Yoga Is All About Focus

When I was a teenager, I printed the instructions for a sun salutation series off of the internet, followed them every morning, and have been practicing yoga ever since.  While in high school and college, I practiced on my own, then sought out classes. I first experienced a Bikram studio when visiting a friend in Boston in 2009. 

From the start, I enjoyed hot yoga and was pretty amazed that my body was capable of producing so much sweat.  I always thought the Bikram dialogue was a little strange with all of the metaphors about Japanese Ham Sandwiches and Bengal Tigers.  They cracked me up.  I still don't know what "grab your arms each other" means.

Yoga has really helped me to cultivate a sense of patience and focus, both of which have proven crucial over the past six years in my life as a full-time graduate student. Through hot yoga, I've learned to get comfortable with my discomfort which I find applies to so much of life, but especially the stamina required for graduate-level coursework and research.

A lot of my school work, at this point, is dedicated to honing a research area that will produce a dissertation project.  I spend most of my time working independently, learning complex theories, and figuring out what they mean for my own work. I think there's overlap in the focus yoga and research require because both are about exploring your abilities and their limits, as well as being okay with being uncomfortable. 

Yoga has helped me feel grounded in the abilities I do have while appreciating that I also have lots of room to grow. Through yoga, I've learned how to harness my mental effort so that I can spend hours thinking about or exploring one subject without getting distracted or going off on tangents. 

The thing that I like most about hot yoga is that it requires my entire mental focus.  The thing I like least about hot yoga is that it requires my entire mental focus. :)

As a funny aside, the mental focus and physical stamina that I gained through my hot yoga practice convinced me I could sit for longer tattoos. I'm pretty creeped out by needles, but I just recently sat for a six hour tattoo.  I think my being able to endure that directly relates to learning to be comfortably uncomfortable on the mat!

I feel like I'm always learning new things through yoga, and I particularly appreciate the mind/body connection that it engenders. Lately, I've been trying to use my practice to think about the emotional aspects of my life I want to nurture, such as patience, generosity, and resilience. There have been times when I've thought of yoga as more of a physical workout, but more and more I'm shifting away from that to think of it as a holistically helpful practice. 

I met Rebecca (Jordan-Turner) when she was teaching at the Bikram studio in Greensboro and really enjoyed her teaching style there.  I was excited to support her independent studio  (Revolution Hot Yoga - RHY) because I've always felt that franchised yoga was ethically questionable.

I appreciate that RHY houses a diverse range of teaching styles under the common philosophy of being really body-positive and community centered. Also, the cool lavender facecloths at the end of class are the best!

This Carrie Hart's yoga story.

Go to RHY website.