Hanky Panky (part 2)

Do you take yoga? I started recently. Bikram yoga, the hot yoga. It's kind of nasty because there are a lot of older, overweight, hairy men contorted in any one of the 26 Bikram poses (poses?) sweating their balls off wearing just Under Armour boxer briefs. Lots of visible tatts, of which I am not a fan. Maybe because I've never been passionate enough about something to want to permanently ink my skin. Jeez, you mean some day I won't want a dolphin emblazoned on my ankle? There are also a lot of cottage-cheesey asses. Maybe less Bikram and more Stairmaster? Just a suggestion.

The room is somewhere between 105-110 degrees and 80% humidity, so even without any exertion one is sweating. Add in some contorting, balance and stretching and the place is dripping in sweat. So it's essential to bring a towel to cover your mat and absorb the sweat pouring off your body and -ick- off your neighbor's body if the studio is crowded. (I won't get into my fear of ringworm.)

After a 90 minute class your towel is soaked in sweat, as is your clothing. I don't like wet towels or clothing languishing in my laundry room so I generally cobble together anything machine washable and wash a combined load when I get home from class. Yes, I know, combining whites with darks and towels with clothing are major laundry no-no's, but in the 3 weeks I have been a yogi I have taken to breaking those rules. Sure, I could wash that single sweat-soaked towel alone, but that would be wasteful. So I combine.

Friday evening I took class, came home and tossed a combined load in the washer and later switched it to the dryer. Saturday I went wine tasting all day. Sunday I woke up and knew a detoxing Bikram class was in order. I went to the dryer, pulled out the clean and dry towel from Friday's class, quickly folded it, grabbed my mat and a bottle of water and headed to class.

Sunday AM's are popular for Bikram yoga. The studio was moderately full when I arrived, around 5 minutes early. I snagged a decent space in the 3rd row (not too crowded, neighbors not too physically repulsive) and rolled out my mat. Standing above my mat among my fellow yogis I unfurled my towel....and the sin of combining loads was revealed. A lovely pair of white Hanky Pankies with a delicate floral print were released from the fold in my towel and fluttered gently to the floor, thankfully landing in neutral territory (ie, not on a neighboring mat). But my undies were out, exposed -- and so was I. Again.

What to do? Nothing but carry on. I scooped up my delicate -and thankfully clean- undies, balled them in my hand and smiled at my shocked and laughing neighbors. I exited the room and went to my jacket, unzipped the pocket and crammed them inside.

Life lesson #1 (from previous post)
Put dirty laundry in the hamper.

Life lesson #2
Never combine loads of laundry. Towels with towels. Sheets with sheets. Delicates with delicates. And always wash with like colors.