The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › General Hot Yoga Discussion › Hot Yoga *faq* › Why did you join hot yoga?
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › General Hot Yoga Discussion › Hot Yoga *faq* › Why did you join hot yoga?
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a friend and i were talking today about why we joined orignally and we wondered why other people joined so i thought i’d post a message and ask.
originally i joined to lose weight and reduce stress.
why did you originally join hot yoga?
Hi Linda,
Wow! What a great question!
I am sure yogis will have great stories to post here. Mine is quite simple though…
I couldn’t exactly tell you why I started to practise Hot Yoga…I think I was just drawn to it! Sport has always played a very important role in my life and I was looking for a new challenge at the beginning of 2008. Even though I enjoyed my first class very much, I didn’t return for months. I remember how shocked I was, when I saw sweat rolling down on my ankles after the first forward bend. 🙂
I think with time the original reason or motivation transforms and it may even become something completely different.
Namaste,
Andrea
I was motivated to do something physical because of my emerging hip pain, caused by hours of sitting on my butt and working at a computer. Then I saw a flyer for my local studio. On the front was a woman in standing head to knee pose….with a large bead of sweat dripping off her heel. The text was: “26 postures. 90 minutes. 105 degrees”. For some reason that made me want to check it out. I’m glad I did….hip pain has long since gone.
-Kristin
I have my best friend to thank for pointing me toward Bikram. Day after day, we’d have lunch together, and she would tell me the story of a 400 pound man at her studio who’d lost half his weight, how good he looked, how great he felt. I was a “mere” 325 pounds, with back pains and hip pains and depression. After listening to my friend’s story for a while, I took the hint and tried it myself. I was instantly hooked.
Of course, like so many students, I came for weight loss but stay for other reasons. I found myself eating better, being less stressed, being more meditative, being less depressed.
But I digress. You asked why we came to hot yoga, not why we stayed.
I came because my best friend convinced me of its value. And she was right.
I came to Hot Yoga because I was closing in on 50, having always been athletically active (more participting in sports than working out) …. But with the ever harder to cope with baggage of a veritable lifetime of back issues … And neck issues and recent knee ligament issues…..i wanted to be able to continue ice hockey and golf…..
My chiropractor and athletic therapist had been able to keep me going, hut i needed to find something that would keep me toned and limber…. That i enjoyed doing….
I have never liked exErcising just for exercising’s sake….. I was staying in shape by doing sports, but this was bwcoming tougher as i grew older…..
I had heard aboit Hot Yoga, but the final kicker was the internet copon. That got me in the door,…… nd it has been 5 months of pretty regular practice….. First Bikram, and more recemtly Moksha….. In fact i signed up for 30 Day challenge and tomorrrow morning is Day14!!!
I am feeling great, … Can’t say weight is coming off, but shape is changing…..
A friend introduced me to it as a form of weight loss, but once I felt the incredible detoxing and calming benefits, I was hooked! These days I just can’t get enough hot yoga. When I tell my friends it’s: “The. Best. Thing. Ever.”, my hubby gets a little miffed 😉
Back when my first son was still a baby and I was about a month away from defending my PhD, the stress was starting to getting to me. I found BYSJ online and saw the 10 days for $20 package for beginners and thought it was a good deal. I went to my first class and absolutely hated it while I was in the room–I struggled alot with the heat. I just kept telling myself that all I had to do was finish the class and then I would never have to go back. Then, while resting in my car after class, I noticed how deep and slow my breath was…I realized I hadn’t taken a proper breath in years…it was simultaneously scary and exhilarating, but mostly it just made me feel hopeful. So I came back the next day and stuck with it.
One of my closest friends discovered Bikram yoga three years ago. We haven’t lived in the same city in years, but I knew that she was getting into it and then she did the teacher training last autumn. When I saw her two months ago she sort of dared me to sign up to one of those intro deals at a studio near me. And she promised that I’d lose a dress size in a month if I went four times a week. She made me promise to go two days in a row. I’m glad I did. If I’d gone just once, I’m not sure I’d have gone back. But the second class was a revelation.
Well… I didn’t quite lose a dress size (I’m very overweight – so there’s a big gaps between sizes at my weight) but I have definitely gotten smaller, fitter and happier. I saw her again a couple of weeks ago and she congratulated me on my weight loss, but I had to tell her I was 2 pounds heavier (I’m now exactly the same weight as when I started.) And this same friend who I used to smoke with and hit the bars with – instead we went to yoga together and it was awesome.
And now when I see new people at the studio I tell them about coming back in 24 hours and what a difference it will make – and not to judge it by how they feel after the first class.
I was 54 and going to the gym regularly, so I was strong but lacking flexibility. A friend recommended Bikram yoga to me – I had never heard of it before. She suggested it because by nature I am very focused. My first class was tough but I got through it. Within 6 months I found I was calmer in meetings and even more able to focus. Now after 3.5 years my flexibility is better but nowhere near what I want or expect. Hot yoga is the most difficult thing I have ever done – I compare it to when I was a wrestler in HS, but I was young then. Now at 57 it can sometimes be torture or bliss, I am never quite sure how my practice will turn out. I just bought the Masterclass so I am looking forward to finding ways to improve and acheive that flexibility that continues to elude me.
Namaste! -
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