My immediate thought when I read this, “wow, that is a breakthrough for you”. Having empathy for yourself leads to having empathy for others as well. Good for you.
First off for the life of me I do not understand hot yoga. I have been diligently practicing yoga for the last eight years and the thought of turning the heat up to over 100° and making it feel like I can’t breathe does not seem very interesting or all that useful. There was a YouTube video floating around that shows Gandhi taking a hot yoga class. Among other things he complains about the artificial heat. Now doing yoga outside in the summer is a different feeling entirely than being cooped up in a room with the heat on. I learned something from my teacher that has been very helpful to me over the past four or five years. Given the number of injuries I am dealing with I had to learn to do the exercise that I needed, not what I wanted to do. And then I had to learn to feel OK with that. So I let go of the heavy powerlifting and killer weight workouts. I stopped doing the super hard martial arts workouts. Using a combination of yoga, tai chi, physical therapy exercises, core exercise similar to your Wednesday workouts, walking and exercise bike I’ve been able put together enough exercise to keep my mental health calm and give my body the exercise it needs. The temptation to push hard comes back now and then, and I always realize that pushing hard usually exacerbates my injuries and then I can’t do anything for a little while until things calm down. So the new motto is that more is the enemy of good enough.
Mark, I hear you on the difficulty of moving away from the workouts you have grown accustomed to in your relative youth. I'm actually proud of myself for having recently quit barbell squats in favor of deadlifts and single-leg exercises. and that's just the beginning of the adjustments that I know are coming.
I could not resist providing the link to "If Ghandi took a yoga class" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-IwUEh9Gm4 As for as adjustments go to your workout routines, perhaps there will be fewer than you think. It's depends on what you need and those adjustments occur at different times for everybody based on how their aging process goes and what your current limits are.
Good read! I support giving yourself a freaking break sometimes. I think when you’ve always been a very physical person, it’s hard not to over-identify with that. But, if we’re lucky, we age, and physicality changes. Sometimes if I feel anxious about aging related stuff I give myself a hug and say, this is what’s supposed to happen. It’s great to remain active and vibrant and healthy but hell yeah, give yourself some damn grace.
Yes! I'm glad your teacher underlined the present-moment-ness of yoga, the nonattachment. I continually relearn these concepts, and will all my life, because like you say, I have steeped in American focus on productivity, control, ego.
People talk about yoga being good for flexibility (which it is), basically stretching. Of course there is stretching in yoga, but it's also a lot of weightlifting, with your body as the weight. I like to take barre class followed by hot yoga. Paul, as a 60 year old woman, I occasionally violate another of yoga's values: resisting comparison. I will be in wheel, feeling a little smug next to struggling 30 year olds.
I've practiced yoga for 20 years and hot yoga for 14. It's habit forming (and controversial, based on the yoga subReddit). Whatever angst or irritation I have when I start a class, it's rinsed out by the end of class. Namaste.
Judy, thank you for your note. Interesting to read it. I think you're allowed to feel good about kicking yoga ass compared to people have your age. But I'm curious about what is controversial, exactly, and how Reddit is involved. If you care to explain. (And if you don't, that's entirely fine as well.)
I meant to reply here sooner! I appreciated this Q, Paul Z.
There’s a subreddit, “r/yoga,” where teachers and students discuss all things yoga. Aspects of the controversy: Hot yoga dangerously promotes hyperflexibility vs hot yoga facilitates deep stretching. Hot yoga is too athletic vs hot yoga is nicely rigorous. Hot yoga is too distant from (too unlike) yoga’s roots vs hot yoga is more in tune with its hot origins in India. There’s much more to the ways hot yoga gets under folks’ skin. I just like how I feel in and after class
Thanks for this Paul! This is a brilliant way to reframe our fitness expectations. Gosh we can all be so hard on ourselves. I have gone through many yoga phases from yin to yang, all temps, including a long stint at punishing Ashtanga inversions. I am now settling into something called warm yin, sometimes with candlelight. It feels just right. Namaste!
After hot yoga, warm yoga with sounds quite nice, I must admit, Annie. Unlike you, I have not gone through any yoga phases at all, but I look forward to starting. Seems like a good way to age with STRENGTH, as they say.
I was a hatha hot yoga practitioner for 10+ years. Almost on the daily. I stopped during Covid because I felt the environment to be very unhygienic and learning about an air borne pandemic just made me stop in my tracks and really think differently -- packed like sardines inside the studio, people not wearing deoderant, walking through pools of sweat after the last class to get to mat space, practitioners coughing and hacking phlem.
I absolutely loved hot yoga and lived for it until I didn't. It changed that fast. I had come to experience it was the only physical activity that rested my body and mind like long distance running once did in my 20-30's. Post Covid, and now entering my 60's, I practice most of the 26 poses in my own home in the evenings as my daily wind down. And I continue with other types of exercise: spring and summer hiking, year round long walks, evening swims at the local aquatic center, winter snowshoeing.
"But the invaluable lesson I’ve already learned from those three yoga sessions is that my body is not me, and it deserves my respect and compassion at regular intervals." I love this!
Good word Paul. One-More-Grind!
Danny, the journey is the point, I guess. Thanks for your note.
My immediate thought when I read this, “wow, that is a breakthrough for you”. Having empathy for yourself leads to having empathy for others as well. Good for you.
I think I'm better at compassion for others than myself, but I could do a lot more on that front also, Mom. You're absolutely right.
First off for the life of me I do not understand hot yoga. I have been diligently practicing yoga for the last eight years and the thought of turning the heat up to over 100° and making it feel like I can’t breathe does not seem very interesting or all that useful. There was a YouTube video floating around that shows Gandhi taking a hot yoga class. Among other things he complains about the artificial heat. Now doing yoga outside in the summer is a different feeling entirely than being cooped up in a room with the heat on. I learned something from my teacher that has been very helpful to me over the past four or five years. Given the number of injuries I am dealing with I had to learn to do the exercise that I needed, not what I wanted to do. And then I had to learn to feel OK with that. So I let go of the heavy powerlifting and killer weight workouts. I stopped doing the super hard martial arts workouts. Using a combination of yoga, tai chi, physical therapy exercises, core exercise similar to your Wednesday workouts, walking and exercise bike I’ve been able put together enough exercise to keep my mental health calm and give my body the exercise it needs. The temptation to push hard comes back now and then, and I always realize that pushing hard usually exacerbates my injuries and then I can’t do anything for a little while until things calm down. So the new motto is that more is the enemy of good enough.
Mark, I hear you on the difficulty of moving away from the workouts you have grown accustomed to in your relative youth. I'm actually proud of myself for having recently quit barbell squats in favor of deadlifts and single-leg exercises. and that's just the beginning of the adjustments that I know are coming.
I could not resist providing the link to "If Ghandi took a yoga class" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-IwUEh9Gm4 As for as adjustments go to your workout routines, perhaps there will be fewer than you think. It's depends on what you need and those adjustments occur at different times for everybody based on how their aging process goes and what your current limits are.
Good read! I support giving yourself a freaking break sometimes. I think when you’ve always been a very physical person, it’s hard not to over-identify with that. But, if we’re lucky, we age, and physicality changes. Sometimes if I feel anxious about aging related stuff I give myself a hug and say, this is what’s supposed to happen. It’s great to remain active and vibrant and healthy but hell yeah, give yourself some damn grace.
Anna, well said, as usual. Do you actually physically give yourself a hug? Or were you speaking metaphorically?
Sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically depending on the situation.
That’s very sweet. I don't think I've ever literally hugged myself. But it seems like a good idea.
Yes! I'm glad your teacher underlined the present-moment-ness of yoga, the nonattachment. I continually relearn these concepts, and will all my life, because like you say, I have steeped in American focus on productivity, control, ego.
People talk about yoga being good for flexibility (which it is), basically stretching. Of course there is stretching in yoga, but it's also a lot of weightlifting, with your body as the weight. I like to take barre class followed by hot yoga. Paul, as a 60 year old woman, I occasionally violate another of yoga's values: resisting comparison. I will be in wheel, feeling a little smug next to struggling 30 year olds.
I've practiced yoga for 20 years and hot yoga for 14. It's habit forming (and controversial, based on the yoga subReddit). Whatever angst or irritation I have when I start a class, it's rinsed out by the end of class. Namaste.
Judy, thank you for your note. Interesting to read it. I think you're allowed to feel good about kicking yoga ass compared to people have your age. But I'm curious about what is controversial, exactly, and how Reddit is involved. If you care to explain. (And if you don't, that's entirely fine as well.)
I meant to reply here sooner! I appreciated this Q, Paul Z.
There’s a subreddit, “r/yoga,” where teachers and students discuss all things yoga. Aspects of the controversy: Hot yoga dangerously promotes hyperflexibility vs hot yoga facilitates deep stretching. Hot yoga is too athletic vs hot yoga is nicely rigorous. Hot yoga is too distant from (too unlike) yoga’s roots vs hot yoga is more in tune with its hot origins in India. There’s much more to the ways hot yoga gets under folks’ skin. I just like how I feel in and after class
Judy, I understand now. Thanks for clarifying all of that. I'm with you. Hot yoga just feels good.
A great reminder to be compassionate with ourselves.
Thanks for this Paul! This is a brilliant way to reframe our fitness expectations. Gosh we can all be so hard on ourselves. I have gone through many yoga phases from yin to yang, all temps, including a long stint at punishing Ashtanga inversions. I am now settling into something called warm yin, sometimes with candlelight. It feels just right. Namaste!
After hot yoga, warm yoga with sounds quite nice, I must admit, Annie. Unlike you, I have not gone through any yoga phases at all, but I look forward to starting. Seems like a good way to age with STRENGTH, as they say.
I was a hatha hot yoga practitioner for 10+ years. Almost on the daily. I stopped during Covid because I felt the environment to be very unhygienic and learning about an air borne pandemic just made me stop in my tracks and really think differently -- packed like sardines inside the studio, people not wearing deoderant, walking through pools of sweat after the last class to get to mat space, practitioners coughing and hacking phlem.
I absolutely loved hot yoga and lived for it until I didn't. It changed that fast. I had come to experience it was the only physical activity that rested my body and mind like long distance running once did in my 20-30's. Post Covid, and now entering my 60's, I practice most of the 26 poses in my own home in the evenings as my daily wind down. And I continue with other types of exercise: spring and summer hiking, year round long walks, evening swims at the local aquatic center, winter snowshoeing.
"But the invaluable lesson I’ve already learned from those three yoga sessions is that my body is not me, and it deserves my respect and compassion at regular intervals." I love this!