The Harder The Work, The Sweeter The Reward

Over this past summer, my best friend and I really wanted to get into yoga. As regulars at the cycling classes at the YMCA, we heard that yoga was a great complementary workout. We took a beginner’s yoga class at the Y, enjoyed it and wanted to find another challenging workout so we decided to try out Revolution Hot Yoga (RHY).

When I first stepped into the studio, I was horrified and thought, “What did I get myself into?!” If my friend hadn't been there, I’m positive I wouldn’t have gone through with it. I was nervous before class as the instructors explained how hot it would be in the room and that we might get lightheaded. However, I was surprised by how much I liked the intensity, yet calming effect of the class. After, even though I was completely drenched in sweat, I knew I wanted to continue and knew that it was going to be with RHY.

What I love most about RHY is that even though class is in a group setting, it feels like a one-on-one practice because the instructor walks around and helps each person individually.

Although my yoga life only started four months ago, it has changed substantially in that short amount of time. What I love most is seeing my progress from one class to the next. I’m able to get into poses that I couldn’t a month ago and also go further in my stretches.

Coming in for class one time, I remember Rebecca (Jordan-Turner) said, “Do you realize how much your body has changed?” I'd noticed small improvements since starting yoga classes, but it meant a lot to me for Rebecca to note my progress too. That’s the type of attention and encouragement that has kept me coming back to RHY.

Yoga has not only changed me physically, but mentally too. I definitely have more patience, and I've come to understand that taking just five minutes out of the day to do Savasana and sit in silence can help minimize my stressing out about school, life, etc.

Is it weird that sweating during class is my favorite part of hot yoga? When sweat is dripping off my body, I think of all the toxins I'm releasing. I enjoy coming to each class never knowing what to expect from my body that day since every class is different. On any random day, I could have a particularly hard class, but have the best class ever at my next practice .

For me, the most challenging part of hot yoga is staying focused on myself during class. With the busy-ness of life, it's a difficult task to set everything aside and completely focus on my practice that day, but yoga is teaching me how to do just that.

Because I’m not a small petite woman, I feel like I have to work a little harder to achieve some of the postures, which may come more natural to others. Interestingly enough, however, I think that that element has made me appreciate the accomplishments I've made in class even more. That’s one of the things that's great about yoga: it’s scalable to your abilities. I hope to continue practicing yoga for the rest of my life because I want to always keep that good feeling of accomplishment I have when leaving the studio.

This is Camille Nesi's yoga story.

Go to RHY website