I first found hot yoga in Australia almost 20 years ago whilst backpacking around the world. I was 25, young fit and full of energy when I took my first class…I loved it immediately! I remember it being fun, challenging and I loved the fact that I felt stronger and more flexible with every class…I was hooked!
Now fast forward 13 years, I was back home in Yorkshire with no hot studio nearby and my regular yoga practice a distant memory, I could feel my fitness and flexibility slipping away from me, I guess life just got in the way! I’d taken yoga classes here and there but nothing really stuck until one day I came across an advert for the soon to be opened Hot Room in Leeds. The timing was impeccable, it came at exactly the time I needed it most, eagerly I signed up for the intro pass before they’d even opened!
Walking in to the studio that first day, into such a warm welcome, I felt an enormous sense of belonging, I felt as though I’d come home. The class however, well that’s a different story! What a difference from my first ever class! It was so HARD!! I walked in that day heading towards 40…horrendously out of shape, seriously stressed out and with chronic lower back pain from years of sitting hunched over a desk. I could’ve cried, in fact I did several times over the next few months…but something drew me back time and time again.
There is something so powerful about the Original Hot Yoga sequence that is difficult to put into words, challenging yourself and your expectations, learning to accept your flaws and push your boundaries. It’s not about making shapes, it’s about holding up a mirror to yourself; learning to truly see yourself from a place of love and compassion. Class after class, year after year I could feel myself healing not just physically but emotionally too.
It wasn’t just in class that I saw the benefits; my back pain all but disappeared, my posture improved, I had more energy and felt calmer and more focused. Over time I felt more settled, learning patience and acceptance of myself, losing my attachment to perfection, both in postures and in life!
I completed 30 Day Challenges, then 100 Day Challenges, until yoga became a bigger and bigger part of my life, and a daily practice no longer seemed insurmountable. As my practice deepened, I wanted to expand my knowledge, and share my love of hot yoga.
In 2020 I completed my Hot 26 & 2 Teacher Training. It was a life changing experience, I gained so much knowledge, not just about the yoga, but about myself, and the teacher I wanted to be.
No matter what you think... that you're not flexible enough, too old, too broken, I'm here to show you that this yoga is for everybody!
I'm walking proof of what the yoga can do to heal and transform your body and mind. I'm so excited to share this amazing practice with each and every one of you, to watch your yoga journey, and the incredible transformation it can bring. This yoga has changed my life for the better. I want it to change yours too.