SJ Native Pens Book About Lifechanging Experience With Hot Yoga

A former junior Olympian moved into a career in finance following painful injuries and she just wrote a book about finding relief through hot yoga. It has helped her and it's helping a lot of people. Janelle Lucas joining us this morning. Good morning to you. Good morning. Thank you so much for having me. I love the show. I watch it every day from South Florida. Yeah you're in Miami now but originally from South Jersey. Yes correct. Grew up in Deptford, New Jersey and then moved to Center City. So your heart is always here. I love this city very much. It's great to have you with here this morning look at you right here a junior olympian yes when did this all start so when i was younger i was a gymnast gymnastics pretty much was my childhood um and by the time i was 12 i was training 40 hours a week and i pushed my body really hard i did it to myself in fact i hated my body and so i think it just started hating me back and so the injury started started with the joints i had a knee injury i dislocated my kneecap and then i tore some ligaments in my ankle and then I had sciatica down both my legs and then when I stopped gymnastics at 17 I thought I would start to feel better and instead it became worse the pain in my back got worse and then I felt it in my bladder I started peeing blood lots of it I was eventually diagnosed with something called interstitial cystitis which is a disease in the bladder it's kind of like a bladder infection or like an ulcer it bleeds scars and shrinks and hardens over and over and over again and then when I was 21 I went into menopause and I spent about 10 years in our medical system. Wow and was that because of what you were dealing with that led you to go into because we talk about early menopause but 21, I mean that's almost unheard of. I think I mean I did it to myself, I pushed my body really hard, like when my body wouldn't complete a skill I wanted it to in the gym, I punished it you know, I did it to myself, sometimes we do the work before we truly understand what the work might cost later on. And that's interesting because usually we say, oh, they're trained so hard. And we look at that with praise. It's like, wow, look at them and look how far they can push their body. And you're showing us that there's other effects that can happen. Yes. So I basically had to relearn that. And so after about 10 years in our medical system, I realized that I wasn't better. And if I didn't take my health into my own hands, I probably wouldn't make it to 40. And if I did, maybe I'd be on a wheelchair. Because you were going through chronic pain and you're going through all the traditional medicines they were giving you to control it. tons of pills, everything, nothing worked. Surgeries, nothing really worked. So I left and I started experimenting with everything I could. And I honestly used to believe yoga was quite silly, you know, as a gymnast. In the book you say yoga shmoga. Yeah, yoga shmoga. It just looked like people standing on mats and I didn't understand it. That didn't look like a workout to me. Right. But when you're desperate enough, you go. And so I went to a hot yoga class, specifically it was a Bikram yoga class. And for those who aren't familiar, how hot is it? It's about 140 degrees and 40% humidity. And so I kept going, but then I noticed that the hotter and more humid the room was, the longer my symptoms would stay away. And it was really the only thing that had showed me promise. So at some point I said, you know what, I'm just going to build a room. What do I have to lose? So I built a room and I started experimenting. Yes, that was my hot yoga dome after my studio. But in my studio, I experimented with temperatures. I ended on a combination of about 115 degrees and 60% humidity. There's something about that combination that really began to change my body. My period came back. My hair started growing. I stopped peeing blood. My bones started to change. I'm going to be 43 next month. I feel better today than when I was 13. Wow. And how often were you doing this every day? Every day. Yes, every day. And it just completely blew my mind. I really didn't expect it to work. I just did it because it was the only thing that made me feel better every day. It was all I had. And then sooner or later, I just realized like after my period came back, I knew I was going the right way. And then after I stopped peeing blood and then I just kind of looked in the mirror and I noticed my bones were kind of, it was like I was remolding myself, you know, kind of from the inside out. And you put that experience, because so many people go through what you go through and especially dealing with the traditional medicines after a while, the doctors kind of look at you and they think it's all in your head, right? So you go through the, not just the physical pain, but the emotional and psychological pain. It's a great point. And you put all this in a book to help others. I did because I think it's important. You know, we know our bodies better than anyone else, period. So don't let anyone make you feel like you're crazy. If you feel like something is not right, follow that. And then follow what you think you should do. You know, go to the doctors, go the traditional way. But if you don't feel that's working, take it into your own hands. And the book is called Taking Heat. Yes. And it takes the viewer, or it takes the reader through the journey of what helped you. It does. And eventually I created my own yoga series. So I've now combined, and it's done at the hottest temperature, but I've combined it with Bikram Yoga, Vinyasa Yin, and then I've also incorporated Qigong, breathwork, meditation, sound healing, and somatic release. So it's really kind of like this all-in-one, and it's completely changed my life. So if I can help one person, mission accomplished. And so where can people get the book? Is it out now? Anywhere. It is available today anywhere, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, wherever books are sold. And you might recognize the name in there because one of the forewords is written by. Yes, Mike Jarek wrote a foreword in here along with Alan Dahm. So you'll be able to see Mike's own words in here too. Yes, thank you, Mike. Miss you. Love you. Wonderful. Thank you for sharing your story with us. And also, you know, what it was like, because I know you had some other struggles, and I detail that in the book as well. So make sure you go and check it out. And so we can all take some heat. Thank you. So I'm not going to lie, sometimes the heat scares me. But you sound like we should embrace it. Sometimes that's good. I've done it. Sometimes that's good. Work through the fear. Show up scared, go through it anyway. You got it. If I can do it, you can do it. I'll tell you that. It's quite something. Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. We're coming right back.