Make it Hot

I recently returned to a Hot Yoga studio with my friend Steve for the first time in years. I got into it briefly about a decade ago when it was all the rage. When a local Hot studio popped up nearby, I decided to take advantage of a special offer (I’m all about the special offer) and became rather addicted. I’ve moved on from Hot yoga now - it doesn’t quite float my boat anymore - but Steve is still happily attending and remains entirely obsessed.

Hot yoga isn’t for the faint-hearted. You go through a sequence of (some fairly mad) postures in oppressive heat for 90 minutes. I see it as a great aerobic exercise session (bonus - your skin will never look better) that gives you added satisfaction at how much more flexible you are when warm.

There were two newbies in this class of regulars. As we put our shoes back on, I told one of them, “You did great for just staying in the room.” I volunteered that in my first hot class, I ran out panting as I couldn’t handle the heat. In the second class (I had paid up using the special offer, after all), I almost vomited and spent ten minutes retching and writhing whilst the person next to me tried to focus on his standing-head-to-knee balance, throwing serious daggers at me.

Acheing as I find myself to ensure any yoga beginner gives it a fair chance, I was trying to encourage him not to be disheartened, not to give up or run away. Because that’s what I did when I first started.

Not for me

Years before my Hot yoga experience, I attended my first-ever class at the Light Centre in London. My flatmate, Manae, encouraged me to go with her. At the time, I was a junior doctor and not particularly healthy. Manae (who may be reading this - love you, Ma!!) always impressed me with her disciplined self-care - cooking all her meals, running regularly, sleeping early, and practising yoga.

I recall struggling to keep up with the class, feeling out of shape, breathless, and confused. I compared myself to my fellow students and wondered how I could be quite so crap at this weird activity led by an even weirder teacher. Disappointed, I told myself, “I hate this; it’s not for me!” Looking back, I wish I had told myself, “Stick with it a little longer; try another class. You’re a beginner; it’s normal to struggle.” Unfortunately, I didn’t return for years.

Despite my doubts and self-criticism during those early classes, the seeds of yoga had been planted. Eventually, I rediscovered yoga through hot and not-so-hot studios and gyms (with teachers I found slightly less weird 😛)

Begin Again

Going back to Hot yoga with Steve felt fun and challenging in a new way again. The antithesis to how I practice yoga today, it felt like a brand new practice. Despite the foundations I’ve built over the years, I felt like a beginner again, returning to something once familiar with a different body-mind. It’s good to realise that there’s always fresh insight to be mined if we are open to it and don’t fall back on what we think we already know.

If you’re further along in your yoga journey, you may be experiencing a sense of familiarity with your practice. Starting as a raw beginner, progressing to becoming less of a beginner, and eventually becoming a regular practitioner (or what I like to call “a little less of a little less of a beginner”).

Is it true that you can only be a beginner once? Personally, I believe that every time you approach a posture or action with renewed focus and leave behind complacency, you return to the beginning. By not taking our practice for granted and staying present with each opportunity on the mat as if it were our first, we allow ourselves to embrace the open-mindedness and eagerness to learn from a beginner’s mind.

Retreat News

Fast forward, and my first yoga retreat was in 2013 in Turkey. It was the first time I had ever attended a retreat, where I focused on myself through daily yoga and enjoyed the therapeutic effects of the sun, ocean, nutritious food, and great company. Since then, I have been on several retreats; hands down, they have become one of my favourite ways to spend a holiday.

Now, another first. Ten years on, who’d have thought it, but I’m running my own retreat next February. And in the most magical place to do so - Goa, India. Details to follow soon, so watch this space!

Your First Time

Do you remember your first time practising yoga? Is it a distant memory, or can you still recall it vividly?

We’ve all had a series of firsts in our yoga journey - from attending our first-ever class to experiencing a breakthrough, to stepping on the mat again after an injury or achieving mental stillness for the first time.

I am curious to know about your experience. When did you first start practising yoga, how did it make you feel, and what motivated you to keep going? What made you pause, and what brought you back? I love your yoga stories; if you feel so inclined, I’d love it if you would share them with me.

Let’s practise.