Recently, I went to try a variation of yoga that I hadn't heard of before, Bikram Yoga. Now my perception of yoga was that it involved lots of getting your body into unbelievably contorted positions, which takes years of practise to get into, let alone perfect. I was worried that I would either do myself an injury or look very stupid, or more likely manage to do both at the same time. To my delight I found that this style of yoga would help prevent either of these eventualities from occurring.

Reading the information on the Bikram Yoga website (trying to find out what I was letting myself in for) I discovered that its founder Bikram Choudhury had designed the 90 minute class to achieve very specific scientific results. By taking part I would be; stimulating the various organs, glands and nerves of my body, moving fresh oxygenated blood to every part of it which would in turn help to restore all my systems back to a good working order (apparently), I would also be balancing and strengthening everything. The real discernable benefits would be wide ranging, including; helping to prevent illness and injury, promoting weight loss and limiting the effects of ageing, all of which sounded pretty cool to me.

Beyond the body the series of postures in Bikram Yoga also helps to improve concentration, patience, determination and self control, all of this helping to increase mental clarity and reduce stress. By this point I was saying to myself "Bring it on!"

However I did still approach my first Bikram Yoga class with some trepidation, concerned particularly about how I would cope with the heat and how I would manage to contort my body into the positions that I had seen on the website. I had never tried any type of yoga before, would I make a fool of myself?

One thing I did make sure of was that I followed the website's instructions, pouring lots of water down my throat for most of the day before the evening's class. I may sweat, I may grimace but I wasn't going to let dehydration spoil the experience.

Arriving well before the class started (lateness is not tolerated and you can't get in if the class has already begun) I paid my R70 (for the ten consecutive days of classes that they offer to beginners), was lent a yoga mat, bought some more water and then sat waiting nervously for the class to begin.

Before the doors opened to let us in our instructor, Carla introduced herself to the beginners in the class and took us through some of the basic breathing exercises and gave us advice on what to expect and what to do if we found it difficult. "Just take some time out but never quit, never give up".

One of the nice things about the classes at the Bikram Yoga centre in Illovo is that they cater for everyone no matter how experienced or not you are, it is one class for everyone. All of us beginners were told to try and stand behind someone who had some experience and copy them as well the instructor, this was a great help.

Stepping into the room and placing my yoga mat and towel on the floor the first sensation I was greeted with was one of sweltering heat, and lots of it. Looking around I saw the other men in the class stripping off their tops and realised that this was the way go (ah - like being on the beach, got to hold that beer-boep in).

We started with the breathing exercises that we had practised outside, helping to get us into the meditative state that would last for the duration of the class (no talking is allowed).

It wasn't long though until we were into the series of 26 poses and sweat was pouring down my body. Now I'm sorry to say that I sweat a lot at the best of times, this however was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I could almost feel all the badness and nastiness that inhabits my body being driven out through my pores. I was surprised at how refreshing I found it.

I was also surprised at how hard I was working and would certainly compare the effort involved, muscle wise, to the hardest spinning class or circuit training but without the jarring pain, frantically beating heart and breathless lungs. Not that this should put you off as the beauty of Bikram Yoga is that you work as hard as you want to.

Some of the poses were very difficult but one of the ideas of Bikram Yoga is to try your best and be really determined, there was certainly no judgement or competitiveness from the more experienced members of the class (so the boep soon popped out), it was more like being in your own world against your own body.

At times I did have to take a quick breather and sat down on my mat to gather my strength, but I did also have moments of triumph. I will never forget Carla's words - all of a sudden I found myself, much to my surprise, in one of the advanced positions, "Well done Ceri, most men can't do that". I beamed.

I admit that the class did seem to go on for a long time (90 minutes) but when we finally finished and stepped outside the room I took stock of how my body and mind was doing. Apart from the feelings of pride still with me, and being predictably tired, I also noticed that my mind felt incredibly clear, my body was very light, my muscles although sore felt strangely taut and toned and I had a feeling of being very clean both inside and out. Wonderful!

Showering afterwards and chatting to the regulars, my nerves now gone, I discovered that the clientele was very friendly and very accepting. It struck me how different this was to my usual experience of trying to get fit and into some sort of decent body shape. You see I'm used to spinning away at my local gym, looking around at the lithe bodies parading around the weight machines, highly testosterone charged competitive energy filling the air. But not only is the environment of the Bikram Yoga centre very calm and friendly, but I also found it much easier to imagine my body very toned and slim like the experienced members in my class rather than the unnaturally muscular supposed Adonis's that I'm used to seeing at the gym.

For anyone who wants to try out a very different kind of exercise, who hates the vibe of the gym and doesn't mind get very sweaty then I highly recommend this. For me its - "Goodbye the gym, bring on the yoga!"

For further information visit www.bikramyoga.co.za.