Hot Flow is my Prayer

I am not a religious person but I am deeply spiritual. I find connection to creative source energy when walking barefoot on the grass, diving through the waves at sunset, hiking to a summit or simply listening to the birds following a good rain. Lately, I have felt an entirely different but equally powerful spiritual connection through the practice of Hot Flow at my favorite yoga studio, Peace and Love Yoga in Carlsbad. 

Designed by Jessica McGimsey and Monique Cornfield, Hot Flow is a set sequence of vinyasa poses with slight variations depending on the instructor. While this may seem monotonous to take the same yoga class day after day, I find that the repetition and the predictability of the movements allow for an invigorating experience of what constitutes a daily practice. Having internalized the asanas, the body begins to move at its own rhythm guided by its inner compass. Like seeds planted in early spring, these daily offerings create incredible abundance with time. As someone who has struggled to keep a regular mediation practice, I find that the daily ritual of Hot Flow gently leads me into the calm realm of ujjayi breath, a loosening of past and present, and a simple invitation to just be…capturing one moment and then the next. 

The yoga mat is a humble space; simple in form, four sides and four corners, a comfortable place for one body. We all come to the mat to find some kind of inner peace, although I don’t know that we all realize that initially, but it is what brings us back. It is an unassuming gift of one mat, a set of poses, your breath and the shared experience with those around you. Yet, within this simplicity, you can find incredible bliss, a glorious connection to a truer part of ourselves that is breath guided movement.

Hot Flow gives the student the flexibility to make practice what one needs at that moment. It can be gentle and restorative. It can also match any high intensity workout. Or, it can exist somewhere along this spectrum, you decide. It is peace and love expressed in breath and movement, humble yet majestic.