Are you too old to be hot?
"I'm too old to do hot yoga."
I have heard this a lot. Good thing I didn't listen when I said it to myself at age forty-one.
Yes, I had been doing yoga since I was fourteen; but I knew hot yoga was a different animal. My other hatha yoga wasn't going to save me.
Now your Loud Obnoxious Voice is reasoning with you: "Hot yoga is dangerous at your age; start slower, and ease into hot yoga later."
Dangerous ideas...don't you just love those? As for later, you're old; you have no time to waste.
Now for the good news: if you're between 40 and 60, you're in the perfect place in life to perfect all the positions of hot yoga. Here's why:
Most people don't achieve greatness before the age of 40.
That was the conclusion of Napoleon Hill, author of the classic Think and Grow Rich, after his 20 years of intense research on becoming great. Granted, his book was written before the Internet Age and its teenage billionaires, but Hill wasn't talking just about wealth, or even ingenuity.
He was talking about Greatness: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Payne, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison.
But to bring it into the presnt, consider that Steve Jobs failed out of Apple in his younger years. His amazing comeback came well into his forties, when his Greatness truly blossomed.
It makes you approach aging with newfound anticipation.
Biography after biography of great industrialists, statesmen, creatives and financiers all seem to point to the same thing: the most productive time of life is between the ages of 40 and 60.
Welcome to your Great Years for everything including hot yoga.
With age comes calmness of purpose, accuracy of judgement, poise and balance....not coincidentally, the attributes of a great hot yoga practitioner.
Ever wonder why we insist that you stand still between the poses, stop fidgeting, look into your own eyes (poise and calm), lock that standing leg (balance), breathe and follow the exact instructions to the letter (purpose and accuracy)?
We're not as crazy as you think. In fact, don't believe everything you think. That kind of thinking got you into trouble with your health, your body, your life in the first place.
Get prepared for Greatness, with hot yoga.
When we instruct you in the setups, we're not just prepping you for hot yoga poses; we're offering you a glimpse into the characteristics of your own Greatness.
Train your mind, align your body, go for it without excuses. Just do it.
Everyone has a Greatness Potential; the only question is, will you live into yours?
Think of hot yoga as the alchemy to transmute the energy years of 40 to 60 into your Ultimate Greatness. If you're done settling for comfortable and ready to explore the limitless of yourself, you're at the perfect point in your life to start hot yoga. If you're not yet forty years old, start anyway; think how much better prepared you'll be to live into the Greatness you're destined for once you're finally old enough to allow yourself to go for it, balls out, no holds barred.
After all, you'e practiced that in hot yoga. You've mastered Going For It.
Hot yoga is not hot... but not compared to you between the ages of 40 and 60. Aging is Great news. And you can take the heat.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Reader Comments (4)
Mmmmm. Yes. Some days I think to myself Wow AM I so Lucky that I have discovered Hot Yoga before the age of 25... Seriously?! Even on days where I wanted to give up practice or use my reasons and surrender to overwhelming thoughts: I didn't. Yoga is giving me consistency because for the first time in my life I can't give reason why I can't do something. I am just good as the next person and with Yoga and NO DISCLAIMERS We all can and will become better people. I don't know how it works but it does.
Little did I know when I started yoga at he 14 that it would serve me so well at 50 something. The beauty with yoga is that it's never to late to get in and start over.
I just hope I don't get wrinkles... :)
Don't knock wrinkles; the alternative is Joan Rivers face. Actually smooth skin is another great byproduct of hot yoga practice. But if you get some face lines, it's fine; as long as they're from smiling.