Yoga Teacher Training Journal: February 1

Some like it hot... and some like it even HOTTER.

Hot Yoga Mystery #16: The Strange Case of Dandayamana Bibhaktapada Janushirasana

Gentlefolk of the hot yoga community, I present to you a conundrum.

Shallow inhales, deeper exhales. Yeah, yeah.

If someone were to ask me what my favorite pose has traditionally been--or, rather, what is one pose that ranks consistently among my favorites--I'd have no trouble selecting this elegant bit of contortion ------------------>

However, if this same person were to ask me, moments later, which pose I most consistently sit out, I'd have to confess that it is this cruel, heartless mistress ------------>

Huh? That doesn't even make any sense. How can that be?

She is among my favorites because she is good for my thyroid. She is good for my pituitary gland. To me, she seems analogous to Ardha Khurmasana, only standing--which admittedly makes things trickier.

She is also supposed to bring my heart rate down. The jury is still out on that one.

I often find myself crumpling out of the first set, however, because there is sweat in my eyes and running up my nose and I am struggling to breathe--try as I might to take the suggested "shallow inhales, deeper exhales," my body refuses to register this purported influx of oxygen. As I choke my throat, the discomfort is only compounded.

Am I doing something wrong?

Maybe this pose is difficult primarily because it comes right after Trikanasana, which I cannot pretend to love as much, despite or perhaps because of the fact that it is the "master pose" or "climax pose" of the Standing Series. So why not just sit out a set of Trikanasana?

Because I have got cajones, hombre. No one with big ole brass cajones like I got is gonna sit out a set of Trikanasana--what is this, cotillion? A quilting bee?

No, man, the quilting bee comes later. Thirty seconds later. In Dandayamana Bibhaktapada Janushirasana. Cuz I'm tuff like that. Tuff, and completely ridiculous.