I’ve always been an easy-going kind of yoga person.

Stretch, breathe, feel good.

I couldn’t put the words “power” and “hot” together in the same sentence with “yoga”.  I thought those kinds of classes were for really fit people. And for people who kind of liked torture.

Then I went to Houston, Texas to visit my daughter, Eliza, and was looking forward to taking at class at her studio. When we drove into the parking lot, however, I saw those dreaded words: “power” and “hot”.

Turn this car around!” I demanded.

She refused, coaxing me in with the promise that I could always just go into child’s pose at any time, and if the heat bothered me, I could always go out into the lobby.

I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I concealed my fear and resistance as much as possible and went into the class.

It was packed. People laid out their yoga mats with only a 5-inch space between them and the next person. We did the same, of course. I sat awkwardly on my mat, practicing my deep breathing while my daughter did some stretches. Painfully aware of the woman on my other side and the beautiful tone of her already sweating muscles on her back as she did a handstand, I eyeballed others around they room, and noted that they were all perfectly toned, perfectly postured, perfectly strong, and perfectly NOT bothered by the heat.

I wanted to run. Eliza saw the concern on my face and told me that no one cares what anyone else can or cannot do, so I shouldn’t compare myself to others.

Right. That’s a lot easier to say when you are the one doing the handstands and flipped dogs.

I rolled my head around counter clockwise, then clockwise; stretched my sides, looked around some more; stretched my legs; and felt the heat rise up all around me.

Again, I wanted to run. But again, Eliza gently reminded me that I could leave at any time. And with that possibility, she suggested I just begin the class and give it a try.

In came the instructor, Nick Zogg, powerwalking into the center of the space, weaving in and out between all the bodies in the room, talking rapidly into the headset he wore. Suddenly we were into the flow full force. Dristie! Breathe! Mountain pose, lift and breathe in, forward bend and breathe out, downward dog with breath, pushup with breath….

The heat rose in my body and sweat escaped like I’ve never experienced before, but I was gaining energy, gaining confidence, and finding a new trust in myself and the body that holds me.

I forgot that I had wanted to run. I forgot that most of the others in the room were experienced in heated power yoga classes. I forgot that I hated to be hot. I forgot that the class was called a “power yoga” class and instead, only felt myself rise into a power that I found was within me. Me! I forgot it all, and just flowed through the asanas, my body riding on the rhythms of my breath and cooling itself through sweat.

When we got to corpse pose, I felt the heat in my body with a new awareness. Oh, yes, I was hot. Really hot. And for a moment, I thought about going outside to cool off in the lobby. But then I considered the fact that I’d already endured through a 90-minute class, hot and power class, mind you, and told myself that I could certainly bear to stay through to the end.

And I did.

With rest and relaxation, I felt an exhilarating cry deep in my core rise through me: I did it! And the result was such a complete awareness that my body, mind and spirit were not separated, but rather a united whole. To experience that knowledge in all of me was truly life-changing.

That class changed my approach not only to yoga, but to all of life’s challenges.

I never did flip my dog or stand on my head or balance in crow, though many in the room did. My achievement was somehow greater than doing any of those things could have been for me: I learned that what I did in that class was perfect for my body on that particular day, and in staying with the process, I discovered a new understanding of the power that lives within me.

I am deeply grateful for:

• Eliza for her gentle push
• Nick Zogg, whose teaching style is so loving that the only response is to release all fear, trust self, and sail into new territory
• Big Power Yoga Studio for the positive energy and spills from their work
• Baron Baptiste for sharing his philosophies with the world