In September 2007, my marriage ended and I was angry, tired, and needing something new in my life. I has always wanted to try yoga but thought that it would be too chill and hippie for my hard core exercising self. A friend mentioned she went to Bikram Hot Yoga with her brother and didn't like it, but commented, " You should try it, I bet you would like it." What an endorsement! She went on, " I'm not going back, but you should try it." So, I went in January 2008 and haven't missed a week since. After that first class, I was hooked.
Even though I originally thought of hot yoga as a workout, I find that yoga is exercise for my brain more than my body! The many benefits my body experiences are a BONUS. Yoga means ME time, no kids, no emails to return and no laundry that needs to be done. Yoga is like a good friend that I talk to once a week but know it's always there for me in a times of need. Yoga clears my head and allows me to think straight just like a nitty gritty conversation with a good friend. So, if you see me practicing more than once a week, it means something is going on, and I need it!
For seven years, I practiced at Bikram until 2015 when my daughter started volley ball practice for two hours from 8:00-10:00 pm on Tuesday nights. After driving her to practice, it was too far for me to go back home and too loud there to get any work done or read. I thought, "There has to be some better way to use this time." and searched for yoga studio's nearby. That's when I discovered Revolution Hot Yoga (RHY), and it was like it was meant to be. I walked into RHY and there sat Rebecca (Jordan-Turner) who lead the class I attended every Monday morning at the Bikram studio.
It was like seeing an friend I had lost touch with and all of the sudden my new yoga experience wasn't so scary anymore. Once I did my first class at RHY, I was hooked and never have been back to the other studio. I love the coziness of RHY and that each class is the same but always different. The instructors have a way of speaking right to ME which I like so much better than having them standing in the front of the room calling out commands.
I STILL have never done yoga in an non-heated room and can't imagine yoga any other way at this point. Hot yoga is something that is all mine. It's my time to be still and focus. I tell people about the wonderful benefits, but do not beg them to come with me.
After all these years, I still find relaxing into the posture and being easy on myself when I cannot get to full expression challenging. Yoga reminds me to be gentle with myself in and out of the room. So much of the lessons I've learned in the hot room can be applied to so many areas of my life.
For example, Rebecca said to me just the other day, when I told here that I wish I was as flexible as another member, "Don't be envious of others' yoga practices." When I"m wishing I was as good at the stretchy poses as the balancing poses, it remind me to extend myself some GRACE and appreciate what I am good at and continue to work in the areas where I'm not.
I feel like hot yoga is a hidden treasure that many people haven't discovered and especially this great little studio right here in Greensboro and that so many are missing out by not making yoga a regular part of their life. On the other hand like any good secret, I want to keep it to myself.
If you would have told me 7 years ago, that I'd give up cardio and weights before I would give up yoga, I would have told you that you were crazy. Since starting yoga, which coincided with a new single chapter in my personal life, I've really tried hard to achieve BALANCE. I love my girls ( 17 and 14 ), and have a good demanding job and wonderful friends and family in my life. I'm the happiest when I can enjoy all of them in healthy doses. Same applies with my exercise habits, running and hiking gives me time to enjoy the outdoors, weight lifting is an investment in my future maintaining muscle mass, and yoga is my own wonderful secret time just for me.
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