I did it. I faced my fear and went to a hot yoga class. My nerves kicked in the minute I called to reserve my spot in the class. I walked into the small classroom, yesterday dressed in capri workout pants and a tank top. I don’t like to wear tanks to exercise in because I spill out of the top when I bend over, but when you are going to exercise in a room that is heated to 90 degrees I didn’t care about big boob spillage, I only cared about not fainting from being overheated.
The room was hot. Man, was it hot. There were 4 or 5 humidifiers doing their jobs very well. When I first entered, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The look of terror on my face must have been evident because a woman asked me if it was my first class. When I told her it was, she encouragingly told me that I would be fine.
I was really concerned if I would be able to make it the entire hour of the class. I had chugged water the day before knowing that there would be a lot of sweat involved, but this wasn’t a puddle of sweat that began to take place, it quickly became a lake of sweat.
As we got started I began to focus more on my breathing and less on the heat. While stretching and going from one pose to the next, I quickly realized how much more flexible I was in the heat. I was able to stretch deeper than usual.
I left the class smelling like a wet dog, my tank was completely soaked, my face was beet red, but I felt cleansed from the inside out, proud, revitalized, invigorated and jonesing for my next hot yoga class.
Letting fear keep me from trying new things would only leave me wondering what it would be like and then I am stuck doing the same old things. I would rather forget the fear and broaden my horizons.
