When the Heat is on: Staying Calm in Discomfort
- Cynthia Johnson
I love hot yoga which is yoga practiced in a room heated to 38 degrees Celsius. On Saturday a Yogi who I have seen in the class before bought a friend along and they put their mats beside mine. The friend was new to hot yoga but Experienced Yogi reassured New Yogi that they would love it, “it will change your life,” Experienced Yogi said. Big claim I thought.
New Yogi made a really hard time of it. They huffed, puffed, and flapped with the heat. They fought every pose and turned it into a drama. The temperature was the same for everyone in the room: we all found it hot, - but those of us who have been before have learned that the way to get through the class was to accept the heat, let it flow over you rather than fight it.
I wonder how New Yogi is with discomfort when they are not on the mat? Everyone has times of discomfort; it is how you manage it that counts. You can fight it, huff and flap, let it become a drama, or you can accept it knowing, as we say on our courses, you are in a rapid and calm water will come. In 60 minutes the class is over.
To get beyond discomfort Yogis, like all of us, need to Control their Attention, Detach and Let Go of the thoughts about the heat. Just like in hot yoga, - the heat isn’t going away. Put your attention and energy where it will help you the most, - on what you are trying to achieve, not the discomfort.
Hot yoga might not change your life, but it can teach you some ways of dealing with the heat of it.