Up Against the Wall, Hot Yogi

Have you hit a wall in hot yoga?

How will you get to the other side?

There is a particular volatile variety of hot yoga practitioners who prepare for the Yoga Asana Championships by joining what is unofficially called, The Backbending Club.

These backbenders not only do 2 or more hot yoga classes daily, they engage in the practice of Wall Walking: bending over backwards walking their hands down the wall until their faces hit the ground between their feet. The pain is intense, for hours on end, as much as 60 times a day.

What's the agonizing point?

For the wall walkers, pain is the point; to push themselves through the spasms and seizures that result from extreme backbending, and arrive at a singularly focused moment when all else disappears and are witness to a moment of their own limitlessness.

Is pushing against an obstacle the only way to break through?

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