What I’ve Learnt From Practising Hot Yoga
Nine lessons to enrich anyone’s life
Although not a stranger to yoga, I’d never tried the ‘hot’ version before. That changed a few months ago. I’m now on this rather warm path that is throwing up creative insights, left, right and centre. Here we go.
1First impressions don’t have to be ‘The End’. On experiencing the wall of heat as I walked into my first class, I have to say, I wanted to run from the room shouting “no!”, “nope!” and “fire!”. But I stayed, and stayed until it became a regular practice. Hard to believe, but by my third class I hardly noticed the heat walking in (although that soon changed as the class progressed. Keeping it real). Sometimes it’s worth checking something (or maybe someone) out for a little while longer.
2Competing against myself is the best kind of competition. I didn’t think I could last the heat, but I did. I didn’t know that I could sweat a bucket for ninety minutes and want to come back for more, but I do. In the first few days when I wasn’t sure I would continue, I would encourage myself to take my attention off the heat and onto my body. I would gently push myself to go deeper into a pose, to hold for a few more minutes or to lift higher. It’s not really competing against ourselves so much as loosening the ego-fear dynamic that can hold us back. Got it?
3 Success breeds success. When you do healthful and loving things for yourself and others, you become a resting place for other healthful and loving ideas for yourself and others. Where do you think the idea for this post came from? How are you succeeding?
4 Inspiration can be found right where you are. By noticing what is going on in and around me during my practice (as illustrated by these nine points), I’m able to deepen my enjoyment of the experience, and of my life. Where could you glean more pleasure in your life? It really is there for the taking.
5 It’s never too late to learn something new. I hadn’t planned to take up Hot Yoga, but when the opportunity presented itself, I thought “I’m game, throw me the ball!” I hope you close out the year relishing having learnt something (or many things) new. It’s one of the secrets of eternal youth, don’t you know?
6 We are stronger than we think.The growing sense of inner ‘can-do’ that came from turning up and carrying on despite the initial discomfort, reinforced a rinse- and -repeat teachable moment. I was reminded again that we more easefully create, from a place of emotional safety and mental strength.
7 I love my body.. even more. Getting intimately acquainted with the workings of our bodies, helps us to get intimately acquainted with the workings of our lives. We cannot control our circumstances, but we can choose how we look after ourselves. And with that comes a lovely anchoring feeling independent of those circumstances.
8 Structure is soothing and boundaries are beautiful. One of my top values is freedom. True freedom only exists where there are boundaries, otherwise it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And structure provides purpose (not too much mind), otherwise there is no forward momentum. I noticed the limits each pose held for me, but also the freedom to become and do more in the moment and over time. The structure of the class is soothing to the mind as it is predictably always the same. But my personal experience and results vary from class to class. Sweet freedom.
9 Empathy is always welcome. I noticed that the most popular teachers are the ones who can put themselves in the shoes of others, who smile and offer words of support, who pull the blinds down when the sun is blazing, and open a window during a stiflingly humid session. They are also the ones ironically that you make you want to go right to your edge. Why? Because they’ve created an environment of warmth (no pun intended), and safety.
It’s amazing what we notice when we pay attention.
Jayne writes about (and consults on) unchaining creativity, feeding your power, the elegant use of emotion for intentional living, thriving through feeling, and the various nooks and crannies where they all happily collide.
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