From Belly Dancing To Hot Yoga

I was turned onto belly dancing when I lived in Miami.  Upon moving to Greensboro in 2003, I found a network of belly dancers and continued to dance as a student.  Eventually, I became a teacher and opened my own studio. In addition to a full time job, I was teaching belly dancing four times a week, rehearsing, and performing. Because I was overworking the same muscles, my lower back began to bother me.

I had met many other belly dancing instructors who were yoga teachers, and all of the belly dancing workshops I had attended encouraged the students to practice yoga to strengthen their core.  I had been doing traditional hatha yoga classes on and off at that time.

It was winter when I first heard about hot yoga from a student.  Because I've lived in a tropical climate for most of my life, the idea really appealed to me.  I was hooked after my first class.  I didn't realize how much I missed sweating.  I love the heat and how much more pliable it makes my body.  While I found Hatha yoga to be very relaxing, hot yoga kicked my butt!  In the beginning, I struggled in every class,and my goal was just to stay in the room for the entire class.  Some days I could, and some days I couldn't.  

I realized that I didn't know how to breathe during a hot yoga class. So, I focused on breathing through every posture instead of worrying about what my body was doing in the posture.  After about a year, once breathing became second nature, I started listening to the teacher and concentrating on my body's response to the instructions during the posture. My practice grew tremendously then. 

At that point, I was practicing five days per week. I completed a 30 day challenge which was hard, but at the same time a tremendous personal accomplishment. Then along came a teacher that took my practice to another level (Rebecca Jordan). It was amazing when my forehead finally touched my knee in standing head to knee!! I thought I'd never be able to do that. 

I followed Rebecca to her home studio where I was introduced to different styles of yoga and then to RHY. It's so exciting to learn new postures and practice at a studio that incorporates different styles of yoga without restrictions. I love the people that I have met through yoga and the community feeling of RHY.

This is Carmen Cavanagh's yoga story.

Go to Revolution Hot Yoga website.