As I write this, I am taking a deep breath in…holding it for 3 seconds…and then releasing it. In between these breaths I am reminding myself to remain focused on the present moment, and to meet myself where I am at currently. Even if that means my mind wanders a little, but I am challenging myself to be as present as possible, for as long as possible.
This is a technique that is often taught and practiced with meditation. It serves as a reminder to be kind and patient with yourself, while experiencing the journey of self-discovery.
I’ll be honest, this is by far is one of the hardest things for me to do on a daily basis. It’s not because I don’t practice meditation (at least not as often as I should), but it’s because I have always been my hardest critic. I have always held myself to a high standard and have judged myself very harshly when I don’t meet those expectations.
Truthfully, nobody could ever be as hard on me as I am on myself.
However, these past few weeks I have been finding it a little bit easier to show kindness to myself. Especially when I feel like I’m not meeting my own expectations (which unfortunately is often). Yes, this loving-kindness behavior has a lot to do with meditation, but I have to give the majority of the credit to practicing hot yoga on a daily basis.
I’ve always known that there was power, self-satisfaction, and many other benefits to engaging in yoga. It’s something that I have done in the past before and found great enjoyment in doing. But it was never something that I could remain consistent with. That was until a couple of month ago when I decided to challenge myself to step outside of my comfort zone and be placed in a situation where I had to relinquish control.
A situation where I had to be the stranger, the one who lacked proper knowledge, and the one who had to follow someone else’s lead. And that was the moment when the extent of loving-kindness I had previously shown myself would change for the better.
Hot Yoga vs. Yoga
If you are not familiar with what hot yoga is I’ll briefly explain. Hot yoga is a form of yoga and exercise where it is performed in a room that is heated (usually around 98 degrees or higher). Think of it like exercising inside of a sauna room for an hour, that’s hot yoga. The point of this practice is to provide you with an intensive workout to help improve your strength and flexibility.
And yes, you will sweat…like a lot!
Yoga is a mental, physical, and spiritual practice that aims to help you undergo personal spiritual development. General basics of yoga include connecting your breath to movement, learning how to be in-tuned with your breathing, and becoming disciplined in relaxing your mind for improved focus.
The only main difference between the two forms of yoga is the environmental temperature in which you practice yoga. However, both forms of yoga can provide you with a lot of value, support, and satisfaction with improving your overall well-being.
Let’s explore the few that I have been experiencing and appreciating a lot of lately.
Hot Yoga Benefits
- Mind-Body Connection
A big component to practicing yoga is learning how to connect with your mind and body. This is done by starting the practice with a quick meditation session, and ending it in a meditative state. Both of these meditative moments provide you a chance to check in and acknowledge where you may be holding judgement towards yourself that you need to release.
You identify this judgement by using your third eye (the space between your eyebrows) to engage in a body scan. During the body scan process, you pay attention to the parts of your body that may be tense or feel heavier than other areas on your body. These are the areas where you are holding judgement towards yourself for whatever reason it may be.
The yoga practice will give you an opportunity to work through that judgement and set it free.
- Strength, Flexibility and Cardio
As mentioned earlier hot yoga is a great way to improve your strength and flexibility. When going through the yoga practice you are challenging your body to move in various postures that the body is not used to being in all the time. This helps to strengthen your muscles by holding each posture anywhere from 2-3 minutes (and yes, for first timers these postures are extremely uncomfortable).
A yoga flow is then created when you move your body into various postures that may seem unfamiliar to the body (and you hold each posture for about 20 seconds). This is the yoga flow that challenges your mind, body, and breath to be in sync with one another. Which they have to be if you want to avoid causing injury to the body. And yes, this yoga flow also helps to strengthen your body.
The combination of strength and flexibility also challenges your cardio endurance (didn’t see that coming, did you?). Each yoga practice is never the same. The pace at which your body may be challenged to move from one posture to the next may vary from fast to slow. To keep pace and rhythm with your breathing (which is key to practicing yoga) you have to know how to control your breathing to help support your stamina to get through the yoga session.
- Loving-Kindness Self-Expression
Lastly, as I mentioned in the beginning of this post, hot yoga has helped me improve the way I express love and kindness towards myself. I am a lot more appreciative of all the things my body is capable of doing, and a lot gentler with myself when my body struggles with doing something new.
Before, I use to stick to movement that was familiar to me and that I knew I could easily do. This was a huge comfort zone of mines because I knew I could accomplish it and walk away feeling somewhat successful. But never truly challenged.
Now, I challenge myself to step outside of my comfort zone and test the limits to what my body can actually do. It’s a very freeing experience and something that I don’t think I would have ever discovered about myself if I had never decided to try hot yoga.
Doing hot yoga daily for the past 4 months has been an incredibly freeing experience for me and I 100% believe it is helping me have a deeper spiritual connection with the universe and myself. It’s a practice that I highly recommend if you are somebody who is looking for daily movement that will challenge you to continually grow into a stronger version of yourself.
Yes, it can be intense, especially if you are new to the practice of yoga, but it is so worth it! If hot yoga is something you decide to give a try, be sure to let me know how the experience goes for you!
All in all, I’m excited to see the many other ways I will continue to improve my personal development as my hot yoga journey continues. And I look forward to seeing what this practice will do for you!
Until then as we say at the end of every practice…
That light, and love, and teacher in me honors the light, and love and teacher in you.
I look forward to connecting with you again. Namaste.