You've got to work on your warrior, girl

CEOs run marathons. We do hot yoga.

There’s a reason why people run marathons, hike the Pacific Crest trail, or do 30 day hot yoga challenges: endurance training.

The life you want takes endurance. Not struggle; but perseverance. To keep showing up, getting out there and putting in the best of yourself, even on your worst days.

Physical endurance training teaches you about maintaining your momentum no matter what.

Hot yoga is endurance training, for living your life.

Because the same road-blocks keep showing up:

• I’m overwhelmed

• I don’t have time

• I have too much to do

•  It’s too hot

• My shoulder hurts

These are the obstacles you'll need to drop in order to persevere. Not just once; you'll need transform these obstacles into opportunities again and again.

Transformation is transient. You're in, you're out. You're awake, you're asleep. You're transformed, you're the same old same old.

We all love our excuses. But as a good friend once pointed out, "You can have reasons or you can have results. You can't have both."

Hot yoga heats up all of your reasons.

This isn’t about perfection. This is clearing out the debris, and filling the space between your dreams and your life. It's about finding a way through whatever stands between you and You.

How long do you stay down before you give up?

Maybe you’re into blaming others. Family, errands, job – you’ve got reasons. Lot of good reasons.

So you give in and skip out on hot yoga.

Then another day goes by without doing your practice (the dog needed to go to the vet).

So you don't call that new business prospect. You forget to send your resume for the new job.

And one day, years later,  you're all settled into a lukewarm life.

Heat things up. Accept the challenges. Watch what happens.

And there’s nothing like hot yoga to bring up your behavioral patterns.

I know. It brought up mine.

I had an issue with negative self-talk.  

I wanted to write - but I was afraid that my writing wasn't good enough. 

I wrote a lot of stories, journals, essays – but I never finished any. That is, I never published or shared them.

My gap was consistency. Fear of failure.

So I did my first 30 Day Hot Yoga challenge. 

The first two weeks I gave it everything I had. By day fifteen I was saying, “I’m going to die.” On day 20 I had a migraine that wouldn't quit.

It was my mother's fault. How in the world can I do hot yoga with her constant nagging?

 "Like this," a voice said: "Get your ass to yoga class. Because you’ve got to work on your warrior, girl.”

I heard all the reasons it would be OK to give up.  And I heard this: "So what, who cares, do it anyway."

The power of doing what you said should not be underestimated. Even if you've convinced yourself that it's pointless to continue and no one cares about it anyway. Hey, it's not going to change the world if you quit.

And you're right. It's only going to change the world if you continue.

So I wrote my book. It's called The Blissful Warrior: Living the Paradox of Peace and Passion for Today's Empowered Woman. It's due out in April.

It’s amazing what happens when you practice reaching beyond your limitations. Hot yoga is a place to rise above old circumstances. Do it over and over, and you watch your power grow. Over and over again.

Hot yoga changes the way you look at your choices. It changes the way you create your life. The question is, are you creating your lifestory deliberately or by default?

When you're absolutely ready to transform everything, you train for it: more endurance needed.  Hot Yoga Blissful Warrior Teacher Training. Daring yourself to not settle for less. 

The best part?

The community. A world of support you've never even seen but has been there all along: teachers and students who have your back and kick your butt at the same time.

So when you wake up sore on Day 10 of your 30 Day Challenge and you think, “No way am I going to hot yoga today,” look around and see them. 

There’s Jo on a 108 Day Hot Yoga Challenge who woke up and tweaked her neck so badly she could barely move, and she’s doing it anyway – doing her best, having fun, being cheered on. Her 100th Day was an epic blizzard...and she showed up. So did we. For her, and for ourselves.

At 5AM, you'll get a text from us: "Hey Bedhead, get up, get moving, get yourself to 6AM class today. We're keeping your spot warm."

Too tired? Nonsense.

You're feeling overwhelmed; but maybe you're underwhelmed. A life filled with excuses is exhausting.

Hot yoga will melt you to the core to reveal the authentic, shining you.

And more gaps to fill in.

Gaps between who you are in your heart, and who you are allowing yourself to be in this moment. It's not like it ends. If you're alive, you are constantly expanding and there will always be places where you need to cross over.

Attraversiamo...let's cross over.

Hot yoga is not a  one-time cure-all. It's a practice.

I've been practicing hot yoga for over 16 years (hatha yoga for over 40) and teaching for almost as long, and I still get broken.

But on days when it looks like everything is falling apart, I remind myself that it's not about holding it all together. It's about jumping over the abyss to reach the next other side.

And I do. I get my ass to hot yoga class.

Hot yoga puts feet to the fire. Part exercise, part alchemy. You need heat to bend steel. You need heat to reveal the diamond in the coal. 

You need heat to endure the burning it takes to be the light in your own life.

The heat is on. You in, warrior?

Comments

[Alfia]

It is a very inspiring article Rhonda. You are very good and you are right. Yes, I am in I am day 5 of my 30 Hot Yoga Teacher Celebration and I love and enjoy every day of it. Thank you again.

[TinaA]

Congratulations Alfia for beginning your 30 day Celebration! Your going to feel amazing!

Rhonda, I'm thankful you were able to conquer your fears and write your book. You are really a wealth of inspiring knowledge that needs to be shared. So many will benefit. I'm looking forward to reading it come April.

I love this quote, it is so true. "Hot yoga is endurance training, for living your life." This is why I choose Warrior TT!

We all need "to work on your warrior, girl” yet another reason to choose Warrior TT!

[Grace]

I'm with Tina! Thank you Rhonda for overcoming any fear and becoming a lighthouse for so many people through Riverflow Yoga.

I will always keep in mind the quote you included on one of our assignments, "Yoga is not about doing the asana, it's about undoing what's in the way of the asana."

Now I think about life as an asana. And I know that as I clear the obstacles out of my way that try to divide me between me and living my life, I am living life more and more.

Thank you Rhonda.