When originally conceived in 2018, Second Circle was a small hot yoga studio in Shelburne, Vermont. It was built in an attempt to spur an evolution in hot yoga, Bikram Yoga in particular. I called it “Hot Yoga For Human Beings” and installed state-of-the-art heating panels in the ceiling. A few months later, a collection of local students and supporters helped relocate our tiny little operation to a much larger space in the heart of Burlington. Again, new panels were installed. High-efficiency thermostats. Insulation upgrades. Heat recovery ventilation systems. A mountain of towels. The room cooked.

The events of the past year were tremendously difficult, but they also offered us a collective chance to assess what is meaningful and important to us. How do we wish to move forward from this time? And so, in the spring of 2021, it is time to evolve again. Second Circle, from today forward, will no longer use extreme heat in yoga classes. Ours is now simply “Yoga For Human Beings.” This choice was not made lightly. In some ways it was a very difficult call to make. But when it came down to it - looking with honesty at the situation at hand - it was really a no-brainer. The short version of this conversation goes like this:

In the face of Global Climate Change hot yoga is no longer a morally sound practice.

Heating the yoga room requires a tremendous amount of energy. It’s borderline absurd, when you really look at it. And while heat provides certain benefits, it is nearly impossible to justify its use in the context of our current climate crisis. This can be uncomfortable to admit.

The macro-level dilemmas of the world sometimes feel too big or too intractable to engage. It is easy to become numb to them, to look away. How can one person - or one yoga studio - tackle the enormity of Climate Change? While there is comfort in this sort of surrender, there is also despair. Ignorance and despair are primary obstacles to an intentional life, a life of conviction and service.

I confess I’m embarrassed at how long it’s taken me to get here. I have built the last ten years of my life around hot yoga. I’ve spent thousands of hours in hot rooms, sweating from every pore, dehydrating and rehydrating myself over and over, chasing - and occasionally achieving - that special “wrung out” bliss you get after a good class. I won’t lie, I have loved it. It made me feel good, better than perhaps I had ever felt in my life.

But, to me, yoga isn’t about feeling good. Feeling good is a secondary benefit, and I am grateful for it, but that’s not the point. The fundamental point of my own practice - and teaching - is rooted in a search for truth, meaning, and fellowship. These things must not be abandoned in favor of personal comfort or economic imperatives. Beyond the space of self-care there is a much higher calling towards our duty to the world beyond our limited selves.

Our PRACTICE REMAINS

While heat has been central to the “brand” of Second Circle for some time now (just look at our window signs) the reality is that our practice has always been about something else. Something deeper. Our classes - first Foundations and then later Flow, Form, and Seven Salutations - are constructed around the idea that human beings are exquisitely composed. While we are not “designed” in the strict sense, evolution has created in human beings a powerful, athletic, vibrant species. 

This practice is designed to reinforce the abilities and strengths inherent in our construction. When you take class here, you are doing the work of restoring your birthright; upright posture, healthy breath, and the capacity for dynamic movement. We stand by this work; it has already created remarkable results in many of our students.

Turning the heat down in our classes opens a space for a different sort of connection to our bodies. When we aren’t challenged by the stress response imposed by heat, we have a little more mental energy for the deep work of repatterning. Across this threshold - which many of you have already crossed - there is a greater connection with embodiment and a more mindful practice.

YOGA PHILOSOPHY

I’m not a yoga philosophy expert. I don’t read Sanskrit or anything. But there are some important notions, traditional ideas my teachers handed down to me that are fundamental to the work we do at Second Circle. Should we choose to engage them honestly, with a beginner’s mind, they are simultaneously illuminating and demanding. The work is never done, but it is always worth it.

• Tantra (“loom”) - Reality is like a tapestry; it is interwoven, both a comprehensive whole and a set of individual strands. Any ripple in the system reverberates throughout. Nothing is isolated; everything affects everything else. 

• Karma (“action”) - Actions beget further actions. The past informs the present; the present informs the future. This very moment is an opportunity to engage the actions of the past, to work with what arrives and shape the future.

• Maya (“illusion”) - Life is not as we see it. We are not isolated, contained selves, cut off from the rest of the world. We are within the tapestry and our actions have consequences. 

• Ahimsa (“non-harm”) - As much as reasonably possible, do no harm. 

Together, we might say something like: We aren’t small, isolated things. We are part of a comprehensive whole that extends beyond our perception. Actions and reactions - our choices - ripple and reverberate without end. Choose to minimize harm, because the whole thing is you and you are it.

THIS WON’T SOLVE ANYTHING

One undeniable truth of the climate crisis is that individual choices will not alone fix things. Turning off the heat at a yoga studio is not the answer. Second Circle isn’t going rescue the biosphere. Rather, human beings will. We must radically change the way we think about our lives and our role in the world. We must consider the generations to whom we will leave this planet.

The true solution to the climate crisis will only arrive with major systemic change. We will have to alter our economies and systems of power. We will have to learn new ways of being together in the world. We cannot sustain the growth mentality of capitalism and hope to improve the fate of the biosphere. We will have to revolutionize the way we think of ourselves and others. We will have to challenge agents and systems of power. This will require what some people might call a “shift in consciousness.”

Making personal changes towards a more just and verdant future is not an answer but a threshold. Think of it as a membership card in the movement. To live with intention does not just alter our influence on the world; it shapes our very sense of ourselves. The real point in all of this is not simply about the energy use of the studio; it’s about the consciousness of the studio community. 

It may feel like a strange way to offer it, but this is an invitation into a next phase. Intentional actions, large and small, perform the work of repatterning our selves and our communities. With them we just may become the kind of people who don’t look away, but stand together, clear-eyed, in service of something greater than ourselves. If these sound like grand pronouncements, I only ask you to consider what is at stake. Individuals, communities, governments, and businesses all over the world will need to evolve. The sooner and more willingly we do so, the better.

Yoga at Second Circle is not merely a fitness routine. It is a full-bodied embrace of life as it is, including the profound challenges that face our interconnected world. With both hands out, I invite you now into the deep work of practice, the work of honesty, responsibility, and the power of choice. Human beings, together, have the capacity for astonishing kindness, creativity, and transformation. Every node in the network of change magnifies the value of all the others. Our studio, with its beautiful community, is a place to celebrate and embody these profound - and profoundly human - qualities.

This invitation is offered with joy. I believe in humanity. I believe in you. Our superpower is connection, our imperative is honesty, and our time is now. This place in history - our karma - calls for only the very best in us. There is much to do, and we may never in our lives see the fruits of our good intentions. The tapestry of being extends into eternity, beyond conception. We can only do what we believe to be right, but that much we must do. Let us act in faith that we are not alone, that there are others, and our collective actions have the power to transform the world in which we live. Second Circle is just one drop in the bucket, but of such drops oceans are made.

Love,
Kyle