My Hot Yoga Experience
Let’s dive straight in…it seems to be the case that everyone thinks that when you work in fitness you’re automatically confident in every workout-related situation…WRONG!
The truth is everyone has their own fears, worries and insecurities…including fitness professionals in fitness settings.
On Tuesday night I went to my first ever Hot Pod Yoga class. For anyone that doesn’t know, it’s a yoga class in like a blow up tent that looks a bit like a bouncy castle, with 37 degree heat inside.
Before I went I was nervous! I didn’t know what to expect, what the ‘rules’ were, like where do you put your stuff, should I take my own mat, have I got enough water, will I be too hot etc.
When I got there, Elaine, the instructor, was really lovely and welcoming…and then I stepped in the pod and spent 5 minutes before the class started planning my escape.
If you didn’t know (I’m not sure why you would as I don’t tell anyone), I freak out in enclosed and hot spaces. For example, lifts. When I feel too boxed in and hot my natural reaction is to take layers off or escape. Once I went to the Shard (I know how posh!) with my friend Joanne and in the lift on the way up (which takes a while given the size of the building), I panicked so much that by the time we got to the top I’d almost stripped down to my bra…Joanne was like ‘put your clothes back on please.’
So as I sat in the pod with my own thoughts, I ran through all of the ways I could do a runner if I panicked too much…but then I started to talk to myself differently in my head.
‘For goodness sake Katie, people do this class all the time, there’s nothing to worry about.’
‘Take deep breathes, you won’t be the only one who’s hot.’
‘You’ll really enjoy it when you get going.’
…and you know what, I BLOODY LOVED IT!
I’d 100% recommend trying it. The class was brilliant, Elaine was such a great instructor, super friendly and great at her delivery, and I slept wonderfully last night too.
The moral of the story is, we all worry about trying new things when it comes to exercise, for lots of different reasons…and that’s totally ok. What we shouldn’t do is let those worries and fears stop us from trying new things.
Whether it’s trying a new class, booking up with a PT or joining a gym. You won’t be the first or last person to ever get butterflies and try and talk yourself out of doing something that’s outside of your comfort zone.
So, if you’ve been mulling over starting something new in the world of fitness, go for it! The worst that can happen is you feel like it’s not for you after all…but on the flip side you can find something you love doing, that gives you the results you want and makes you feel on top of the world.
Now go book onto the thing you’ve been putting off!
