While I’ve never been a proponent of hot yoga, unique circumstances created a window for me to reconsider.
Yesterday, I went to a hot yoga class for the first time in 15 years. I had tried it a few times in my early years of discovering yoga but ventured down other yoga paths. My friend had just moved to town, knew I “did yoga” and invited me to go to a class. I considered explaining to her how very different my own tradition was from hot yoga but caught myself thinking, “Why on earth would I skip the chance to have a date with a friend, get a break from mother-of-an infant duties, and do yoga poses, to boot?” I told her I was in.
When I arrived, a gal commented on my “cute haircut”. I love when people are nice and friendly. I was happy to be here and her welcome confirmed it. I laid out my mat and followed up on someone’s suggestion to rent a towel. (Had I known my body’s reaction in the next hour, I would have rented two.) My friend arrived and it was time to go to it. We cranked out an hour’s worth of a hundred poses and the heat cranked out pints of sweat from all of us.
It was sheer glee for me after a an ill-ridden pregnancy and four months of mothering an infant. This was a physical release, a cleanse, and a time to do yoga poses when I otherwise couldn’t. I let myself totally enjoy each pose, however brief. I let go of noticing nuances and differences in my usual approach to yoga. I embraced the detoxification I was experiencing while “sweating bullets”. It was great.
In retrospect, I reflected on what I love about doing yoga “cold”, the way I was trained: the sanctity of moving slowly with mindfulness, the power that surges through well-aligned poses, the recuperative effects of inversions, restoratives, and props correctly placed. My urge was to tell my friend about all these benefits, too. But, I caught myself. Did it matter?
Doing yoga should inform our perspective and help us see things in new ways. It should help us readily embrace moment by moment peace. And the truth is, peace is what I felt. There’s nothing I needed to say.
My friend and I grabbed a fresh juice at a nearby cafe and chatted, as friends do.
Christy,
Love your perspective! Thank you.
hi,
I first started my practice in Anusara and after a few years found myself in a Bikram studio. Although Bikram is also held in a heated studio, it is alittle different from hot yoga; there is a set sequence of 26 poses, always reamining the same and held for a certian amount of time. I could never really “get into” the heat but always felt good when I was done. Eventually I wandered away from Bikram and discovered Vinyassa. I continue to remain mindful of my Anusara alighnment techniques which has allowed me to dig deeper while preventing injuries. These days I bounce around from Anusara, Vinyassa and hot yoga without a second thought. On Fridays at 5pm I look forward to my hot yoga to release my week, Thursdays is Anusara and Vinyassa all the days between. It’s like shopping in different stores and loving them all.
Lovely! I have had the same experience recently–rediscovering hot yoga, not the baby:) I practice Iyengar and teach an alignment-based style, even when we flow some. It’s been fun to step out my head in Bikram classes. And I also stopped preaching about the virtues of “my way”; it doesn’t matter what branch of the path you’re on!
Liked your article a lot. I don’t try out many other yoga styles but try to open my mind and enjoy/learn when I do!
I have had a similar experience; I have done “cold” yoga for years and had no reason to not want to continue. A trip to California afforded me the opportunity to anonymously try out a “hot” yoga class when I saw that, right down the street from my hotel, was a yoga studio, I teach yoga and I was up for the challenge. Why not indeed? While I was at least 20 years older than the other students, and I kept praying to survive that 90 minute class, I stretched and bent my body in ways I had never ever done before. It was exhilarating and liberating…and something I will probably never need to do again! However, I enjoyed the experience and I reveled in having a 50 plus year old flexible mind to go along with the stretched out body.
Nice blog Christy! Love to you and Fam!