ARE YOU ATTACHED TO THE HEAT?

During our yoga classes, we teach students to embrace the mindful practice of non-attachment – encouraging them to let go of their attachments to people, to possessions, to beliefs, to concepts and more. As the word ‘practice’ suggests, this is a never-ending lesson, and while with some things are very easy let go, we can feel resistance to others. Ironically, one of the things we’ve noticed many of our students have become strongly attached to is the heat and humidity associated with Bikram classes.

“I can’t practice without the heat,” we hear them say. “But I need to sweat to really concentrate and meditate,” is another. “The heat warms up my muscles,” gets bandied around. This is purely attachment talking. To practice yoga, you need nothing but your breath and your body. If you practice Bikram yoga and the above statements strike a chord in you, we’d like to challenge you to try our Hatha Vinyasa Yoga classes. Just try. But keep in mind that in order to give it a proper try, you will need to attend more than one class. You may not love it at first – but did you love your first Bikram class? (90% of our students say no!)

Your first class is a little like an observation session. You’re learning a new breathing technique, the sequence is different, you use new muscles and may feels some kind of discomfort, your concentration may not be as finely attuned as in your usual class. It’s different. But push yourself to do it again, and in the next class, and the class after that, you will go a little deeper, and then deeper. You adapt to the breathing, you start to remember the sequence, your concentration is fine tuned. You might even like it! Constant repetition (in any aspect of your life) is not good for your body or your mind – let go of the attachment and you might even find you like it!