About 7 years ago, I was introduced to yoga when I started attending Vinyasa classes at the local Y with my sister. I remember being surprised at how hard it was, and wanting to get better. At 17-years old, I wasn't at all in tune with the meditative aspect of the practice. I really just wanted to look cool and be good at it :)
When I was in college at UNC Wilmington in 2011, I began going to hot yoga during a troubling time in my life where I was often performing to try to live up to what I thought others' impressions of me were. I was at the height of my addiction to drugs and alcohol and was obsessed with hot yoga in an unhealthy way to lose weight.
After getting sober in 2013 and moving to Greensboro, I didn't practice yoga regularly for about a year. I'd gone through treatment and had a lot of issues about myself and my life to sort out. Luckily, I did figure some things out and intentionally decided more and more who I wanted to be and started changing my life accordingly. These adjustments have been meaningful and integral to improving my life and getting better.
A few months ago I decided I wanted to get back into yoga as part of those changes. After visiting another hot yoga studio in town, I tried Revolution Hot Yoga (RHY). After practicing at RHY regularly for a couple of months, I've found hot yoga to be very beneficial both mentally and physically in a totally different and much healthier way than before. I think having had both perspectives has taught me the importance of taking care of myself for the right reasons. My practice has changed because I've grown up and figured out more about what works for me.
After the initial feelings of wanting to keep up with the other people in the class went away, the yoga room has become a place where I can tune into my body and breath and tune out the world. I find that it's all too easy for me to expect more and more out of myself and to want be at a certain place in life or be something I'm not. Instead of practicing yoga to lose weight or be something, the yoga and meditation practice help me accept where I am and who I am that day.
Hot yoga has added to my recovery in many ways that keep me coming back. Making my thoughts hush and connecting with my breath is harder on some days than others, but a yoga class always helps me tremendously by slowing down my brain. I've noticed that I also have more gratitude when I'm practicing regularly. When I make it to a class, my body feels better and my mind is more sound, and I leave feeling more serene and at peace.
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| This is Megan Carroll's yoga story. |
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| Go to RHY website. |
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