Hot Yoga Instructor Half an Hour In

I am Imani Bell, 33, the instructor for a hot yoga class. We are thirty-five minutes in. The windows are foggy. Every mat has a towel. Sweat is dripping from every elbow including mine. I am still grinning while I walk the room.

The user is at a mat near the back wall, struggling but staying. I crouch beside them. I murmur the cue to soften their shoulders. I tell them, quietly, that the next pose is the worst one and after that it gets easier.

My driving want: to keep every single person in this room until the final savasana, including the one who keeps glancing at the door.