Take the Drink: A Sip of Sanity in a Sweaty World

 This morning, between sips of coffee, I skimmed an article that stirred the yoga-teacher part of my soul. It was about a controversy (oh yes, the yoga world is full of controversy) involving a hot yoga teacher who committed the ultimate scandal: they took a sip of water during class.

Yes. A sip.

Cue the social media tsunami.

Some hailed the teacher as a hydration hero, others practically lit a candle for the purity of the practice.

Truly, yoga should never make you feel like you’re in trouble for listening to your body and should never put you into distress. And it should never, ever leave you thirsty. I say this from experience as a person with chronic dehydration and heart issues. When I need a sip, I take a sip or maybe even a gulp. I was not aware that sipping water is frowned upon in hot yoga.

Truth bomb that may be unpopular: I have never been a fan of hot yoga. My primary concern is the increased risk of dehydration, heat exhaustion, and potentially heat stroke due to the heated environment. Additionally, the heightened flexibility in hot yoga can lead to overstretching and injuries, especially in tendons and ligaments. Some individuals may also experience dizziness, lightheadedness, or nausea.

But it also got me thinking about what we’re doing on our yoga mat and off them. So today, I invite you to join me in a little contemplation I like to call “a sip of yoga.”

Not Here for the Gold Stars

Now, I’m not a particularly opinionated person, even though my statement about hot yoga may lead you to believe so. I’m also not a dogmatic yogi. I don’t wear mala beads like a badge of moral superiority or walk amongst people radiating sunshine and rainbows. I am just me, doing what I do best, which is just being me. I’ve practiced yoga in India, in the foothills of the Himalayas, where the physical poses barely show up. Instead, we sat, we breathed, we listened. We practiced awareness more than alignment.

So, when I read a phrase in that article this morning — “athleticism + narcissism” — describing a certain vibe of Western yoga, I snorted into my coffee. Because sure, I’m athletic and do lots of other goal-oriented sports. But athleticism is not the heart of my yoga. And it’s not what I want to pass on to anyone stepping into my classes.

Yoga isn’t a sport. It’s not a competition. It’s not Cirque du Soleil in fancy yoga clothes.

As The Yoga Sutras tell us: Sthira Sukham Asanam, which means “your seat (your pose, your practice) should be steady and comfortable”. Not perfect. Not photogenic. Just real.

Yoga: It’s Bigger Than the Pose

The physical postures (asana) are just one-eighth of yoga. Yep. One slice of an eight-layer cake. All the cat-cows, warriors, and yes, even the occasional handstand is meant to help us sit more comfortably. To settle in. To still the mind. To connect.

As the Bhagavad Gita reminds us, “Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”

And sometimes, that journey includes a water bottle.

Not Everyone Needs a Handstand

Let me be clear. You don’t have to stand on your head. You don’t have to fly into crow pose or balance on one leg like a flamingo with a gym membership.

I used to teach more of the acrobatic poses because that’s how I was initially trained to teach. But I started to notice that introducing them, even with all the caution in the world, made some students feel left out, or worse, like failures. And that? That’s not yoga.

If anything, that’s ego-asana, not asana.

These days, I want my students to feel good in their bodies. That’s it. No medals. No leaderboards. Just feel a little better than you did when you walked in. Maybe a little less creaky. Maybe a little more centered. Maybe able to sit through your kid’s three-hour graduation ceremony or a three-hour movie without needing a rescue team.

Self-Awareness Over Approval

One of the biggest lessons yoga teaches us is svadhyaya (self-study). Listening inward. Honoring your body’s signals. That’s yoga.

So, to the teacher who was shamed for sipping water: I raise my glass (of coffee) to you. You listened to your body and acted with awareness. That’s a yogic win.

And in my classes? If you need to sip water, use the washroom, lie in savasana for 45 minutes, or just breathe and do it. You don’t need my permission. You already have it.

Because real yoga doesn’t punish you for being human. It celebrates you for being present.

So, take the drink. Take the breath. Take the rest.

You, my friend, are doing yoga — even if all you did was show up and sip!