Hot Hot Baby

1

February 21, 2013 by little hurdles big race

I am not addicted to the gym.  I’ve broken my addiction to soft drinks, I’ve broken my addiction to fast food.  I struggle daily with making good choices for my life.  But I do have one addiction…Hot Yoga.

I’ve been going to Hot Yoga for a little over a year and although I am a far cry from a yogi or yogini :-).  I love going and go every week.  I was first encouraged to go by a friend.  She said bring a towel and a bottle of water.  Well, that’s not quite right.  You can rent mats and they have blocks, straps, and towels if you need them.  But the key piece of information you need is what to wear.  I first showed up in a t-shirt and cut off sweatpants.  I might as well have been wearing a heat retaining suit.  Not good.  They make yoga clothes for a reason – tight, thin, and non restrictive clothing is a must.  A lot of people wear shorts – but I find when you have to grab your bare skin after a good hour of sweating…it’s not so good.  So, I still wear pants.  I’ve got all the gear,  2 mats, different outfits, two water bottles, a yoga towel.  Soon I’ll get my own block or egg – I’m a girl, I need to accessorize!

I know, I know, you don’t like the heat and you don’t like to sweat.  This is what I hear all the time.  Now I’m not going to lie – it’s hot.  I heard someone say that it’s the best workout you can get without really straining yourself.  You do burn a lot of calories, stretch your muscles, and work on your strength and balance all at the same time.

What are the benefits to Hot Yoga?  I got this right off the Hot House website – In Hot Yoga the room is intentionally heated because of the benefits it offers the body. Heat protects the muscles as they move through their full range of motion. When practicing in the heat endorphins are released helping to reverse the negative effects of stress. Heat increases the heart rate strengthening the cardiovascular system. Higher temperatures soften collagen around the joints for more freedom of movement and improve the function of the nervous system. The process of sweating exfoliates and rejuvenates the skin, the largest organ of your body.

I like the candlelight 90 minute yoga.  First, it’s dark and I’m clumsy.  The good thing is that no one really sees what you are doing in the dark, but the bad thing is that the dim lighting challenges your balance.  Second, I think the heat is a great equalizer for many.  I’ve seen some of the most physically fit people fall like a stone 30 minutes in.  Kinda makes you feel good when you are working on your Tree when the muscled guy next to you has been in Childs Pose for 5 minutes.  Lastly, I like it because it is repetitive but is always challenging.  While the session may change slightly each time I know once we get through balancing then I’m in the home stretch.  Some days I’m completely off my game and other days I can do Standing Bow no problem.  I’m going to keep going until I get it right – that’s my competitive nature.

But I really think I love it so much because it seemed so foreign to me for so long.  I mean “yoga is for really fit people, right?” not true at all.  I see more of a cross-section at yoga than I do at the gym.  I spent so much of my life afraid of trying things because I felt I was going to be embarrassed – how many things have I missed out on?  I’m working on trying to figure that out now.  If you don’t challenge yourself then you are not really living.  I introduced one of my very best friends to Hot Yoga – he finds it a very spiritual experience and that’s a great take away as well.

What’s that saying by Eleanor Roosevelt… “do one thing every day that scares you”

What scares you and what are you going to do today?