Growing up, I spent most of my childhood in Texas. And yes, the heat was disgusting and even unbearable at times. When I arrived at college I kept on hearing about hot yoga, and all of the benefits that it had. I couldn't believe that it was actually a thing that people willingly did and at times payed for. Why would someone put themselves through such hell? Why pay money to be placed in a sauna and forced to replicate weird animals in different poses (cow, cat, dog). I just didn't understand.

When most people talk about hot yoga, they talk about how nauseated they felt when they tried it, or that they, “had to leave, because the heat got to them.” But as anyone in college knows, your first year is filled with so many new people eager and hungry to create new memories with new you. New interests are born, and in return the adventurous and daring side of you wants to step out of your comfort zone and just experience other peoples passions with them. Even if it includes being in a hot room filled with sweaty people all trying to create their "ogai" breath...(whatever that is).

So there I was one Friday night in December starting a free week trial that the local hot yoga studio provided. I approached the door that already had condensation all over it from the sauna-like temperature from the class before and thought to myself "What are you doing?". Pushing past the doubt, I then opened the door to find my glasses immediately becoming fogged over as if they were stunned by the humidity that had just hit them. Class started with a simple sitting pose with hands at heart center and I almost immediately started sweating.

When the beginning stages of this class start and you start sweating, you kind of brush it off like it's not a big deal, and say, “Wow, you're already starting to sweat, this should be easy since your just sitting here.” Then reality sets in and within the span of 5 minutes your literally drinking your sweat, standing in your sweat and trying to do these weird and almost impossible poses while trying to personify happiness with a face that looks like you just ran a marathon.

It's funny, because when you're in class they try to make it a relaxing experience, and in most ways it is. Its quiet, and the music is so perfect to motivate you but still keep you in the mood. But at times the different poses and many countdowns that the instructor promises you halfway throughout a pose creates a weirdly competitive side of you. It's a side that wants to have the best pose, and to stick that eagle bound airplane like no one's business.

After an hour of doing movements that wouldn’t normally be hard in every day life but quickly turn into a range of impossible tasks you begin to realize how hard this hot yoga thing is. You start to feel guilty because at some point throughout the hour you started to give your instructor sass by coming out of the pose 5 seconds early cause you're literally just done and the heat is consuming you and she obviously doesn't understand.

The teacher's voice finally becomes softer as she whispers to go into your shabasenah (basically a command to lay there like your dead) and you're all like, “Praise God, congratulations you have redeemed yourself."

The next day, people ask you how the hot yoga session went and you note how hard it was, but can tell how flexible you became in the past 24 hours. Surviving that one hour session of hell was an extreme accomplishment of yours and this feeling of gratefulness has got you hooked on this hot yoga band wagon.

Freshman year is one of a kind. You find out weird quirky things about yourself that you didn't know existed. If you're like me, you start venturing out and become interested in what different people are passionate about. Even though it was such a weird concept for me to understand at first, hot yoga quickly became one of mine.