I Found Kindness, Compassion and Self-Acceptance Through The Heat
Practicing to be in the heat, to manage your own energy, it will always make you come out of the room a bit different than when you entered.
Hot Yoga: You either love it or hate it… Yes, it does bring out opinions, does it☺?
Maybe there is even an image in your head about how a Hot Yoga class is, the intensity, the ambition, the discipline. No pain no gain, right?
But for me, Hot Yoga changed my life. As the founder of the Hot Sequence, Kristen Campbell always says: Hot Yoga is being with the intensity, for the sake of transformation.
I still vividly remember my conversation with Hilary outside the studio a couple of years back. ‘Why don’t you join the Hot teacher training?’. It was the first time Kristen Campbell would come to Utrecht, as YM was setting up for the Hot Studio.
Even though it was a great suggestion (thanks Hilary☺), Hilary didn’t know that at the time, I was recovering from an intense burn-out. I was at home, not able to work for already more than a year. Joining her vinyasa class that day was a struggle in itself. My energy was low, concentration at a minimum, from sleeplessness to anger, from sadness to depression, everything was in the mix.
Still, I decided to join. A full week, two times per day, a hot yoga class, with theory in between. An intense week, which you can imagine wasn’t the smartest idea on paper.
But in fact, it was the best idea on my road back to balance, to regain my energy, in a way by losing it, finding it, then losing it again to find it again.
I’ve always had tendencies to do too much, trying to strive for perfection, to always go beyond myself to reach goals… quick and efficient. This instantly melted as I got into the room, and stepped on the mat. Not only because I didn’t physically have the energy, but because the practice was so different from a work-out. It is so much more than a work-out, it’s truly a work-in.
I always tell students that come for the first time: see how you go, and no matter what you do, you will sweat anyway. The warmth/heat is an important element in allowing the body to soak it all up, to release what is ready to be released in my practice. And it still is.
Practicing to be in the heat, to manage your own energy, it will always make you come out of the room a bit different than when you entered. Releasing sweat, a great way to cleanse and detox, is similar to the tears that were shed, coming out differently in every practice we go through.
As I continued my journey in discovering yoga, Ayurveda came onto my path as well. Ayurveda gives a great viewpoint on finding balance through looking at everything: people, animals, nature, seasons and cycles, through the lens of the 5 great elements.
Challenged again by theory, where it’s clear that everything can be a medicine, but also a poison, depending on the person. I got told to quit Hot Yoga, as it’s not good for me. The actual name of a burn-out already suggests that there is excess heat, doesn’t it? And yes, I do have quite a bit of fire element in me☺ So the ‘medicine’ that was suggested to me was freshness, and to not add more heat to an already overheated body.
But even though Hot Yoga is definitely not for everyone, it was and still is for me.
The infrared heat, the intensity, it deepens my awareness, helps me focus, and keeps me grounded. The intensity of the heat, the structure of the sequence brought me kindness, compassion and acceptance of myself.
If you go all-in, yes, you will be faced with the immediate feedback in class, you might get pulled back by reality and have to lay down. Helping you to stay true to what is right for you. But you will get back up and try again. Every drop of sweat is an option for you to release what is needed. To make space for new things, to make space for you, to make space for softness to connect with your true strength, your inner strength.
I would love to meet you on the mat, whether it’s for the Hot sequence, the flow of a Vinyasa class or the warmth in a warm Yin, you are welcome to experience what it can do for you.
And you know what the best medicine for some intense heat is according to Ayurveda? Humor! So come join classes, and experience that for yourself.. .bad jokes sometimes included☺ . It brings me a lot of joy to see your smiles on the mat.
Liefs,
‘To sweat is to pray, to make an offering of your innermost self. Sweat is holy water, prayer beads, pearls of liquid that release your past. The more you dance… the more you sweat, the more you pray. The more you pray, the closer you are to ecstasy’ – Gabrielle Roth
To join Janneke in a class, to laugh and to sweat together, check her schedule at Yoga Moves here.