I know what you’re thinking by the title of this article – this girl is a crunchy granola tree hugger. She must be, right? She loves to do yoga as a form of “exercise.” But, it turns out that you would be very wrong if that is indeed what you are thinking. Because, after my months of practice, I have realized that this form of exercise can benefit anyone- and I mean ANYONE. It doesn’t matter if you are a heavy weight lifter, a runner, a non-exerciser, or someone who loves to cut down trees. I guarantee it will leave you sore and satisfied after a single class.
Although I talk about yoga like this now, I didn’t always have this viewpoint. I didn’t think I was “earthy” enough to do this type of exercise. However, after some recommendations from friends about the practice, I finally decided to try it. I threw aside whatever stereotypes I had about people who do yoga and finally dragged myself to a class in a 102-degree room.
Although the heat of the room is one of my favorite things about the experience, I initially wasn’t very exuberant about the thought of spending an hour in a room baking with heat, all the while exercising. Driving to my first class, my mind kept chanting, “You’re going to faint. You’re going to faint.” This horrible image kept appearing in my mind: me, mid tree pose, falling onto the floor and having the instructor drag me out.
However, I survived my first class, and have never felt better. I didn’t even come close to fainting, however, due to the heat of the room combined with the heat from the bodies of 15 other people, I left like I had just taken a swim in the ocean. You sweat from places you didn’t even think you could sweat from (my shins have glands? Really?). And if you love to sweat like I do, this will be your favorite part about the practice. After a good hour of exercise and toning in a 100-plus degrees, you feel like that burger and fries you had yesterday for dinner left your body in form of sweat. And for that reason, it’s always good to go after you had a little too much fun the night before. Instead of dreading doing exercise feeling like that, I look forward to it. You sweat out all of last night’s mistakes and leave feeling like a whole new person.
Along with the profuse sweating that leads to a feeling of detoxification, hot yoga has tons of benefits. One of the most obvious is the creation of a leaner, toner body. When I first started practicing, I imagined myself trying to balance on my head and putting my foot behind my neck, and wondered how that could possibly strengthen any muscle in your body. It became very clear to me, and very fast, how this can quickly tone your entire body. In one class, you do push-ups, crunches, bicep curls, and planks. And in between sets of creating new muscle, you subsequently stretch out your muscles to create the look of a leaner body opposed to a bulky one. I’m sure all ladies can agree that this is much preferred.
Along with the physical benefits, yoga has serious mental benefits as well. It makes you less stressed, more in touch with your body, and definitely more relaxed. I hope now, you readers who have gotten to the bottom of this article are convinced that yoga is more than just saying, “OHHHHMMM” and sitting with your feet over your shins. I recommend all of you to try a class, and if you’re not hooked, we’ll give you your money back guaranteed. Just kidding.
