Hot Yoga Has Become A Way Of Life

My love for hot yoga began a few years ago even though I had tried a class once before.  The earlier time, I didn't feel the connection with it that I do now.  Actually, I thought that whole thing was a bit strange. Little did I know that later, hot yoga would become a life changer for me. 

After a couple of years of trying several different forms of exercise and not really loving or committing to any of them, I began running. Having never been a runner, the sport was completely new to me, and I loved it.  I also enjoyed the benefits I got from running both mentally and physically. 

Then after experiencing a devastating death in our family, I didn't have the energy or drive to even consider running. Knowing that I needed something to help with stress relief, physical exercise, and quieting of my mind, I went back to Bikram yoga with a friend. Although I don't remember much about that class,  I remember that I loved it.  

I liked that for 90 minutes I didn't have to think. My brain turned off, and all I could do was focus on myself and the postures. I found the practice to be very meditative which was something I really needed. After that class, I was hooked! Everywhere I went, I told people about hot yoga and encouraged them try it.

Fast forward about a year. Thankfully, I met Rebecca Jordan-Turner and Jane Cable who I found to be special yoga teachers, unlike anyone else I'd encountered. When teaching, they cared about each person in the room and could monitor the whole room while still paying attention to an individual's needs. Both are tough yoga teachers, yet loving and encouraging. Taking their classes was and still is so inspiring to me! Of course, there was no question in my mind that I would be following Rebecca to her home studio and then to Revolution Hot Yoga (RHY).

I am so grateful to all of the teachers at RHY. It's a very special place, and I consider it my yoga home. Whenever I go out of town, I'll practice at the local hot yoga studio. Although each has it's own unique great things, there is still nowhere like RHY. 

RHY teaches the form and alignment that many studios tend to skip or do not spend enough time on. Also, I find the classes at RHY so helpful in learning to step away from my ego and just to accept myself where I am as I am. 

Yoga has given me SO many wonderful gifts, but I really believe that having strong teachers is key to this and am thankful for each teacher at RHY. Also, I am appreciative to the other yogis for creating such a loving and encouraging atmosphere.

Hot Yoga has become such a huge part of who I am and my lifestyle. It teaches me patience, acceptance, and being present.  Hot yoga gives me confidence, reminds me to breathe, and helps keep me humble.

I look forward to this life long yoga journey! Thank you RHY!

This is Rachel Benson's yoga story.  That's Rachel and her yoga assistant, Kylie.

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Yoga Helps Me Live In Realando

Unfortunately, I was the victim of a hit and run auto accident in 1980. Since that time, my right tibia-fibula has been bowed because the resulting fracture did not heal correctly. I also developed osteomyelitis, an infection in the bone, in that leg and had multiple surgeries over a span of four years ending with a successful surgery in 1984. 

By exercising regularly through the years, I manged to keep myself pretty healthy, but my habit of running on the roads didn't help my leg injury at all.  In 2008, I had to stop running due to severe arthritis in my right knee. Then, just normal, every day life caught up with my 50+ year old body, and I found myself on medication for blood pressure, cholesterol, and gout. 

Eventually, the pain in my knee became unbearable.  With the input of my surgeon and my family, I decided to have a total knee replacement which was performed in June of 2010. After physical therapy and what was seeming to be a slow recovery, I heard about Bikram Hot Yoga from my boss. After consulting my surgeon, I started hot yoga one steamy afternoon in August two months after the surgery.  I attribute hot yoga with helping me build muscle and strength in the new joint which resulted in having much more flexibility. Artificial, metal joints are never as flexible and strong as a natural joint, but mine is as good as it gets.  My surgeon was surprised at the range of mobility that my new artificial knee had!  

As I continued to practice regularly, my knee healed fully, and I was gradually able to quit taking all of my medications.  I had been on hypertension, cholesterol, and gout medication for over 12 years before starting yoga, and I have been off of everything for the last 4 years now. 

As I continued to practice hot yoga, I also realized many other health benefits.  I find that I don't get sick nor have I had to miss work because of illness for a long time. Yoga helps me relax, sleep better, and keeps my weight under control.  

I followed Rebecca Jordan-Turner to Revolution Hot Yoga (RHY).  My fellow yoga practitioners at RHY, the young and not so young, encourage and push me to go back, again and again.

I find each class to be a unique challenge. After every class, I am really hot and tired, but very, very happy to have made it through another one.  I definitely feel like I've accomplished something and start to feel rejuvenated by the time I get home after the 15 minute drive.

I tend to live in what I call "realando." To me, that means existing in the present moment, the right here and now. Yoga helps me handle the pains and troubles of realando everyday.

This is Sanjeev Deshmukh's yoga story.

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I Found Happiness In Yoga

When I was in high school, my mother gave me a yoga mat and a yoga/pilates tape for Christmas.  Initially, I would break it out occasionally but started practicing yoga with the tape regularly during my freshman year of college.  Never having been great at running, I had struggled to find a workout that suited me after leaving sports behind in high school. 

I found yoga to be very refreshing, and after doing the tape for a while, I started to see a nice tone and definition to my body. After a yoga session, I felt longer and leaner and really liked the low impact of a yoga workout compared to running or weight lifting.  Years later, I first sought out hot yoga after watching a television interview with a famous model who, when asked how she stayed in such great shape, replied, "Lots of hot yoga!".  After seeing that,I knew that I had to try it. 

The first time I went to a hot yoga class, I was overwhelmed.  Not knowing what to expect, I found it to be much hotter than I'd anticipated and thought it strange that you weren't supposed to talk.  During that first class, I became woozy, had to sit down a few times, and was embarrassed when called out for grabbing my water bottle before "party time."  However when I got home and peeled off my soaking wet clothes, I could already see an immediate change in my body.  My skin was brighter and tighter, and I slept great that night.  I knew that I had to keep going.

Although I've always maintained a healthy and active lifestyle exploring all different types of exercise, I struggled with body image in the past, but have finally come to a place where I feel good about myself as long as I know that I'm taking care of my body and mind.  I'd often became discouraged with other fitness regimes if I didn't like the way I felt during the workout or if I didn't feel like I was very good at it.  

When I tried to improve my running, I'd get disappointed when I'd shoot for six miles and only made four.  When I tried weight lifting at the encouragement of a family member, I wasn't thrilled with the resulting bulkiness or being sore for days after a session.  My jeans actually got tighter!.  What I love about yoga is that I'm building strength with my own body.  

For years before practicing hot yoga, I experienced a high amount of anxiety.  I'd become very anxious at work or with the details of everyday life and had related back pain and stomach issues. I'd tried medication but wasn't completely sold on the idea of taking a pill everyday as a solution.  Hot yoga has helped me tremendously to still my mind, cease the negative thoughts, and ease anxiety.  My back and stomach pain are almost non existent when I practice consistently. 

My yoga practice, which initially began as a great work out for physical benefits, has given me so much more than that.  It's become spiritual workout, like a therapy session.  In almost every class, I learn new things about myself and pick up quotes from the instructors that give me a whole new outlook on life.  I find it ironic that vanity brought me to hot yoga, but I can honestly say I have found true happiness in yoga. 

When I started hot yoga, I wasn't the happiest person.  I'd broken up with a long term boyfriend, wasn't crazy about my job, and was in a totally different place than I thought I would be in life, both professionally and personally.  Therefore at first even though I knew it was doing me good, I was slightly annoyed with the whole experience of hot yoga, mainly because I wasn't happy with myself.  It bugged me that you weren't supposed to talk during class or leave the hot room. I'd get aggravated with myself when I couldn't fully do all of the poses and would have to sit down when I became overheated.   I even got annoyed at other people breathing loudly around me. 

But after going for a while and loving the physical benefits, some of the spiritual aspects started to click with me.  I realized that you don't talk to allow you to focus on your inner self and thoughts. The most challenging and most beneficial part for me is quieting my mind and thoughts in class.  I can really sabotage my practice sometimes when I can't still my mind.  Yoga is equally demanding physically and mentally, and unless you can conquer the mental part, the heat and physicality of hot yoga can really take you down.  As soon as I am able to let go and focus, the postures come with ease. 

I've also learned the process of deep breathing in yoga and how necessary it is for relaxing and replenishing my body. Gradually, I learned that yoga isn't about perfecting all of the poses. It's about the journey to get to that point, which may or may not happen for years.  I never leave a hot yoga class feeling unfulfilled.  Every time I walk out I know that I've just done something good for my mind and have worked my ass off for 90 minutes.  That feels incredible - maybe even euphoric

I have been able to take all of the wonderful lessons I've realized in yoga and apply them to my life.  I've tried to stop comparing myself to others, have been able to leave a situation that wasn't positive for me, and have taken control of my life and happiness through setting new goals and seeing life as a journey.  Yoga truly has given me peace and happiness. 

This is Lindsey Staley's yoga story.

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Never The Same Class Twice

I was introduced to hot yoga by friend in 2011.  I'd never heard of it, but she was always inviting people to try it out.  So, I tagged along, mostly out of curiosity.

Never having done any sort of yoga before my first Bikram class, I was shocked at how challenging it was. The poses looked deceptively so simple. I was also struck by the variety of ages and body types in the room and really appreciated that there was a different mix of people there than you would find at a gym. Although I've been practicing for about three years now, I still feel like a beginner. 

When I started doing yoga regularly, I was going through a divorce, which for me was like hitting the reset button. Every plan I had for the future was suddenly in question: where I'd live, what I'd do for work, what kind of toothpaste I'd use. So, I made it a point to be a little adventurous to see how different my new future might be. Yoga was one of the more noticeable changes I incorporated because I hadn't been exercising at all before or eating particularly well.

Strangely, the first couple of times I practiced I felt really bummed and distinctly remember staring up at the ceiling tiles at the end of the class feeling profoundly sad. The sadness wouldn't last for very long after class, but took me by surprise each time. I think, yoga helped me to process my feelings.

Now, I think of yoga as a weekly gift to myself. Admittedly I don't make it every week, but I feel better when I do. Yoga forces me to turn off all the noise from my work week and spend an hour and a half being mindful and breathing.

Because I always enjoyed Rebecca's (Jordan-Turner) classes at the Bikram studio, I tried her home studio. The sessions were really challenging, but I was able to do more because of the custom sequences in a small class. As a teacher myself, I was also drawn to Rebecca's skills as an instructor. She manages to differentiate so that everyone in the room, no matter their experience, can be challenged. That's pretty impressive. I find that to be the case with all of the instructors at Revolution Hot Yoga.

I really love that yoga isn't purely a physical activity and that I have to be mentally focused as well.  Although I've never been into sports or going to the gym, I enjoy being active. Yoga is an opportunity to feel like I'm getting physical exercise along with meditation which is a combination I really enjoy.

For me, the most challenging thing about yoga is that its never the same experience. Some days I feel like I'm really making progress while other days I feel as clumsy as when I first started. I guess that's also something I love about it, though--that it requires mindfulness.

This is Rick Dillwood's yoga story.

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Yoga Keeps Me Feeling Young

I can sum up the reasoning behind my decision to do yoga – or any exercise for that matter – in just one word: Aaron. Yes, I know the conventional wisdom is you should embark on a yoga journey for yourself, but let me explain and I think you’ll see why doing this for Aaron is actually doing it for myself too.

I gave birth to Aaron just a few months shy of my 40^th birthday. At the time, I couldn’t help but remember how a friend once confided in me her regret that her parents had had her late and just couldn’t participate fully in her life due to the physical limitations of their age. I vowed that Aaron would not have those regrets; that I would do as much as I could to stay healthy, active and engaged in his life – whether that meant climbing Hanging Rock, riding a roller coaster or mountain biking down the Wild Turkey trail.

My husband first introduced me to the idea of doing yoga. As a nurse, he has long been an advocate of yoga’s ability to keep the body, and particularly the joints flexible and healthy. I visited a couple of classes and enjoyed them, but could never commit due to the travel demands of my job. I would carry around a Yoga DVD in my suitcase while traveling, but more often than not it stayed in the suitcase. My main exercise method has always been running, and it just seemed easier to get on the hotel treadmill after a long day sitting in meetings and airports.

About six months ago, I was finally able to end my life as a road warrior and incorporate fitness as a routine instead of just a novelty. I was looking for something to counteract the wear and tear of running, and my friend suggested I check out hot yoga. The idea of practicing the moves and poses in a warm room was intriguing to me, and I signed up for a class shortly after Revolution opened its doors.

Now here’s the part of my testimonial where I should be able to say that that first class was an epiphany for me; that I had found wellness/fitness nirvana. But here’s what actually went through my mind that first class, “Holy Cow! I’m burning up…I’m sweating buckets…I’m getting dizzy…what the heck is a savasana?...when is this going to be over?...oh, thank goodness for the cool jasmine towel!” But even though my first reaction to the heat was not as positive as I would have hoped, I felt really good when I went home. And when I awoke the next morning, I still felt good. And when I ran later that day, my legs were just a bit less tight than usual. With just one class, I could already tell that the heat was a beneficial feature to the practice of yoga.

In the few months I’ve been coming to class, my yoga practice has evolved from something I was really doing just to supplement my running to something fast becoming an integral part of my lifestyle. I’m sure I could come up with all sorts of scientific-sounding reasons why yoga has benefited me, but here it is in a nutshell: hot yoga makes me feel better – and younger. Even though I am a beginner and still get wobbly legs and fall whenever we do the balancing poses, I am determined to stick with it and continue down my own yoga path. The benefits go beyond the physical, each yoga session helps me calm my mind, increase awareness of my body and breathing, and relieve the stress of the work day.

Aaron will turn 18 in the next month, and these days it’s more Mom saying, “C’mon, c’mon,” to get him away from those insidious video games and go hiking or bike riding. But my hope is by including yoga in my fitness routine, I will never – or at least rarely – have to utter the words, “I’m too old to do that anymore.” I plan to be around for his 40^th birthday, and still be able to suggest we go for a hike.

This is Cindy DiMattia's, pictured with Aaron, yoga story.

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Show Up In Your Yoga And It Will Show Up In You

I found yoga about four years ago. Some of my friends had been practicing for over 20 years and trying to enlist me, but I just never thought yoga was for me. Citing a lack of both time and patience, I put off exploring yoga for many years. "When I have the time,” I would always tell them. 

As life so often has a way of doing with its ironic sense of humor, the time was delivered. I found myself with a strong need and burning desire to find a sense of peace, concentration, and union of mind and body in my life.  Life happens! We pick it up and carry on. In many of the conversations I'd had with my yogi friends, they promised "You'll find inner peace, focus, confidence.  Yoga will make you a stronger person, both mentally and physically."  Well, I was ready to see for myself.

With time now on my side, I sought out the closest yoga studio I could find because I'd have to walk. My first class was at a yoga & massage studio exactly 107 steps from where I was living. "Perfect!" I thought. "Here goes!"

The class was supposed to be a coed class, however, I was disappointed to find that I was the only male there. Despite it being my first time in a yoga class and being surrounded by 20 women, I told myself , "OK, You can do this."  After a couple of breathing exercises and a few asanas and savasanas, the instructor puts us on our backs, heels to buttocks, knees in the air, and legs spread.  “Ok, this is where we are,” she says. “If you don't feel comfortable exposing your special place, you can use the blanket on the floor next to you to cover it up and find your comfort.”   On the way out, I did confirm with the instructor that this was a typical coed class.  Well needless to say, I didn't find my comfort or yoga home.

Although I realized I wouldn't find another yoga studio within walking distance, I continued my search . A few days later when out with a friend, we happened by the local Bikram Hot Yoga Studio. I was intrigued. In all my conversations with yogi friends, I didn't ever remember anyone mentioning hot yoga.  I had to try it. 

In my first class, I thought I would die and had a hard time believing that doing yoga in this crazy hot room was actually going to do anything good for me. However, I still tried everything the instructor asked of me. By the end of that first class, I was hooked and went on to practice every day of the week. I couldn't get enough. Some days I even went twice.  As promised, I began to enjoy many of the benefits of hot yoga. 

Eighteen months into my practice, I suffered a severe herniated L 4-5 disc injury on a project job site. The surgeons ordered bed rest, morphine for the extreme pain, and time to allow the swelling to shrink. The injury took me down completely , and I was on my back in a morphine coma for 4 weeks.  I really thought the morphine was going to kill me. At the scheduled pre-surgery visit with the surgeon, he was amazed that I'd walked into his office without a wheelchair or the aid of any support and asked about my pre-accident work-out routine.  Upon looking at the severity of the injury on the x-ray  prior to seeing me that day, he was ready to perform emergency surgery right then! After a short discussion about hot yoga and a nerve reflex test, he sent me home to recover and keep doing yoga. Yoga works! Show up in your yoga, it will show up in you.

By the time I was entering the second year of my practice, my injury was under control.  I was experiencing little to no pain and only on rare occasions, did I feel discomfort as a result of the injury. Staying strong and true to yoga, I grew my practice while exposure to many different teachers helped strengthen it. On a weekend trip to see friends,  I did a hot yoga class, but not Bikram, and discovered the catalyst to expand and broaden my yoga perspective.  The studio offered a hot vinyasa flow style of yoga in combination with the classic 26 postures of the Bikram practice. Wow!  Again, I was hooked.  I'd found something new, something more, something to further my yoga practice. Upon returning home, I shared my experience with fellow yogis and got back into my Bikram practice, but knew I wanted more.

Rebecca (Jordan-Turner) provided the “more.” She was offering hot yoga in a home studio that led to Revolution Hot Yoga (RHY).   Her small studio became my new yoga home, a place where I could build on my Bikram foundation and begin to explore the vast world of yoga postures outside the classic 26. In each practice, I found that my awareness, focus, and balance was becoming so much more present. 

As RHY began to take shape, I became aware of Jimmy Barkan's yoga and another journey began. Jimmy, another yogi starting with Bikram, took his own journey outside the classic 26 and developed his own style of yoga.  Jimmy’s teacher training was calling to me, and I completed the Level I teaching certification training in September of 2013 which took my yoga practice to whole different level. The teacher training was the most difficult task of my life, but also the most rewarding. 

I have found my yoga home and yoga family at RHY.  Namaste!

This is Kevin Scott's yoga story.

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A Kinder, Gentler Version Of Myself

I can’t remember exactly when I was first introduced to yoga. For several years, I would take a class here and there and had a couple of Brian Kest Power Yoga DVDs that I would pull out every now and then, but I wasn't a regular practitioner. That is, until last May.

I was out of shape and living with my parents in Columbus, Ohio where I would crash between singing gigs. At the time, I was running several times a week but if I’m going to be completely honest, I hate running. Because I have asthma, it’s always a struggle to keep my breath going depending on the day and how active I have been.  If I stop running for a period of time, I have to put my lungs through training all over again which is no fun.

My sister talked about going to hot yoga and sparked my interest. Being a dancer in high school and college, I missed the way my body felt moving through space. After doing a little research I found a lot of information on Bikram Yoga, which a few of my singer friends swore by. But I couldn’t quite wrap my head around locking myself in a 105 degree room for 90 minutes. What kind of crazy did you have to be to do this?

Everything I read said that you needed to give it a few classes before you determine whether or not hot yoga is for you. I decided that if I was going to give Bikram yoga a try, I was going to make a commitment to myself to go five times a week for the first month. And so last May, I walked through the doors of Bikram Hot Yoga Columbus. I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful the studio and teachers were. It was the perfect place for me to begin my practice. I spent that first class nauseous and dizzy and thinking to myself “What have I gotten myself into?” But I stuck to my guns and at the end of the first month, my body was changing and so was my life. I was hooked!

I moved back to Greensboro in November and immediately tried another yoga studio in town. The hot room smelled of mold and the staff was less than friendly. I went a handful of times, but something was off. It just never felt right. Having come from a wonderful studio with amazing teachers made going there even more difficult. I missed the community that I had become a part of and there was an air about this studio that was just off-putting. I can’t explain it exactly, but I was heart-broken because I was determined to continue my practice.

After hearing about Revolution Hot Yoga (RHY) from a friend, I signed up for an unlimited week. Following the first class, however, I was a little sad because it wasn't the Bikram yoga I'd come to love. But Rebecca (Jordan-Turner) was so lovely, and I was determined to give it a fair shake. I’m so glad I did. The teachers at RHY are all such kind, giving people, and after that first week, I felt like I’d known them a long time. 

Once my brain moved past the differences from the Bikram sequence, I found the Revolution Series to be challenging and inspiring. I feel like it will allow my practice to grow, and I'll never outgrow it because it’s never exactly the same from class to class. 

I like how strong and powerful I feel practicing hot yoga, and I've been able to do things I never imagined my body could do. One night when attending an Advanced Practice Club class with Rebecca and Emily (Rex), I found that my body was actually able to do a few handstands and headstands. I remember getting into a 90 degree handstand and thinking “I can’t believe my arms are strong enough to do this!” It was a great high!

Being a perfectionist by nature and extremely driven, any time I can’t do something “perfectly” or the way my mind thinks it should be done the voices in my head start to taunt me. After a recent car accident, I've had to take a step back from competition with myself. It's been and continues to be a journey to learn to accept where my body is that day and find peace with it, even if I could do it better yesterday, last week or last month. It’s a very grounding experience. 

A regular yoga practice has helped me in so many ways. I’m an opera singer and breathing is the baseline upon which a singer builds technique. Without breath, there is no singing. The Ujjayi or Pranayama breathing that is practiced in Bikram has helped me with this tremendously. My lung capacity has increased along with the ability to better regulate my breath. Additionally, practicing yoga has gotten rid of a lot of tension that I tend to carry in my back and shoulders, and the pain that used to follow me around from a dislocated hip when I was a dancer is completely gone. Learning to accept where I am on any given day has followed me into auditions, rehearsals, and performances. 

Yoga makes me a more balanced human, and I'm kinder, gentler version of myself when I'm practicing regularly. Yoga asks us to slow down, bring our focus inward, and quiet our minds.  I find that I can focus more steadily through the day by taking the time to care for my body in the hot room.

This is Stacy Dove's yoga story.

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