My Bikram Yoga Community

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Every class, we enter the hot room as individuals, coming from our separate lives and unique experiences, and we leave the hot room as individuals, heading back out into our own place in the world, but while we are inside, we are a community, connected through our practice.

Each of us has our own story to tell. One woman always sets up in the back corner where it is warmest. She comes straight from work on the night shift. Another finishes up a work call on her cellphone before heading into the studio. Another puts her children on the school bus and dashes to class. I often walk past her on my way to the studio. One gentleman always comes in late, but settles in quietly. Someone is from England. Someone else is from China. And so it goes.

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Interesting Reads: Poser – My Life In Twenty-three Yoga Poses

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Welcome to Hot Off The Mat’s next installment of Interesting Reads, where I periodically recommend books on yoga and meditation. If you have book suggestions, please let me know. Enjoy!

Knowing how much I love yoga, my friend recently suggested I read Poser: My Life in Twenty-tree Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer. Poser is the story of Claire, who after the birth of her first child, is searching for answers. How can she be the perfect mom, while continuing to be a good wife, friend, daughter and freelance writer all at the same time? To find sanity in her daily life, she turns to yoga. Claire’s journey to find the right style of yoga for her takes her through some less than ideal studios and teachers, but also through some great ones. Through her exploration of yoga, she learns about herself, works through deep-seated insecurities, and finds the courage to stay true to herself when making important life choices.

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How Should We Breathe In Savasna?

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I love savasna! I mean, who doesn’t? To me, savasna is the dessert after the healthy meal. It is the whipped cream on the sundae, the icing on the cupcake, the cashmere in the sweater. Alright, enough already, but as you can see, I like it very much. And it is an incredibly important part of the yoga practice as well, as it provides the opportunity for the body to absorb the benefits of the prior postures. A win-win situation if I every saw one.

While I know savasna has a proper form, I often just lie there comfortably in relaxation. Well, that is not exactly true. I do keep my heels together and let my toes drift out to the side, and I do keep my arms extended next to my body with my palms facing up. Other than that, I just lie there in heaven. But how should we be breathing in savasna?

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What Happened To My Feet?!?

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I am sad to report that I can no longer comfortably wear my most favorite pair of summer pumps. They are gorgeous. They are Prada. And they were very expensive! I always liked to wear them to show off my Bikram yoga calves, but alas, they are no more. My feet are too big! Too wide to be exact. Is this from the yoga?

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In Yoga, The Form Is the Substance

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I’ve been thinking a lot about form over substance lately. Form over substance is the concept that the image or look of something matters more than the content or ideas behind it. We are working on a strategic plan at Hearing Health Foundation and while most of the strategic plan discussion centers on the organization’s mission and goals for the next five years, as it should, part of the conversation has been about the form of the plan.

For example, does it matter if the plan is a powerpoint document or a word document? Is it important to use images as part of the plan? Should we lead with the mission statement or the financial goals? In this situation, I think both the form and the substance are important, since the content is not helpful unless it is understood by others, but clearly the substance takes precedence.

This got me thinking about yoga (doesn’t everything?) and how in yoga, the form actually IS the substance. Doesn’t that make things simple?

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