If you know me, you know I don’t put in a lot of sweat equity when it comes to personal wellness. Through the challenges of exploring an autoimmune condition diagnosis and balancing multiple jobs, physical fitness has taken a comfortable seat on the back burner as I dive into my mid-twenties. Last week, I had the opportunity to try hot yoga for the first time. Honestly, it was my first organized yoga experience ever led by a professional instructor. Sure, I had done YouTube tutorials on my bedroom floor and with a dozen girls in the basement of my college dorm, but I had never given the real thing a shot in a class setting until now. My experiences might surprise you – they surprised me!
Before Class
I was invited to try my first hot yoga class by Cara Meade, owner of Creative Yoga in Lexington, KY. I was very familiar with her space because I’ve stared longing into the glowing room with folks moving rhythmically as I sit in traffic across the street on my morning and evening commute. Before trying it myself, the space and the movements occurring within felt illusive and unattainable as I looked on from a distance. I wasn’t convinced intentional stretching and stillness in a room full of sweaty people was for me. The night before the class, I was wide awake and a little apprehensive about what was to come. As a relatively nonathletic person, I stressed a little too much about my body’s ability to move and bend and adapt in heat. Fainting from heat exhaustion is a real thing. If it would happen, it would definitely happen to me.
My rattled nerves had me googling “how to survive hot yoga” and “what I wish I knew before doing hot yoga”. The advice was pretty standard: wear lightweight and loose clothing, drink water, stretch, and listen to your body. Finding only things I knew and expected in the depths of the interweb, I went to sleep confident for the class.
The Class
Earlier in the week, I told my boyfriend Alan that I was going to try hot yoga for the first time and he eagerly asked if he could tag along. We’ve both been trying (and mostly failing) to establish a fitness routine that works for our schedules, interests, and finances. This opportunity brought the promise of something new and exciting. I picked up 2 cheap yoga mats at Target a couple hours before class and stood in the aisle puzzled at all of the options for grip and thickness – I wasn’t kidding when I say we’ve never done this before.
Alan and I attended a 101 class at Creative Yoga on Sunday – a practice structured for yoga beginners. I was pleasantly surprised to find a room packed full of kind people, a few of whom I recognized from the community. The class began at a slow pace and definitely picked up in intensity. In ways, it was everything and nothing at all like I imagined it would be.
Class affirmed the fact that I still don’t have much core strength and it took until Wednesday to no longer feel the soreness in muscles I didn’t even know I possessed. Further, this practice reminded me that I still struggle to concentrate and caught myself a little too preoccupied by what everyone else is doing instead of focusing on myself and my own actions. Attending this class surprised me in how resilient my body was even in intense heat, how energy in a room full of people looking for the same stillness and discipline you are resonates so vibrantly, and how energized I felt after leaving. I was really proud of myself to finally have been one of those people moving rhythmically in the glowing room. Not only was my body capable, it craved that movement.
Thoughts After
While I won’t say hot yoga was easy, it was more restorative and necessary for my body that I ever thought prior. I can say with confidence that we’re going back (Alan loved it too!) and that my body and mind needed this experience. The class I attended (led by Molly) was fun, professional, and easy to follow.
When we first arrived at the studio before class, a few girls who couldn’t have been older than 16 were waiting on their mom to pick them up. I couldn’t help but think how differently young people might be raised now with practices like yoga, mindfulness, and meditation becoming both more commonplace and accessible. If stressed out, high-achieving high schooler me had regularly experienced this physical and mental retreat, adult me might have a better grip on true self care.
I can’t recommend this experience and Creative Yoga enough! You can find their current class schedule here. If you try out their classes, be sure to mention me.
This post is sponsored by Creative Yoga in Lexington, KY. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Space, Place & Southern Grace possible!
