Finding inner peace is hard to do, especially in high school. Yoga has helped me find that peace and to meditate on the good things in life. Performing yoga poses does not require me to always be at the studio. I can enjoy it everywhere, and anyone can try it.

My first experience with yoga was through my mom. She exercised to yoga tapes, and I did a few with her. This is the class I decided to take a one-hour hot yoga class with her, at Big Rock Yoga.

Hot yoga is when you’re in a room that is 105 degrees fahrenheit performing yoga. At first, I thought we were going to be in a class with a couple of people just as inexperienced as I was, but I turned out to be wrong.

Middle-aged women who do handstands while dripping sweat are now my heroes. The amount of muscles it takes to perform different stances is back-breaking work. By the end of the class, I was swimming in my own sweat.

Our class was based on finding your balance in life, whether that be in school, home or work. When I first walked into the room, I smelled oils and heard the sound of the pan flute. To get acclimated to the heat, I took a few minutes to stretch and took deep breaths.

Throughout the class, I had to make sure to always take deep breaths and to not overdo myself. If something hurts, I always stopped immediately.

When the class ended, we all laid down on our backs and relaxed. Our instructor dimmed the lights and told us to let our problems in life float away. Next, she put a cold washcloth on our foreheads, which felt like putting water to a flame on my head.

The next day, I felt better than ever, with more energy than I ever had. It seemed as though I woke up from a deep sleep and was more balanced than ever before.