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Are you running out of New Year’s Resolution ideas? The new year is perfect time (and the perfect excuse) to hopefully begin a healthy lifestyle. In hopes of fulfilling this difficult new year’s resolution, some of our (less fit) teammates tried out an ancient Indian discipline.

Boys and girls, this is what happens when Ayala office girls meet yoga for the first time.

I have a love-hate relationship with exercise. I always wanted to be like the athletes I saw on TV but my lack of enthusiasm for working out—and sweating—prevented me from being fit and healthy. Nowadays, I live a sedentary lifestyle, spending most of my time slouched in an office cubicle with one hand on the keyboard and the other inside a cookie jar (or a bag of chips depending on who you ask). I’ve recently felt like I needed to do something to change this. So when I found out that we can do yoga for free, I grabbed the opportunity.

My friends and I arrived at Yoga + Makati mentally and physically prepared for what we thought was a normal workout. Let’s just say that we were “overdressed.”

Before our session (which we learned was going to be Hot Yoga), the instructor Karen oriented us on the do’s and don’ts—including tips on how to survive our first ever class. Karen did a good job of encouraging us as we entered the hot room. I was ready. I was going to try everything thrown at me.

In this class, which was for beginners, we did a series of 50 poses as the room temperature gradually reached 37 degrees Celsius. We started with the basic “child’s pose”—one Karen said we could revert to if ever we got dizzy.

I did my best to do (or try, if you’re being technical) all of the poses while struggling to adjust my alignment. (Honestly though, we just copied the regulars in front of us.) Karen then explained that each pose was done in preparation for the next one. There was a certain flow in the order of the poses—one that would, in theory, settle you in the groove of the routine. Staying true to my childhood struggles, I did horrible with poses that required us to stand on one leg.

Ten minutes into the class, we were already sweating buckets. We realized that our classmates were dressed minimally for a reason. Our shirts and tights absorbed our sweat that slowly weighed us down as the class went on.

Thankfully, our classmates could care less about our less-than-perfect (and admittedly horrid) execution of the poses because they were concentrating on holding their own anyways. Karen was very encouraging throughout the class, often telling us that if we were not able to do the pose the first time, we still had another chance in the next repetition. It was also very helpful that she would gently nudge our limbs to the correct position to get it right.

Shavasana—also known as the corpse pose—were little breaks (and sweet moments of respite) that were incorporated into the routine. Karen told us to relax and let go completely as we lay on the floor in Shavasana. We would alternate between strenuous stretches and Shavasana. And just as I was about to collapse from exhaustion, the class ended with all of us in prolonged Shavasana. It was finally over—I survived!

Relief, a sense of peace, nausea, and a feeling of achievement— I was overcome with mixed emotions as we got up and left the boiling room. I think that this was the most sweaty I got in my entire life. Whether I follow thru with this first step, only time can tell. One thing’s for sure, I left Yoga+ feeling light and accomplished—I was, for the first time in a long time, in the right direction on my way to fitness.

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