Hot Flash Yoga (TM)

One of the most annoying things about being a woman of a "certain" age (that age would be 46) is that you can't confess to being too warm or to being forgetful --even if these are lifelong traits of yours--without someone bringing up the dreaded M word --Menopause. I have not yet reached that part of my life, but I am already really sick of it.  It just seems like another demeaning way to dismiss a woman's behavior, attributing it to some hormonal/biological/gender-related frailty instead of thinking that just maybe, if I'm angry, it might just be because you're behaving like an arsehat and not because it's that time of the month or life or WHATEVER. 


Ahem.


Not that I feel strongly about this or anything.


So, it will come as a great surprise to you (as it did to me) to learn that on a recent Wednesday, at 11:30 in the morning, in the middle of a yoga class, I thought that I'd suddenly come down with the M. I was really focusing on my breath and trying to do the breathing each pose requires and suddenly, my core temperature shot up to what most have been close to the same temperature as the SURFACE OF THE SUN.  I was radiating heat and LORDY, I was sweating buckets.


It was super-glamorous, as you might imagine.


(I looked like I was in the cast Waterworld. I had to mop up afterward.)


Luckily, the people in my yoga class love me and thought this was funny and not, you know, super gross.


I came home and consulted Dr. Google, which is normally a really big and bad mistake, but I figured, at least, I'd get some sense if this was normal or if I was...you know...DYING.  (Dying in yoga class wouldn't be so bad for me--I'd die happy--but it might put something of a damper on my classmates' enjoyment.) There were several links with quotes like this:

The end result of the combination of practices that are used in Ashtanga Yoga is the generation of heat in the body and, in particular, the area of the abdomen. This heat has profound benefits, which range from the physical to the emotional, mental, and spiritual. The heat generated during the practice of Ashtanga Yoga helps to release tightness in muscles, ligaments, joints, and other parts of a man’s body, as well as in the internal organs. The heat actually allows the tissues in the body to soften so that previously constricted areas can remold themselves into more appropriate alignment. The release of areas of physical holding can be accompanied by the letting go of tight, restricted, or outmoded ways of feeling and thinking as well.

In addition to its effects on the soft tissue of the body, the generation of heat can also play an important role in spiritual development. Yogis have believed for centuries that a vital, primordial, creative energy known as kundalini, or “coiled serpent power,” lies dormant at the base of the spine. When aroused, this potential energy becomes activated. It rises up through a central channel in the body to unite with the power of cosmic consciousness that resides at the crown of the head, resulting in enlightenment and the release of tremendous amounts of creative energy. (See Chapter 7 for more information on the important role that kundalini plays in yoga philosophy.) A principal goal of yoga practices in general is to help awaken the dormant kundalini energy so that it may rise and lead to enlightenment. One way to help the kundalini awaken is to stoke the body with heat. Ashtanga Yoga is designed specifically to build up the internal heat in the body, particularly in the abdomen. This can contribute to the awakening of the kundalini energy.

The kind of yoga I do is really a form of Vinyasa yoga, though, so here's a link the mentions generating internal heat during Vinyasa. (What I experienced should not be confused with Bikram yoga, which is done in a super heated room --EXTERNAL heat. This was more like an internal nuclear reaction.)


Here's a link where someone was complaining about it.  I didn't feel sick, but I was incredibly spent afterward.  It's happened to me twice now, the second time a little less apocalyptic, and after each time, I had to take a 20 minute power nap.


So, I don't know.  I think it's a good thing, but I can't really talk to anyone about it because as soon as I do, people infer that I've hit Menopause, which makes me crazy in addition to being hot and bothered.

*****

In other news: my lovely and exceptional daughter Jane (10) has been discovered. She wrote to Robert Burton Robinson, asking for permission to illustrate one of his stories on her blog. He not only said yes, he wrote her a very encouraging e-mail and linked to her from his website. I learn so much from her as an artist about what is possible when one doesn't impose limitations on oneself. She's amazing and I hope to be like her if I ever grow up.