Yes for some reason when we think sauna or yoga, we think bliss, anti stress, warmth and letting go. Which are all still related but I think people who haven’t tried either of these things don’t understand completely that this couldn’t be further from the truth if you take it to the full extent.
Sure you can choose to do a short 10min session in the sweat chamber and not actually let your body get a sweat on. Feeling warm and loose is always nice but if you’re ducking out as soon as it goes from warm to hot then you’re kinda missing the point. In the same way you can choose to do a nice flowy yoga class and bail on every move or position that gets too challenging but again you’re missing out on all the good bits!
Believe me, there is nothing relaxing about sitting in the sauna after 20 minutes, like you’re at the end of a mile run and your brain is screaming to stop but if you persevere a little longer, the benefits heavily outweigh the discomfort. Or when your leg is shaking and muscles are aching holding that final warrior pose after almost an hour of moving through body weighted exercises in slow motion with the hot yoga heaters burning above your head, you best believe the last thing going through your mind is “how relaxing this is”.
But I do understand, if you aren’t pushing yourself to the limits then you probably don’t know the benefits otherwise you would. Or you just haven’t given yourself enough credit to believe you can go the extra mile which is a whole other battle worth facing…
The benefits
- muscle recovery
- decreases blood pressure
- increased heart rate (burns calories)
- mental fortitude
- serotonin release
- detoxing
- offsets chances of dementia
- lengthens your telomeres
- strengthens immune system
- fights depression
- helps with insomnia
- etc etc
I’m going to write a seperate post and go into details of all of these benefits but this list of reasons should be enough to make you at least want to consider adding this to your weekly routine. Its such a small task and remember the start of it really is nice and relaxing. Its even better in winter because it warms you up and when its hot in summer, you have an even greater mental battle to face with an even greater result from these benefits. So its kind of a win-win situation for yourself. A yoga or pilates and especially a hot yoga session where they have heaters in the room to get you to that level of discomfort faster, has all the same mental and physical benefits and once you start implementing it regularly, you will notice a difference in how you feel AND it will get easier. Soon you’ll find yourself pushing your limits more frequent than not and surprising yourself with how much more you can push on. And that goes with any sort of exercise/physical activity. There is something to be said about having little battles like pushing through discomfort and not giving up on a controlled problem which makes everyday life “problems” minuscule and easier to deal with. Just so ya know!
Oh and on a final note, try before judge…
Peace.