Are you going too far in Hot Yoga?
"Only those who risk going too far will ever know how far they can go."
I am choosing to go too far because, far too soon, it will all be over. Ninety years can pass as quickly as 90 minutes.
Hot yoga has prepared me for a breakout.
When I first started hot yoga some 15 years ago, I didnt even realize how hemmed in I was. I entered the room with my old injuries, ideas, limited beliefs, misconceptions, misunderstandings. In other words, my life thus far.
Hot yoga's instructions were to go for it, play at 100% (the last time I remembered living at 100% I was a kid playing handball in the schoolyard) Don’t think; do the yoga.
Don't do what you can. Do whatever it takes.
Do I have the courage to go for it outside the hot yoga room?
Each hot yoga class reminds me that my life comes down to this choice: all in, or all out. There is no in-between. Well, there is: it's called Limbo. Uncertainty. Dullness. Whew, just getting by. The comfort zone.
It's not for me. Honestly, the comfort zone...it's not that comfortable.
In hot yoga, you only get the benefits when you are all in.
So they were wrong in high school math class. The difference between 99% vs. 100% is not 1%; it's 100%. Only when you give it your all, do you get anything at all.
In hot yoga, I learned to play full on, and play to win. In In my life, I had been playing not to lose. Juggling everything, attempting to balance and keep it all together just to come out even, is not my winning move.
The comfort zone is not really all that comfortable.
These days in hot yoga, I sense something just beyond Savasana, right outside my Comfort Zone, hanging off the edge of infinity. I catch a small glimpse of the Me I want to be.
Life is about to become hot again. Thank you, hot yoga.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Reader Comments (6)
Your post reminded me of something a teacher of mine recently said:
"You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice."
You can play strong--when you play at 100%, for example--and doesn't that sound more appealing than "working hard"?
I think it does.
Yes, I agree; there is something about the word "hard" that doesn't feel good to me; strong is much more powerful!
And I love the phrase: "Do whatever it takes," as opposed to "Just do your best," which feels like an excuse in the making.
A teacher of mine once said, if you leave yourself a way out, you'll always take it. Our forefathers believed in Do or Die. I think they were on to something..
"I catch a small glimpse of the Me I want to be." That is one powerful statement!!!
The whole experience of Riverflow, its teachers and its students is what makes it such a wonderful nurturing environment. Thank you.
When I was in gymnastics, my mom cut out this quote and taped it to our fridge. Whenever I was down or scared about doing something at the gym, she or my mom-mom would recite it to me:
"Only she who attempts the absurd can achieve the impossible."
I am considering the emerging theme here of how powerful women role models in our lives can make a huge difference in whether we take on a positive, confident approach to life.
Love great teachers and Mom-Moms!
You know someone once asked me what I would accomplish if I never had the opportunity for self doubt. I didn't really know how to reply. In yoga there is no room for self doubt. There is just us; our physical bodies on our mats bending out in all sorts of directions. There is no room for second guesses because it's simple. You just practice and you become. That is why this is life changing and beautiful. You go through metamorphosis in the studio and become someone totally different.