Getting Deep with the Unflappable Erica A. (Part 2)
“It might be the same practice. It might be the same room. It might be the same teacher. It might be the same heat; but it’s a different you every day, and you’re honing your skills of focus, concentration, and alignment.”
Last week, we introduced you to Senior Instructor, Erica Applequist Mueller (AKA Erica A.) and shared what motivated her to start teaching hot yoga. This week, we dig into the secret that helps keep her hot yoga practice going strong—and how you can apply it to your own practice too.
Part of what makes Erica so unique is her in-depth approach to understanding the ‘why’ behind the poses. Whether she’s explaining how yoga helps address specific physical areas in your body or the mental and emotional benefits, Erica A. is wise beyond her years and a valued resource for both newbies and regular practitioners alike.
Keep reading to learn more about the mental practice behind Erica A’s physical practice, then sign up to take one of her classes—weekday mornings in Troy.
ERICA A. INSTRUCTOR PROFILE: PART 2
Ian: Let's focus on our ‘regulars,’ people who have been practicing hot yoga for years.
You have been practicing for nearly 19 years. How have you stayed motivated and in love with this practice for so long? What would you like to say directly to our regulars?
Erica A: A couple of things come to mind.
First of all, with your practice, Emmy Cleaves (international master Bikram teacher) used to say, “There's three parts of your practice. There's your frequency, your precision of intent, and your intensity”.
So you can always play with those three aspects of your practice. If you're feeling like you're getting to a plateau, or you're stuck, or you're not progressing, turn up your intensity level—come more often. Or maybe really focus on your alignment—your precision of intent.
So especially for long-time practitioners, we can get on autopilot. We can just kind of tune out the teacher, and you know, do our practice. In a way, it's great that we can shut off our minds from daily life, but at the same time, we're not in there shutting our minds off. We're in there focusing our minds. Focusing on the details and the breath.
So we can create tremendous focus instead of just autopilot. You can focus more on the details. You can focus on coming in more often. You can focus on increasing your intensity, contracting your muscles, holding your postures longer—maybe taking it a little bit further. So play with those three things from Emmy.
The second thing that comes to mind is, just like I said a minute ago, you have ups and downs and just different kinds of days. But we keep doing those things. We don't stop playing golf because it's the same swing or the same course. You keep going back because you're honing your skills. And it's the same thing with yoga. It might be the same practice. It might be the same room. It might be the same teacher. It might be the same heat, but it's a different you every day, and you're honing your skills of focus, concentration, and alignment.
“What you put your focus on, it grows, whatever it is. So focus on things that you want to grow. Focus on things that you want to get better, that you want to create more of.”
And the third thing that comes to mind, one of the students asked me recently, ‘So what happens when you get all of your postures perfect, and you know, like, are you just done with yoga?’. No. Are you kidding? We're not doing the postures because we're trying to get perfection in our physical form of the postures. We're putting our bodies into these shapes, into these postures and breathing because of the mental focus and the meditation that we're getting, and because what we do in here affects our life out there. So there's no ‘end all be all’ like, ‘I've perfected this yoga, and now I'm done.’ It's a continuous practice.
Any of the most senior teachers will tell you that even though this is called a ‘beginning series,’ it's not just a beginning series. It's the foundation for everything else that you want to build on top of it.
So yes, you can do an advanced class or lots of different other postures, and that's fantastic. But sometimes people focus so much on doing those that they can't even do regular beginning class and hang in there and give it everything that they've got.
Let this series be the foundation for everything else that you want to grow from there. Always stick with your regular practice.
Ian: We were talking a few weeks ago at the front desk about the mental attitude that can help or hinder us in the hot room, specifically the phrase that we both love, ‘what you put your attention on, you get more of.’ Can you comment on this for our readers? It’s so important.
Erica A: I say this all the time in class—the physical postures are just the vehicle to access and focus the mind. So you're putting your body in the shapes, doing these postures to focus your mind and to get out of your head. I like to think of it as the broken record player, like there's always just thoughts turning, turning, turning. And when we come into class with the physical postures, and the teacher is talking to you the whole time, you don't have time to think about all of the other stuff. So it's a physical practice to focus the mind. That's really what we're doing. It's a 90-minute moving meditation.
As far as ‘what you put your attention on grows’—I actually got that from you. You said that in one class a million years ago. And I use that all the time because it's so true. Whatever you put your attention on—grows. Emmy Cleaves used to say, ‘be careful what you think. Your cells, they're listening.’ It's all the same thing.
If you're putting your focus on ‘Oh, this is so hot. Oh, this is so hard. Oh, I'm gonna puke’—that's the reality that you're creating! Even if it's hard, even if you do feel those things, you can put your focus on ‘I can do this’ or ‘I can take it one posture at a time’ or ‘I can take it one breath at a time.’ When you put your focus on your physical postures, it gets you out of your head.
Yeah, what you put your focus on, it grows, whatever it is. So focus on things that you want to grow. Focus on things that you want to get better, that you want to create more of.
I always say, ‘you can always change your mind at any point in your practice.’ You know, at any point in any class, if you're not loving it, change your mind.
“We’re not doing the postures because we’re trying to get perfection in our physical form of the postures. We’re putting our bodies into these shapes, into these postures and breathing because of the mental focus and the meditation that we’re getting, and because what we do in here affects our life out there.”
This is yoga for real life. You know, real life is messy and hot and hard and challenging. And that is also the yoga room. And it's preparing us to be able to manage really challenging situations with grace, and breath, and focus.
My daughter, Everly, and I always talk about being ‘unflappable,’ because it's easy to get upset and it’s easy to overreact. But you know, being unflappable— managing your reactions to situations and how your body responds to stress— that's really up to you. There can be multiple people going through the same sort of challenging situation or trauma, and how they react can be totally different just based on how they're receiving the information and how their body and mind are processing it, and you can have completely different outcomes.
I think the more that we can practice breathing and being calm in the most challenging situations like hot yoga, the more we can take that skill with us out into everyday life and be more peaceful and calm and introspective and thoughtful and kind. And that's how we affect change and transformation in the world and everyone that we come in contact with.
Ian: Erica, thank you for sharing your personal yoga story and some of your teaching wisdom! I want to acknowledge you for having such a huge impact on so many people over the years.
Erica A: I'm so grateful to you guys for just always keeping things going. So we have a place to do this. It's just the most important thing. I hope that when I'm 90, like Emmy, I'll still be teaching, and we'll still have people that want to come and do this yoga and places to do it.
“It’s a physical practice to focus the mind. That’s really what we’re doing. It’s a 90-minute moving meditation. ”
Ian: Any final thoughts you want to share with our yoga family?
Erica A: Yes, I do. I want to just go back to the new students for a second. Just let yourself be new and learn. Like I've said already during this interview, it's just like anything else that you do, if you're learning a new language, you're learning to play piano, you're learning a new sport, whatever it is, it takes time! For some reason, with other things, we can be patient with ourselves and let ourselves be new and learn and grow.
But we seem to walk into yoga expecting to be able to do it all for some reason, and it can be really frustrating for people when they can't immediately do everything just right. So, just let yourself learn and start from the beginning. Follow the directions, and the sky's the limit. But you’ve just got to let yourself be a beginner and learn.
Ian: Love it. Thank you, Erica.
Erica A: Can I mention one more thing?
Ian: Absolutely.
Erica A: You asked earlier, why do I still teach, why do I still practice? I practice for a lot of reasons, but mainly because it makes me feel really good in my body, and good in my skin, good in my mind. I've struggled over the years with body issues. It’s been challenging for me. And I feel really good in my skin when I'm practicing, facing myself in the mirror, facing what I am, who I am right now, not me 20 years ago, but who I am right now. It’s really good for my body image.
So for people who struggle with liking themselves and appreciating themselves, this is a really good tool to just meet yourself where you are, meet yourself in the mirror, and see what you're really capable of, because you get a lot of appreciation for what your physical body can do. You're putting it under a lot of stress, and it's responding in exactly the way that it should. Your heart is pumping. Your breath is flowing. Your muscles are working. So it can give you a lot of appreciation for yourself and what you're capable of.
Missed Part 1 of our interview with Erica A?
Read it here. Then get to know her better in one of her Original Hot Yoga classes.
Erica teaches both Original Hot 90 and Hot 60 Music most weekdays in Troy. You can book a class with her by heading to our class schedule. You can also look forward to new Hot Yoga Workshops and Master Classes with Erica A a little later in the year.
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