Your power is slowly stolen from you in the most unlikeliest places! It starts small, like with the drops of sweat on your face during hot yoga. You wipe it. You can’t resist. More sweat. You wipe it, still can’t resist, until you become obsessed with wiping it, burned up all your rest time with movement, sending your heart into “fight or flight” mode until ultimately your sweat has stolen your power and control over your workout.
Then it moves on into the food you eat. You only drink wine on the weekend and eat a salad for lunch, but before you know it, it’s 2 glasses of wine at night and a huge sandwich at lunch and pretty soon you’ve got ten more pounds in three months and food has stolen a little more of your power.
Next, it creeps into your relationships. Some people bring you to your knees. The slightest infraction has you crying and apologizing in their wake. Instead of saying I’m sorry and moving on or saying No! I didn’t do anything wrong and let them walk if they choose to, you cling and are reduced to a sobbing puddle on the floor. They’ve stolen your power. Loss of power and control over every aspect of your life is gone and you could be on the road to depression.
And to think the unraveling began with a small drop of sweat. The good news is it also works in reverse. If you stay perfectly still between postures, everyday resisting all efforts to wipe sweat, drink water, tug at your clothes, eventually you began to feel the benefits of staying still. Realizing the sweat is your body’s natural air conditioner gives you tremendous power over temps of any degree. You begin to realize you have everything within you that you need to control your own being, your own life. You become empowered – you don’t care if it’s 100 degrees or 110 degrees. You now know that the focus and concentration to resist the sweat and water lies within you. You always have it. You carry it around. You can’t leave it home. You feel the benefit more and more each day and the heat begins to feel good as you are now able to focus and feel muscles you never knew you had stretch and flex and heal.
A powerful strength begins to build deep from within you. As you leave the studio and begin to drive home, your mind is suddenly empowered. A force takes hold and you start thinking, I can choose my food. I can choose where, when and how I want to eat it. You feel your body craving only things that are good for it because all the toxins have been released in the sweat. Your sweat doesn’t smell at all. It’s very clean. If your sweat smells, it’s the toxins in your body creating the unpleasant scent. Clean sweat, clean cells, crave good foods. Your body helps you regain power and control over what you eat.
After you’ve eaten well and put your diet back on a healthy track, you are still feeling powerful and turn to those who bring you to your knees. Your spine strengthens and you find courage in your words and deeds. You stop cowering and clinging to their ankle as they walk away. You stand up, dust yourself off, turn on your heel and march off in the opposite direction. You begin to realize you can’t live your life in their shadow. Their words and deeds cannot dictate your words and actions and eventually your feelings. You now begin to envision yourself as a person in your own right. YOU control every aspect of your life.
They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – I tend to believe it also begins with a tiny drop of sweat. The postures are uncomfortable – your body doesn’t want to be there. Once you gain control of your mind over your body, you can gain control over every other aspect of your life. You take back your power. Once you have your power, it translates into joy. You realize you have the power to create your own joy. Now, sweat, food, people, – nothing can steal it.
Mmmm….maybe this is what Bikram meant when he said,”I fix your body, but I fix the screws loose in your head,too. Just come to yoga. Leave rest to me. Do your yoga everyday and you’ll be just fine.”
And so, as another day goes by, the loose screws in my head are slowly tightening, and….I have written.
I love this post. Beautifully said. When I first started my Bikram practice 10 years ago I was in a very powerless place in my life. As my practice grew stronger so did I. Almost 3 years later, practicing 3-4 times a week, I finally had the courage and strength to leave my very unhappy marriage. I am so grateful for what practicing Bikram has done for my life…Yay sweat!!! : )