On October 5th, I opened my email to see my daily LivingSocial deal. I was very excited because the discount was enormous. It was for sessions at Bikram Yoga Durham, a studio in downtown Durham. Not only was it super close to home and a great deal, but it was something I thought I’d like to try. The kicker is this: I would have never signed up without the discount. Not only had I never heard of the studio (it was new), but the price seemed pretty steep – more expensive than a gym membership. The deal broke down both those barriers.

Bikram yoga is tough. The first class, filled with several new practitioners like myself, was a struggle to get through. 105 degrees. 40 percent humidity. 90 minutes of yoga poses. It gets the heart rate up, and I’m not ashamed to say that I had to sit out a few poses and lie still while my legs tingled, the room spun, and I felt nauseous. Not uncommon. But then I came back for more. And then I signed up for more classes at full price.

There’s so much to love about yoga, but I think I know where to start in describing what could be life-changing about it. Yoga teaches you that you only need to be where you are. Can’t get your head all the way to your knee? Bend your knee. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day you’ll be able to do the full expression of a pose, but for now, you’re getting all the benefit exactly where you are.

It’s not a competitive sport. In fact, if you take your eyes off yourself to see how you’re doing compared to others in the class, you’ll probably fall down. You are in that moment for you, doing exactly as well as you can. Feel proud of where you are, push yourself to do better, and find yourself doing better next time.

There is patience involved. I’ve never been accused of being patient. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I hesitated about becoming a parent. I do have patience with my son, but where has my patience with myself been? I know now that I have needed to accept where I am and push myself to do better. That’s the place where progress happens. And then you get to that next place you are supposed to be. Sometimes that place is soaked in sweat, and that’s ok by me.

Tags: Bikram Yoga, Durham, health, Hot Room, LivingSocial, social coupons | Category Life in General