Bikram Yoga: Drink water! Stop fidgeting!

I've learned two new things about Bikram yoga:

1) For a while now I've been drinking a liter of water on the way out the door before Bikram class. I forgot to do this on Sunday, and I was pretty bad off about three poses in. My balance was off, I couldn't catch my breath, and I was in a general pain fog for most of the class. Even drinking a lot of water during class didn't help. So drink a lot of water before class.

2) When I first got started doing Bikram, I made a mad dash for my towel and my water bottle between every pose. I would end up a little out of breath every time I did this. I've figured out that I do a lot better if I just don't move at all between poses. I've gotten used to being soaked with sweat and not wiping it off (it does no good to wipe off anyway, you're sweaty again in .3 seconds). And I've figured out that if I drink water before class, I don't need much during class. And I feel a lot better if I don't fidget, scratch, wipe, and drink between poses.

In fact, I've discovered that, for me, my mind makes up excuses to move around. I always want to shift my feet in the standing poses. But it turns out that whereever I shift to is never better than where I started.