I’ve always had a fear of hot yoga.
Over the years, I’ve had friends tell me how amazing it is to do yoga in a room with a temperature over 100 degrees. I’m pretty sure my fear came from hearing that the instructor locks the door and you cannot leave during class, even if you are overheating.
At least that’s what I recall hearing.
Actually hot yoga, sometimes known as “Bikram yoga,” isn’t only about the temperature; it’s also about humidity. In some practices, it is an attempt to duplicate India’s climate―in a controlled environment―to induce copious sweating during 26 poses.
A few weeks ago, my daughters, Sophia and Alex, took a hot yoga class together. Afterward they told me how great it was. As you know by now, I’m a tad bit competitive. So when Sophia offered to take me to a hot yoga class, I said, “of course, I’d love to” with complete confidence. I did not share my previous fears with her.
In 2017, one of my goals was to take yoga. I took a dozen or so classes, so I know what the moves are. I figured hot yoga wouldn’t be much different, just in a significantly warmer room.
As it turns out, the room is between 97 and 101 degrees, depending on the time of day and the number of people in the class. Warm, moist air is pumped into the room, encouraging you to sweat. A lot. When the room got too stuffy, the instructor did open the door briefly to let in a cool breeze from the hallway. The heat simply encourages your muscles to warm up more quickly and adds to your flexibility.
The fact is hot yoga was not as awful as I thought it would be.
Admittedly, I did get a little lightheaded during my first class. I’ve now taken three classes. And I am hooked!
I learned a lot from my hot yoga experience.
First, my expectation of the experience was not quite accurate. How often do we exaggerate something in our heads, which causes us not to experience it?
Second, I leveraged my competitive nature to force myself to try something I had avoided for decades.
And finally, that which I feared became something I like.
Are there things in your life that you have been afraid of, but once you put your toe in the water and tried them out, you found that you enjoyed?
Hot yoga is definitely on that list for me.
Thanks to my daughters, I pushed through my fear and now experience it with joy and pleasure.
Think about those things in your life that you fear. Perhaps it’s being alone or being in a relationship. Maybe it’s applying for a position that you don’t think you’re qualified for or changing careers. It even could be talking with someone or stopping an ongoing conversation. Is there someone in your life that pushes your buttons―in a good way―who might help you?
Maybe it’s time to confront your fear. I did, and I am happy I did.
Karen