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On the Mat: Hot yoga in Aspen: No pain, no gain

Arianna Finger
On the Mat

The only word to truly describe a 90-minute Bikram hot yoga class at Arjuna Yoga in Aspen is “hell.”

I mean, you feel great afterward, and I love going, but when you’re in that 100-plus-degree room there are definitely moments when you ask yourself, “Why the hell did I decide to do this?”

At a session last week, the class was so thick with humidity and my perspiration so profuse that my fingers took on that shriveled prune look, and I appeared as if I had jumped into a swimming pool of my own sweat. But, in addition to the mental stamina you gain through practicing hot yoga, you also receive many health benefits, such as a healthier thyroid from one of the standing postures and over time, a stronger and straighter back.



Now, although when you look at the clock and see that you are only at the 30-minute mark and you aren’t sure if you can make it through the pain, just stay focused and remember that the seemingly endless abyss that you are currently enduring pays off in the end.

Arianna Finger is an editorial intern at The Aspen Times this summer. She will be a senior at The Thacher School in California this fall.