Bedhead happiness

Good Morning, Bedhead.

I'm up before the sun. No alarm necessary.

And there is it.

I open my eyes and the last problem from yesterday is right there. Then comes another troubling thought.  And another. Then comes the To Do List that never ends.

Now I'm feeling it: the the downward spiral of impatience, stress, overwhelm.

But there is  a way to detour before you go down the road more traveled.

Bedhead Hot Yoga. 7AM.  Do not comb hair. Do not change out of PJs. Do not stop to think.

Just go.

Stretching, flexing, remembering how good it's supposed to feel to be awake in this body, in this life. Step right up and heat thing up early.

Welcome, Bedhead.  We're keeping your dreams warm.

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Nothing doing!

A  recent study at the University of Virginia showed that most people would rather administer an electric shock to themselves than spend a mere 15 minutes with nothing to do.

What's so horrifying about doing nothing?

Psychologist Tim Wilson of the University of Virginia and his team of researchers asked college students to sit for 15 minutes in a plain room just thinking. He asked them to record how well they concentrated and how much they enjoyed the experience. Most  admitted that they couldn't concentrate; more than half hated it.

No wonder. Most people do with nothing better to do will spin some amazingly awful thoughts, mostly about themselves.

But these students even hated thinking positive; they just didn't like being alone with their own thoughts.

Were these ADD teens with Twitter-fingers? Not at all. The researchers also conducted texperiment with a middle-aged church group. The results? The same.

No one seemed to enjoy their thoughtful moments.

Now comes the shocking news: just how far will people go to avoid doing nothing?

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Sweat so Good!

You do it for that delicious mix of warrior accomplishment and complete calm; it's what keeps you coming back to hot yoga. 

Yet you may be blissfully unware of the amazing cellular health you're getting not just from the asanas, but from the sweating you do in hot yoga.

Get ready to get blown away when you hear how deeply and completely healing your regular hot yoga practice is, for every cell in your body.

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Don't try this at home: Thoughts on home-alone hot yoga

People always ask me, which hot yoga poses can I do at home?

My answer: the ones you want to injure yourself in.

There's a reason hot yoga is best practiced in community.

First, of course, there is the heat and humidity. Your yoga studio has the edge here, knowing just how to mix the two to provide your body with the best possible conditions for mastering the 26 poses. You can steam up your bathroom, get a space heater, put on layers of clothing....it's just not enough.

Because I'm not just talking room temperature; many other things make hot yoga better at the studio.

Take for instance the watchful eye of your teacher. Think you can't get hurt in yoga? Think again...

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Heat it. Heal it. Write it.

Hot yoga is alchemy.

Alchemy: the Medieval science of changing ordinary metals into gold, a power or process that transforms something in a mysterious or impressive way

Not coincidentally, it often required high heat.

Writing is that same process: one part you, preferably heated, and one part magic. Writing, like hot yoga. scratches the surface of your experiences and gets down underneath. Writing makes wisdom from words; it just takes a pen to draw you out and like hot yoga, you start from where you are, right now.

What happens when you add writing to hot yoga?

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