Have you ever asked these questions before?

     How often should I practice hot yoga per week?  Will I get cardio with it?  Will I lose muscle from it?  Should I lift weights while I'm starting to practice hot yoga?  Should I do pilates with the yoga?  How much flexibility will I gain?  Will it help me with stress?  Will it help me lose weight?  Will it be enough?

       We've all asked these questions before, believe me.  The problem is that we're all asking the same questions without enough thought into it.  We haven't been digging enough into our souls to realize what would improve our quality of life.  At the end of the day it's not about how much weight you lose.  It becomes more about what losing that weight represents to you.  What it does for your health.  What it will enable you to do with your children, your spouse and your overall relationship with others.

  Will practicing hot yoga improve my quality of life?  Yes, it will.  How?  First by teaching to understand your body.  Understand your habits.  A hot yoga practice will take you through a process that almost becomes like taking inventory.  What I mean by that is that you will truly have a chance to feel and see how mobile your joints are.  You'll get first hand experience of how flexible or non flexible you are.  It will give you an understanding of how well your respiratory system is working.  It will test your strength, stamina and endurance.  Everything gets checked and you know what?  Your body doesn't lie.  You'll feel it and you'll see it.  The good news is that hot yoga will provide you with the tools to improve on all of it.

     What about that feeling of "calmness?"  In a hot yoga class you're taken away from your cell phones.  You're taken away from traffic, outside noice and for the most part you spend a whole hour in silence.  There is the occasional comments in class, but lots of silence non the less.  This soothes your mind.  Before you know it, you're tapping into meditation through the practice.

     In closing, my advice to you is to ask yourself what's important to you when it comes to your health.  How will it make you feel and how will it make you better as a person?  As a husband or a parent?  How will it improve your life?  What is it that you actually need and desire?  If it's to lose weight, how much weight?  Why?  From what areas in your body?  By when?  How will that change your energy?  Your outlook on life?  Your attitude towards others.  How will that improve your quality of life?  These are the real questions to ask.
 
     The others are based mostly on ego.  That's almost forgiven when you're twenty.  But as we get older we become smarter and our lives are no longer just about us.  We have families, responsibilities and our wants and needs are different.  Yoga can help without a doubt!  But at the end of the day, only you can determine what it will actually provide for you.  When you're ready to improve on your quality of life come in and see us at Pura Vida.

To your health & success,

Marco Gamez