Why does it feel like I am living Ground Hog's Day with Bill Murray over and over again when I take Hot Yoga ??? Good news you are on the right path! Our Studio South Hot Yoga sequence is therapeutically designed to take your body through it's full range of motion in a safe and extremely effective manner. When students first come to practice on a regular basis they may begin to notice how similar the structure of Hot Yoga class is from one to teacher to the next .....
That's great news! By keeping it consistent you can focus on the true intent of yoga which is to move inward, not outward. If the poses are the same you are able to listen to your body, noticing the differences that each new day brings. Are you tighter or more open on one side than the other. You begin to bring a new awareness to each movement and before you know it that "same" pose begins to evolve and feel totally different. This leads to growth both on the mat and off.
A consistent format can also help to avoid injury. Think about your yoga practice like a science experiment....let me take you back to your grade school days of hypothesis, and variable, and constant....the physical postures are your constant. By keeping your practice regular and steady you are able to form hypothesis about your body.
Take this little experiment for example:
Scenario: You practice Hot Yoga on a regular basis (3 or more times a week). You also enjoying gardening.
Hypothesis: Gardening causes my shoulders to tighten and decreases my range of motion. By practicing Hot Yoga I can maintain my range of motion and avoid injury.
Constant: Hot Yoga Practice.
Variable: A day spent gardening
Result: Since you practice yoga on a regular basis you know your body and it's full range of motion. You also notice that the days following a gardening session, your right shoulder is tighter than normal. Rather than continue to tighten the shoulder during yoga practice you focus on loosening it up, perhaps by adjusting your normal poses. But you are able to work on your range of motion and prevent a tight shoulder from becoming an injured shoulder. All because you were able to compare how you typically feel in a pose versus how you feel after gardening.
Clearly....I am not a scientist...and Mr. Davis, my high school science teacher, may demand a retest, but you get the point, right? Keeping your practice steady allows you to go deeper inward listening to your body....afterall isn't that the goal????
Namaste Y'all,
Katy