Every so often I get an itch to torture myself, so I do hot yoga. It's a good stress reliever if your head is in the right place, but it can also feel like a kick in the dick if you go in expecting to "crush it." Just like any other type of athletic endeavor, set series of goals, short term to long term.
Short term- do yoga when I feel like it. Do as much of the class as I feel like doing. Sweat my balls off.
Long term- after I'm done powerlifting, get good at yoga. I like the challenge and hopefully (maybe) that will mitigate some of the destruction I'm currently putting my body through.
So this particular class was good because it wasn't all fucking downward dog. When instructors put you in that pose as the base or rest pose, my shoulders get tired within the fist 10 minutes. (Keep in mind I have no idea what I'm talking about.) This class had a lot of standing poses mixed in so I was good for the first 30 minutes. Then I started to get sleepy...literally sleepy. I laid face down and zoned out for about 20 minutes. The instructor (a friend) came over with about 10 minutes left and gave me a quick low back rub.
But as I laid there, I struggled with feeling bad for not pushing myself. I think we get caught up in always wanting to do our best, but we have to keep in mind that sometimes we can take it easy just for the sake of taking it easy. Willpower is a nonrenewable resource. You can only push through so many times before you've had enough. So I embraced that idea and just melted into my mat- literally it was hot as f*&k in there.