This is
Your Story
Welcome to The Practice Beyond the Posture. This book is a product of my humble invitation behind all my service and action; a book that invites you to the deeper parts of your self. Rooted in the structure of original hot yoga 26 and 2, this work reveals the mental dialogue that rises in each posture; not just as a challenge, but as an opportunity. It’s more than a book about yoga; it’s a mirror for your thoughts, your habits, your willpower.
This is not just a book to read; it’s one to feel through. You might begin to notice, as the book says, “that the whole class is a breathing exercise,” and realize how often you’ve been breathing without truly noticing. You may find yourself pausing mid-pose; or mid-life; to ask, “Who is here to practice?” By the end, you’ll have interrupted autopilot. You’ll understand what it means to “lock the knee” not just in the posture, but in your own presence of mind. Walk away more in charge of how you meet your experience, one breath at a time. By the end, you won’t just have practiced yoga—you’ll have practiced being fully, authentically you.
Experience a class with Vahid
This video was recorded at the beginning of the Covid times. While at home, I closed my eyes and envisioned teaching my beloved imaginary students on a FB live session. Here is that recording.
Chapter 11
Triangle
Right leg step to the right, 4 feet minimum, arms down parallel to the floor, turn your right toes out to the right, bend the right knee and sit down, right tight parallel to the floor...
One of the hardest things in life is to do something you aren't convinced you should be doing, doing something you are iffy about, or doing something that you haven't yet set your mind and heart on. Moving a stone might break an undecided man's back, but a determined man can move mountains.
Some of you have a hard time making a decision, and some of you suffer from making too many. Ever heard of decision fatigue? Generally speaking, people who struggle with making decisions often have a hard time committing to a decision, and once they do, they tend to change their minds frequently. Whereas peaceful people are swift to make a decision, and once it is made, they rarely change their minds.
Making a decision is closely related to what you believe and how strong your belief is. If you believe that yoga is good for you, you will make the decision to commit to the practice and won't be swayed by the whims of how hard the pose is, how hot the class is, or how distracting the things around you could be.
But what if the predominant belief is that the class is too hot, or that you had too much coffee, or that you aren't strong, flexible, or in shape enough to do the class? How would that affect your decision-making when you are struggling? How would that belief make you feel or think?
Today, you are experiencing the results of yesterday’s beliefs. Your beliefs about today are constructing your tomorrow. What you believe will make you think accordingly. Those thoughts are going to make you feel in a certain way, and the emotions will trigger actions accordingly.
In short, belief leads to thought, thought to emotion, emotion to action, and the results of the action create the current situation. What is a reasonable belief you would like to seed in your mind today to entertain the results you want tomorrow?
Avoid decision fatigue and make up your mind. What are you practicing?
As a person in charge of your own experience, you make sure that everything you can control is under your control at all times, depriving everything else of your valuable attention. What does not matter cannot extract any power from you, and you are directing all of your attention back into yourself. You have tuned your focus inward, and you are now reinvesting the dividends of your hard work back into yourself.
This pose is a marriage between the heart and the lungs. What a statement, especially when talking about decisions. To this day, I am not sure why Bikram says this pose is a marriage. Is it because the lungs and the heart are getting along or because they are having a hard time? You made a decision.
Either way, you have to stay with your breath. All you want to hear the teacher say is, "Lock the right knee and keep the right foot flat on the floor." You don't even need to hear the word "change." By now, you have probably been doing this longer than some of your teachers, so your automation system knows that the "right leg locked right foot flat on the floor" statement is generally accompanied by "change.
But what happens if the teacher says something else? One more remark or an extra statement, a moment to breathe before the "change"?
What takes center stage in your mental talk when the expected "change" is past due?
For some, it may be frustration, bitterness, anger, or self-talk filled with annoyance, along with harsh or resentful interpretations of the environment or the self. This may sound bad, but it's not all that bad. Thinking like this can be vitriolic, but being able to observe yourself think in this way is catalytic.
Here is a straightforward definition of meditation: the capacity to observe your thoughts and emotions without reaction. Is your self-worth dependent on being able to do all the poses? Are you extracting your value from what others might be thinking about you?
How do we find value generally? We compare things to figure out what is better. We judge the utility or performance of things. We look at the approval of our authorities or our peers. There are probably more versatile ways we value things. What do you think?
Also, does the fact that you are alive, that you are consciously or mostly unconsciously breathing, that you are here, suggest anything? Can your existence be the building block of your worth? Could your existence have been imagined even before time and space as an entity of unique value?
The journey to discovering value in things or in our essence is very similar to the journey of finding out who you are. In the beginning, you don't know anything about yourself, and people around you tell you what you are all about. You notice things moving around you. Some are other people, and some are limbs of your own. You mimic, you make a sound, and the entities around you say, "Oh! He said, 'Mom.' How sweet!" They tell you your name and who you are. You are this person with this name with these traits. You learn these things about yourself from others.
Carrying this dynamic into your adult life is what is behind your self-consciousness. You always refer to yourself from someone else's perspective. Therefore, do you not exist unless someone perceives you? Then, the worth of your existence depends on the quality of their perception. Is there a better way to define hell?
That was how you initially came to know about yourself, but now you are an adult. Are you repeating what was before? What is your perception of yourself, and from which perspective are you coming up with that perception?
So instead of being crippled with self-consciousness, how about becoming more conscious of the self? Who are you?
Who was the person who signed up for this class?
Who showed up?
Who is struggling now?
Who is it that is in you that is complaining?
Who is it that is in you that is explaining?
Who is it that is in you that is breathing?
And, who is it that is in you that witnesses all of these?
Another innate human desire I want to mention here is the desire for companionship. A ride-or-die partner, a good friend who will always be there. It sounds excessive, but it's not. There is someone who knows and takes care of you even when you aren't awake. How do you know how you slept when you woke up in the morning? Your mind is asleep, but your consciousness is always awake. The part of you that knows how you slept or that makes you breathe even when you pass out is always with you. That's your ride-or-die; that is your best friend who will never leave you alone as long as you are alive. So why don't you get to know your best friend?
Change, please.
Question: Which part of you is making your decisions? And how dependable are the beliefs of that part of you that is making the calls? Who is in charge?
Share Your Reflections:
REVIEWS
“Through vivid descriptions and thought-provoking dialogue, Vahid provides direct access to the 26+2 yoga experience with clarity only rivaled by spending 90 minutes a week in a 110-degree room for at least 5-10 years. His reflections on the mental, physical and spiritual elements of practice invite the reader to study themselves, the world around them and, by extension, the human condition. This book allows the practitioner to then ‘go beyond the mat.’
Whether in business, personal or athletic endeavors, the value of discovering how to breathe through the moment—however hot the room or challenging the posture—is immeasurable. Vahid helps us recognize that life, like yoga, is just a breathing exercise and we can always attain full expression.”
- Mark Johnson, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Astra Capital Management
"Every once in a while, a book doesn’t just describe the path but it walks it with you. This one breathes between the postures and watches you watch yourself. Vahid speaks from the furnace of the hot room, but also from something older, something closer to the silence behind all teachings. These pages are meditations disguised as paragraphs, and each chapter is a doorway back to your own awareness.
If you’ve ever felt the class breaking you down and building you back up, you’ll recognize yourself in these pages. As someone who has taught, owned, practiced, and bled for this yoga, I can say this: we’ve needed a book like this for a long time. Not to explain the postures; but to explain what happens to the mind inside them.
We say the mind is the real posture and this book stretches it. In the fire, in the fatigue, in the stillness, we find echoes of Rumi and Bikram, of discipline and disappearance. Read it slow. Or read it in one breath."
- Insel Metin, Hot Yoga Tysons Studio Owner
“Practice Beyond the Posture is far more than a book about yoga poses; it is a journey through the intricate folds of the mind, a door inward opened by breath. Written in Vahid’s distinctive voice, the book moves beyond minutes spent in the studio, exploring one’s relationship with the self through a yogic lens. At times, it speaks like a friend, at others like an inner voice—or simply a quiet mirror, patiently reflecting what is.
What Vahid offers is playful and thought-provoking, disciplined yet deeply heartfelt. He is one of us, yet never ordinary — authentic, accessible, and quietly inspiring.
What stayed with me most was the reminder of how difficult—but profoundly valuable—it is to truly listen to oneself. With every posture, Vahid brings us back to the question: “Who is speaking? And who is listening?” In doing so, he offers more than alignment cues; he offers an invitation to turn inward.
If yoga is, for you, a meeting place between body, mind, and heart, this book will resonate deeply. It encourages an honest and sustained conversation with the self—one that continues long after the final page.
As a teacher, a student, and a human being, I found this book to be a meaningful companion on the path inward. It offers a rare blend of insight, warmth, and rigour—an experience that lingers beyond the practice itself.”
- Ayse Margossian, Yoga Teacher & MA Yoga Studies Student, SOAS University of London
"As a yogi, clinical psychologist, and fellow traveler on the path of self-inquiry, I found this manuscript to be a soulful, wise, and deeply human exploration of the internal world we navigate on the mat. It weaves together the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of Original Hot Yoga in a way that feels both personal and universally relatable, like sharing reflections with a thoughtful friend after class.
Rather than telling you how practice should look, it invites you to listen inward, question old patterns, and meet yourself with breath as your anchor. Insightful, warm, and often humorous, this book serves as both a mirror and a companion for anyone exploring the connection between movement, mind, and growth."
- Laura Russell, PsyD, Yogi Student, Psychologist, Friend.
"Using the familiar arch of the 26 and 2 series, Practice Beyond the Posture gifts the yogi of all skill levels a playful roadmap for the lifelong pursuit of paying better attention. Through harnessing attention, Vahid encourages the reader to explore their own mind and its mental focus on the present moment, as well as their body and its signals.
Questions posed throughout the book ask readers to self-reflect, and offer even to the seasoned yogi many unavoidable checkpoints. By the time readers have reached the final breathing exercise everyone will have seriously taken stock of what assumptions—about both their identity and their body’s limits—have hindered them from deepening their practice.”
- Dr. Michelle May-Curry, Writer and Curator, Yogi of 15 Years
“Insightful and a great perspective on a well-loved practice. Vahid gives a great viewpoint on the postures to improve your understanding of the practice.”
- Ky Ha, 2007 International Yoga Champion
“This book explains and demystifies each posture by learning into Vahid’s years of experience. Following his carefully curated instructions and mindset will not only help your practice but also your life.”
- Mo Fathelbab, Former Champion USA Yoga State of VA and Midwest Regional Championship
"Beyond being an outstanding manual for hot yoga postures, this book delves deep into the inner mind of yoga, offering profound insights and holistic understanding. With its wisdom and guidance, it promises to transform your practice and perspective. Lock your knees, and remember to breathe."
- Dr. Albert Hunt
“If you love the original hot yoga, you need to read this book. Practice Beyond the Posture lives up to its name and then some, inviting yogis to deepen their understanding of yoga and themselves through 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises. This book is quintessential reading for new students and hot yoga aficionados alike. Vahid is a world class yoga instructor and I am so glad this book will give hot yoga lovers around the globe access to his teachings.”
- Holly Hancock, Yoga Student, Teacher, Owner of Reunion Hot Yoga