Better Health, through Happiness
So you're looking in the mirror and thinking how you suck in hot yoga today.
You're off balance in Tree. You can't bend in Half Moon. You can barely breathe in Pranayama. You're getting hot and bothered thinking, "What's wrong with me?"
My answer to you: Fahgeddaboudit.
Even if you figure out "why," by your next class things will be different - you'll be different - so how will it help to dwell on today?
I'm done feeling bad about myself...
Whether it's in hot yoga or out in the colder world beyond the studio, what has feeling bad ever gotten me...or you?
There is this inside-out idea that goes like this: the more hours you work, the harder you struggle, the bigger the rewards. Really...does that ever work out?
As proof, we point to people who struggle - we make movies about them (The Pursuit of Happyness is my favorite). But look closer: no one wins because they struggled, they win by believing in themselves and seeing themselves beyond the struggle - even when you're sleeping in a subway bathroom with your 5 year old son.
Misery doesn't serve you. Pain does not create gain. The worse you feel, the worse you feel. Period.
The antidote? Feel better. But...how?
In fact, nothing is wrong.
Every hot yoga class is an exploration. What you felt today - that's what you found. Enjoy it no matter what "it" is, and you're in a healthier place. And isn't health why you're here?
Good feelings lead to good health.
If you're judging your hot yoga experience, even as you're having it, you're not in your feelings; you're in your head. Do what feels good, not what you think will feel good.
If you really feel like lying down in Savasana, do it. The pleasure factor returns when you do what feels good. It's faster than you think (you're thinking again!) and you're back in the poses before you know it ("I know that" - the three most dangerous words in the English language).
Here's my theory: if it feels good, it is good.
OK, I swiped it from the 60s: "If it feels good do it." At the core of everything that is good for you is that good feeling, holding up a little guiding light, pointing the way to exactly what will serve you best.
Does that mean if exercising doesn't feel good, stop? If that diet is a chore, go off it? If your job makes you want to shoot yourself, quit?
Yes. It does. Maybe not today but soon, and for the rest of your life (thanks, Bogey).
All these things you do because they're supposed to make you healthier, happier, richer won't succeed unless they feel good. Your health is based on your feelings. Stress - that bad feeling - spirals down. First as a nagging ache, then a chronic condition. The connection between stress and disease is more and more obvious.
You can be happy, even about that bad feeling - because it is serving you.
It's your first awareness that you're stressing.
The easy fix is to go and do something that feels good. Even if you can't quit your job today, you can find something to appreciate and enjoy (hey, on your way to work you notice a rainbow - you wouldn't have noticed if you didn't have a job that wakes you up this early). Feeling good unravels stress knots, instantly.
Should you expect hot yoga to feel good all the time?
Yes. When you understand that even the "bad" feeling has value, then literally, it's all good.
How can you get the good feeling? Easy; set it up on your way to class.
We spend a lot of time setting you up properly in the poses - here's a set up for all the poses that you can do yourself.
Here's what I do:on my way to class I say, "Wouldnt it be lovely if this was my most energized class I ever? If every song that came on the iPod for this music hot yoga class was a favorite? Wouldn't it be lovely if I felt feeling renewed during hot yoga, setting myself up for a day of happy surprises?" Sounds sappy but saying, "wouldnt it be lovely" takes the pressure off; I'm not setting GOALS DAMMIT!, I'm basking in what feels good....and then, it does.
Stop beating yourself about the head and neck in hot yoga. We're your teachers, but you're in charge of your own happiness which is the foundation for getting all healthy benefits of hot yoga. We offer you the method; you have to put aside the madness of making hot yoga into yet another thing you "have to do because..." Make hot yoga another route to your neverending appreciation.
If all else fails? Smile.
It's physically impossible to feel bad while you're smiling. Yes, I mean physically; there are channels that run from the sides of your mouth into your gut and thus, a clenched mouth means a clenched gut ie, stress. When you turn up the corners of your mouth, your gut relaxes. Smiling has physical benefits, for those of you who need to know why it instantly makes you feel better....or you can just feel better and not overthink it. Either way, happiness is good for you - and it makes the rest of us feel better too.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Reader Comments (10)
Simple joy is...so simple! If I even imagine for 3 seconds that I am smelling a rose, my whole body relaxes and I feel infused with happiness. It occurs to me that just as every complex system is made up of microscopic particles/cells, many of them healthy and well-functioning --then maybe a person's complex life can also be made up of tiny seconds and moments, many of which can be happy. And I often wonder: if most people would agree that emotional/physical abject misery is very undesirable, then wouldn't emotional/physical happiness be desirable? Sometimes my over-developed sense of responsibility gets confused and thinks that being responsible and being happy are mutually incompatible. Happiness seems to be a habit, so I am going to 1 keep on 1) smelling real or imagined roses and 2) reminding the cells and seconds in my life that happiness is here/now in.
Beautifully said and I agree, Ellen. Happiness is a habit and it's surprisingly easy to cultivate - no hard work required. Imagining smelling a rose brings you the same good feeling as actually smelling a rose; that means you can have roses - and happiness - any time. Try smelling those flowers in your next Savasana; beyond relaxation, propelling you into happiness is what Savasana is really all about. Now if its as easy as all that, why do you suppose that so many people DONT have what they want?
Oh this post speaks volumes to me! It's been quite an ongoing process, but living based on what I feel like doing rather than what I think I should do is always the better option and solution to my happiness. When you have regrets about something, it's because you didn't live into your true feeling / follow what actually felt good (or was on your vibrational level). Controlling , subduing or redirecting those feelings usually never works out, for me, at least. I am a person full of regrets (I guess aren't we all)---but truly living life without regrets finds it's roots here. I want to pin that picture btw...love how it's right there on the main page :)
Pin away, Laura! I love that little cartoon too . And I agree - regrets feel bad and they usually result from not following your heart, but you know, feelings are like feelers - little antennae- measuring the space before you and sending back info about what you're really focused on and thus, attracting. Feeling bad just means you're temporarily focused away from your good stuff. Those snarky feelings show you so clearly what you don't want, which always helps you better define what you DO want. The more clarity, the more you're attracting/creating. In other words, it's all good - even the bad feelings. As long as you don't dwell on them, even they are guiding your way to the life you want.
I agree with Laura...the picture is awesome! I've sort of adopted the mantra of 'How the fuck did I get so awesome?!' when I'm preparing for pranayama during class. This is my happiness habit - to fall in love with myself. And part of this is loving your life (even the bad bits) and the people in it. Thinking about these things makes me feel good, thus making me happy. Even the ass who parked too close to my car that one day...they just reminded me about how the universe is out to help us, not hurt us.
That mantra totally does work, Kristina! I'm going to try that before my next pranayama. I've been using it during the poses when I feel like crumbling...changing my thinking into "damn, I'm in trikonasana, how amazing is this?" and cracking a smile because how awesome it is to be present in that moment.
Maybe we should start all our yoga classes that way: "Students, look into your own eyes, smile and think, Damn! How the fuck did I get so awesome?"
hahaha looking forward to hearing that one :)
HA! I want to walk into a yoga class and hear that, Rhonda! It would remind us that we are all awesome, right? In fact, I'd like to be that teacher that says that to the students so I may just steal it! This post spoke to me because it's SO true, what has feeling bad ever done for me? Nothing! I was always caught up with what everyone else thinks or expects of me. Feeling good inside is so much more freeing than anything I could imagine. I love that reading a simple post and comments made me feel good right now. Even sitting at my desk at work, I'm smiling. Now how the fuck did I get so awesome? :)
The beauty of it is, Heather, you CAN hear it anytime you want - everytime you look in ANY mirror, anywhere you are: it's up to you to just decide that's what the mirror is saying back to you. At all times. Whatever you decide is what you'll reflect. And all life is a mirror.