You may remember that awhile back I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and decided to take a good look at my life and dreams. I’m interested in L-I-V-I-N-G as opposed to existing and am convinced that there’s a better way to meld the life and dreams that I have.

I guess this is just a long way of saying I’ve been feeling introspective lately. It’s such a weird place for me to be. I’m usually the sassy go-to girlfriend, the life of the party, the social butterfly reading / commenting / posting and flitting around in general.

Strangely I seem to have lost my game. I wouldn’t quite call this place depression, but it’s definitely not sparkling effervescence either. It’s like I’m in a holding pattern and my usually quick wit has deserted me. (Let’s all pray that it’s a temporary condition)

Busy life with hubs and our three kids is still going on and I find that when I do have some free time, (when I’m not torturing myself in hot yoga classes) I’ve been spending it pondering.

No epiphanies have occurred, and no major changes have taken place. I’m sort of mellow though and haven’t been making too much time for posting.

And when I do make it out and about to all of your lovely blogs I just can’t quite muster commenting. I hope you can forgive me and stick it out as I go through what I can only describe as “percolating.”

Normally I wouldn’t have given it a second thought… but when my friend Beth invited me to a yoga class on Sunday morning, I thought about my recent commitment to the Fit Friends and said, “why not?”.

After all, yoga seemed like such a gentle, relaxing way to slide into the day.

And Hubs said he was happy to say home with the brood. (He has been so supportive of my efforts to get back into shape.)

The class was at the crack of dawn. Well O.K. - but 8am does seem like the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning. Especially when one has to go out there and face the world without a pot of coffee first.

Beth was waiting for me at the studio. She was wearing an itsy bitsy teeny weenie pair of tight shorts and a sports bra. She had told me they kept the room quite hot, so I had chosen to wear loose sweat pants and a T-shirt. But when I walked into the yoga room I felt like the only person wearing a swimsuit (a one-piece swimsuit) on a nudist beach. And the HEAT!!!

Beth had called it Hot Yoga, and I had envisioned gently stretching in a lovely warm room. Not this! I thought I was going to pass out. So I lay down on my mat and towel and prayed that it would go by quickly.

Beth, who was lying next to me, smiled reassuringly and said not to worry, that I’d get used to the heat. After a few minutes the instructor came in and everyone got up. And the torture began.

For the next 90 minutes I spent more time lying on my mat wishing I hadn’t drunk quite so much wine last night, or that I hadn’t stayed up till 1:30am with Hubs watching movies, than I did doing any actual yoga.

The instructor came over and told me it was quite normal to feel a bit dizzy after some of the postures and that I was doing great for my first time! FIRST TIME! It will be the only time unless you drug me first and bring me here unconscious.

Having said that, in between lying down and feeling like crap, I did get my body into some positions that I never thought possible. And I sweat 10 gallons (at least).

When it was all over, and I had recovered somewhat, I have to say that I did feel quite good. But not good enough to put myself through that again….

So, as far as finding interesting ways to get exercise where I don’t die of boredom….. it’s back to the drawing board.

If you’re a Fit Friend too, how’s it going?