When I think of yoga I think of a perfect size two body doing all types of inversions and basically trying out for cirque du soleil.

Clearly yoga is way more than that.

Lately I’ve become more comfortable with myself and have been more open to try things that I typically wouldn’t go for, such as a hot yoga class. I was invited to try out the class by a local creatives group and since the studio was near my office I figured I try it.

When I think about hot yoga the image that comes to mind is something out of a horror movie and someone it being cooked alive. Yes I am a bit dramatic. Thankfully my experience at Illumi8 Studio was not a scary one. The atmosphere was very friendly and the instructor was kind. I’ve taken traditional yoga classes in the past and was familiar with a few of the name of the poses and for the rest I just peaked at my neighbor and followed along. There was a “freestyle” portion of classes where you could either repeat the sequence of follow your own, I saw a few people upside down and bent like pretzels and decided “child’s pose” was where I should hangout.

The hot part – my eyelids were sweating! At the beginning the class doesn’t feel that hot but as you are working through the flow you start noticing sweat pouring from parts of your body you don’t typically sweat from. My whole outfit was drenched! At the end of class a staff member walks around and brings you a cool towel and your body temperature decreases. I slept like a baby that night and decided that I had to add yoga to my workout mix.