I joined Bikram Yoga Sidney a year ago with two goals, to clear the breakouts from my face and to gain flexibility and core strength to help improve my vaulting (vaulting is a sport which can be pretty much boiled down to gymnastics on horseback. If you always thought I might be a bit nuts, go ahead and take my choice of sport as confirmation).

My face got much better and I'm thrilled to not have teenager like acne at 21 anymore. My vaulting has improved too. My strength, balance and flexibility in vaulting has immensely benefited from Hot Yoga. So I definitely achieved with Hot Yoga what I came in to achieve, but I got an unexpected gift as well. I've gained self confidence. When I first started yoga I wore baggy tee shirts and soccer shorts. Slowly and with steady encouragement from my boyfriend (who joined Bikram Yoga with me) and my "yoga family" (especially Lauren) I gained the confidence to move towards more form fitting clothes inside and out of the yoga room, and now I'll happily wear little spandex shorts and bra top to yoga, and I'm no longer mortified to wear the full body unitard required for vaulting competition.

If it is as it is said and the truest purpose of yoga is self realization, then I'm realizing this: I'm not fat and ugly like I've always, always believed. I'm actually fit and strong and flexible and beautiful and to someone like me, those are startling thoughts. But even more startling is looking in the mirror and seeing someone beautiful looking back. It didn't matter how many times my boyfriend or any one else told me. I have to be able to see it myself. Hot Yoga has toned my body and that has helped yes, but more than that, through hot yoga I'm on the road to learning how to love myself. And that is an amazing gift.

Sidney Bikram Yoga Student