future blog post.

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Teaching Yoga

Ferris Bueller said it best, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

This has been a reoccurring theme in my life over the last few months. Professionally, I’ve had some pretty big, back-to-back projects at work I’ve had to tackle. Personally, I decided to audition to teach Hot Power Fusion at CorePower Yoga at the end of December, which meant spending all of my free time picking up my flashcards again and getting reacquainted with my cues. Then after I nailed the audition, I started teaching two to three yoga classes a week at the beginning of January, in addition to working my full-time day job. I also committed myself to volunteering one Saturday a month to lead a yoga warm-up for an all-ladies ski/snowboard event up at Mission Ridge in Wenatchee through April. Just last week, I put down my deposit for Yoga Sculpt Teacher Training that starts mid March. Somewhere amidst everything I’ve committed to professionally and personally, I’m trying to catch my breath, get enough sleep each night, maintain somewhat of a social life with a handful of close friends and find time to be on my mat for my own yoga practice. It’s a lot to manage right now and frankly, I’m overwhelmed.

Tonight, I lay in bed unable to sleep, thinking about my ever-growing To Do List for both work and personal life. There’s so much to do! I can’t help but wonder and worry, “Will I ever get caught up?” This question alone was enough to keep me from falling asleep tonight. Instead of wasting my time tossing and turning, I decided to get out my computer and tackle one of my To Do List items – update my blog with a new post. I’ve been meaning to write this very post for the last few weeks.

I always start each class I teach at CorePower Yoga with an invitation for students to set an intention for their practice. Setting an intention for a yoga class is an easy way to bring your yoga practice into your daily life, off of the mat. It’s what turns yoga from just being a physical exercise into a mental exercise. An intention can be a thought, quality or virtue you choose to think about on focus on during class. When I open the dialogue up in class for setting an intention, I always suggest an intention for students to try on, but only if they’re inspired to do so. Intentions are personal and private. Sometimes people come in already having something they’re focused on, which is totally cool. Sometimes people don’t want to think about anything other than the yoga poses and that’s cool too. The intention I suggest for class is just a guide for those looking for inspiration on what to think about or focus on during class.

During the first Hot Power Fusion class I taught at CPY, the intention I suggested for class was: Being Present. I chose this intention because I wanted to be present for my first class as an official yoga teacher and experience the class in the moment with all of my students. Here was my official intention suggestion for class:

You’ve all heard the saying, “There’s no time better than right now.” Make your intention for class tonight to be about being right here, in this exact moment. Be present for your practice for the next hour. Don’t think about your To Do List, what you have to do after class or what you have ahead of you next week.

 For the next 60 minutes, think about you, be here on your mat and dive deep into your own practice. Think about how your body feels in each posture. And when you start to feel yourself slipping away and thinking about something else not in this room, the quickest way to get back into the present moment is to focus on your breath.

 All together, let’s take a nice, deep inhale through your nose and open mouth exhale send that intention out into the room.

 Fast-forward a month, I’m looking back on the flashcard I had scribbled my notes on for this intention for class and realized I could have just used Ferris Bueller’s famous quote and summed up what I was trying to say in two short sentences. I also realized I was publicly telling myself to slow down and enjoy the moment of teaching my first class. Had I not have made the intention suggestion of Being Present, I might have missed this important life moment and forgotten it forever.

Teaching Yoga

Before I decided to sign up for yoga teacher training at CorePower Yoga, I did my fair share of research. I checked out other yoga teacher trainings in the area, based on location, schedule availability, price and the style of yoga studied. Since I’m a huge Bikram Yoga fan, I knew I wanted to go […] Read more…

Teaching Yoga

Last week, I went to a high school and talked to three different classes about my upcoming PCT thru-hike.I had spent a few weeks putting together my PowerPoint presentation covering the who, what, when, where and why the hell would I hike all the way from Mexico to Canada all by myself details to share with the kids. I was super excited to introduce them to the Pacific Crest Trail, share with them how much planning and preparation I had put into making my trip a reality, show them the gear I’d be bringing with me on the trip, lead them through a little bit of yoga and give them bags of trail mix when I started talking about what I’d be eating on the trail.

Even though I was super excited to do these presentations, I didn’t realize how nervous and anxious I was going to be giving these presentations until the morning of my visit. No matter how prepared I was, I couldn’t shake these anxious and nervous feelings. High school kids are intimidating! As soon as I got on campus, all of those feelings of being an awkward high school kid over 20 years ago came flooding back to me. Would they be interested in what I had to say? What kinds of questions would they ask me? Would they like me? Would they make fun of me?

As I walked down the hallway with my loaded pack on my back, my yoga teacher instincts started kicking in. I told myself to, “Just breathe.” Pranayama, our life force, our energy, our breath. The easiest way to tap into our Pranayama is through our breath, one inhale and one exhale at a time. I reminded myself, “When you own your own breath, nobody can ever steal your peace.”

I stopped in the middle of the hallway and took a couple deep inhales and exhales. Almost instantly, I could feel the nervous, anxious jitters fade away. The excited feelings started coming back because I realized I was about to share something so close to my heart, my passion, with kids who might possibly get inspired to go outside and experience their own hiking adventures one day.

In my yoga classes this week, I shared this experience with my students and encouraged them to tap into their Pranayama during class. Our Pranayama is a super power we all have access to whenever we need it. If you ever find yourself feeling nervous, anxious or just feel off, focus on your breath. If you’re working really hard physically, whether it be in a yoga class, outside running or in the woods hiking, tap into your Pranayama, one inhale and one exhale at a time. All you have to do is breathe.