What’s Inside?

• What is hot yoga all about?
• What are the benefits of hot yoga
• Are there some precautions you should keep in mind?

Sweating It Out – What is Hot Yoga?

In recent years, particularly the 21st century, yoga training has spread out to all parts of the world. As the benefits of yoga poses have become common knowledge, the search for yoga classes near me has become all too common, which many seek to join a yoga studio and reap the holistic benefits of the practice. As yoga training has expanded across, the types of yoga have proliferated and diversified, with various yoga teachers and movements adding their own styles, philosophies, and goals to the discipline. As a result, the practice is no longer just about yoga poses – it is about what you do, how you do it, where and when are these to be done, and what you seek to take from the practice. 

Hot Yoga is generally considered one of the more disciplinarian and militant of the various types of yoga. As the name suggests, this yoga training is undertaken inside a heated room. According to Bikram Choudhury, with whom the first style of hot yoga is associated, this is meant to help replicate the hot and humid temperature of India. It also, according to Choudhary, helps in preparing the body for movement, thus facilitating the undertaking of yoga poses and yoga training process. It is also believed to help rid the body of impurities. 

Bikram Yoga has been considered the benchmark of hot yoga. The yoga training process of this style consists of a sequence of twenty-four asanas and two breathing exercises, supposed to be done within ninety minutes in a room heated up to 41 degrees. Bikram yoga has been bound by many rules, including the lack of interactions between students and teachers, students are required to correct their own yoga poses, and the yoga studio having bright lights and large mirrors.

Can You Get More Than Just Sweat Out of It? Benefits of Hot Yoga

However, if hot yoga is a form of yoga training that interests you and you wish to try it out, there is no need to feel disheartened, A number of other yoga movements and instructors have developed their own forms of hot yoga studios, which help you practice yoga poses in a heated environment. Forrest yoga, CorePower Yoga, and Modo Yoga are some examples of hot yoga movements that allow for modifications, keep the rooms at a slightly lower temperature, and allow interaction between students and teachers. But, what exactly would be the benefit of doing yoga poses in a heated room? Here are some that have been discovered till now – 

• Pack A Burn – As you can imagine, sweating it out during a hot yoga class can help you burn up even more calories. For those who are looking towards yoga as a weight-loss technique, or those who want to kick it up a notch in their endurance and calorie burn, hot yoga can be a great way to step up your yoga training.
• Improve Flexibility – Stretching is an important part of yoga, both as a requirement for striking yoga poses, and as a benefit that comes from the practice. Studies have found that stretching up a warmed-up body is more effective and safer than stretching cold muscles. In a hot room, your range of movements is thus likely to improve, enhancing your yoga training, and flexibility too.
• Improve Your Skin – The entire premise of a hot room is to enable you to sweat it out. Sweating has numerous benefits, including clearing the skin and removing toxins from the body. Sweating in a hot environment can also improve oxygen-rich blood circulation to the skin cells, thus helping you develop healthier skin from the inside.
• Challenge Your Body- When done in a hot room, yoga training poses an even greater challenge to your heart, lungs, and muscles, thus helping provide a cardiovascular challenge, and increasing your long-term endurance. When done in a hot yoga studio, the practice can also improve your respiration and metabolism.

Some Considerations – 

While hot yoga can be a great way of reaping the above benefits, the general understanding is that this practice is best suited for healthy individuals who want to take their yoga training up a notch. It is best to talk to the yoga teacher before you take up a hot yoga class. Be open about your expectations, goals, and medical history. If you are pregnant, prone to heat tolerance, have heart conditions, or concerns about your blood sugar and blood pressure, it may be best to stick to general yoga classes, or to consult a doctor before taking up hot yoga.

Otherwise, hot yoga can be a great and fun way to ramp up your daily workout, so do not be afraid to give it a try. 

A Note – 

If yoga or its various styles are of interest to you, or you are looking for yoga classes near me to get you started, do give Hith Yoga Studio a try. With over a decade of experience in the field, Hith Yoga is one of the most reputed names in the yoga training circuit of Delhi-NCR. With highly trained teachers, a facilitative ambience, private classes and regular yoga retreats, Hith Yoga packs all the benefits of yoga into its world-class yoga studio and ensures that you and your health remains the focus, always. So do give Hith Yoga a try, and change the way you experience yoga. 

A Final Word: A lot of our readers must be knowing that the Bikram style of yoga is quite controversial. It allows for no modifications, puts the body through a greater endurance than it may not necessarily be ready for, and takes minimal effort from the side of the teacher, who becomes nothing more than somebody speaking to a crowd of people. Even though Bikram yoga has been found to have some health benefits, including improvements of strength, balance, and mindfulness, critics have argued that similar benefits can be found without putting the body in such danger. 

Also, the backlash against the Bikram style of yoga training further increased after the founder, Bikram Choudhury was accused of sexual harassment, assault, racism and homophobia. As a result, though the established studios of Bikram yoga and the style continue to be practised in both the West and in India, the views have been divided over it for emotional reasons too! At Hith Yoga, we condemn any such discriminatory or abusive practices but we support Yoga as a concept. Hence, when we speak of Bikram Yoga in positive stead, we stand with the Yoga practice and not necessarily support the Instructor