It was the Monday night before first semester finals started, and needless to say I was running a touch behind on the two papers I had due that morning and the two exams I had to sit for that afternoon. I was so stressed and I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do about everything I had on my plate. I knew I wasn’t even going to get a sliver of sleep and that my stress levels weren’t going to help me pick up the pace either. Call me crazy, but what I did worked. I grabbed my mat, filled up my water bottle and stuck the key in the ignition. I was headed over to the studio where I’d take an hour out of one of the most stressful nights of my life to do some hot yoga.
I had already had practice that morning and was feeling a bit tired. Just thinking about the work ahead wasn’t really helping me get my energy levels up. More than anything, I needed a way to center my mind, keep things in perspective and renew my focus on the tasks ahead. That is much of what I use the time I spend at Corepower Yoga for.
There are few forms of exercise that are more associated with ‘soccer moms’ who drive minivans than spinning or Zumba, but yoga is right up there. I’m not saying that that stereotype isn’t entirely true—there are indeed many women in the studios that I practice in—but people tend to associate yoga with young-to-middle-age women more often than not.
The perceptions many have of yoga stem from the bad Denise Austin videos that entire middle school gym classes were forced to do. I remember it quite clearly, actually. There were the goofballs in the corner making jokes out of those “stupid poses” (that they couldn’t do then and still can’t); there were the girls who could do it but didn’t really put in the effort because trying in gym hasn’t really ever been the cool thing to do; and then there was the rest of the class. I fell into the “rest of the class” category. However, unlike most of my classmates, I decided to pick it up again starting last winter at the bikram studio called Corepower.
When I first started attending classes, the studio that opened Jan. 11 in Glenview didn’t exist. That being said, much of my yoga-going experience has been through the Old Orchard location of the company. That brings me to the first great thing about Corepower Yoga—the multiple locations make your practice portable. Even better is that I’ve found the positive environment and passionate attitudes of the staff to be consistent at both studios, and I believe that that would be true for more than just the two locations at which I’ve practiced.
Corepower Yoga is a bit of an anomaly in the customer service realm. If my experience is like most other Americans’, then it is so often the consumer’s responsibility to be left guessing about things like who the instructor is and how he/she will affect the energy coursing through the studio. What’s a true plus is that I can control my experience. If I’m unfamiliar with one of the yogis (whose names are always listed next to the class they’ll teach in the weekly online schedule), then I can click the link to their bio to see if they’re going to be a good fit for what I’m seeking to get out of my practice.
By no means did I start off in the ability level where I’m at now. Yoga, though, isn’t about showing off. When I go to the gym, which I do often, I find myself falling into the trap of competing with people who may or may not be there. In that sense, I am only able to view what I accomplished that day at the gym in the context of others’ abilities, which isn’t that healthy of a mentality considering the fact that working out should make us feel better. That’s not to say that I get the same level of activity doing yoga as I do lifting weights, but I do acknowledge the fact that I am less distracted by others’ prowess and more concerned with my own goals for that class. But when I close my eyes, start my inhales and set my intention for the next hour and beyond, I have total confidence that I will come out of the studio restored and ready to take on whatever challenge I feel like I’m facing.
