Heat Up Your Wellness Journey with Hot Yoga
Be the hot yogi!
Little darlin’, has it been a long, hard, lonely winter? If so, I feel you. And I come with the understanding: Some like it hot. If your need for heat is calling, answer. How? Try adding heat to your yoga practice. Hot yoga is a fantastic renewal, relaxation, health, and healing opportunity.
In the beginning
Hot yoga first gained attention in the ’70s when Bikram Choudhury, the innovative yet controversial yogi, opened his hot yoga studio. Note: hot yoga and Bikram yoga are not synonymous. Bikram is one distinct branded style, yet not all hot yoga is Bikram.
Hot yoga with benefits
What’s the difference between hot yoga and regular yoga? It’s the added degrees of heat and how they affect physiology and psychology. Hot yoga provides many benefits, from enhancing serenity to improving balance, focus, strength, and flexibility.
Houstonians laugh and return to making sun tea and taking videos of eggs frying on the sidewalk.
Bet you’re wondering, how hot is hot? Walking on hot rocks hot? Your new-co-worker level-hot? Habanero sauce hot? Well, hot yoga is any practice in a space heated, on average, to temps hitting 80–108 degrees. Housonites laugh and return to making sun tea and taking videos of omelets frying on the sidewalk.
Heat lets practitioners go deeper into postures by adding the warmth that replicates the practice’s Indian origins. This ease can help lower the risk of injuries, helping yogis relax into poses by raising the core body temp, increasing blood flow, and warming muscles.
Max the relax
Do you know how the sensual warmth of a bath or hot tub makes you feel relaxed? Hot yoga harnesses that heat to ease everything from aching muscles and ligaments to sad psyches.
Level up the vibration
What they say about liking it hot is true: Hot yoga can help ease depression and stress and support peacefulness. While yoga at cooler temps is fantastic, turning up the heat increases the relaxation potential, making hot yoga an excellent tool for depression and stress.
Support well-being
Hot yoga does a body right. The increased blood flow supports the immune system, and hot yoga can increase your heart rate, improving cardiovascular health. And glowing skin? Heat increases circulation, and releasing toxins through sweat helps you get your inner and outer glow on! For inspiration, Daft Punk entices while Pharrell Williams serenades in “Lose Yourself to Dance.” Philosophers ask: Has one truly lived until they’ve witnessed a shades-sporting Pharrell teasing out the word “sweat.”
Those on a fitness and weight journey may find that heat affects heart rate, influencing calorie burn rate. It may also reduce circulating glucose levels (yes, sugar), which is excellent news for anyone at risk for type 2 diabetes. And it supports building bone density.
Let’s get it started in here!
Like a hot Tinder/Grinder date, you must be prepared for your hot yoga session before entering the studio, prep. Many people enjoy having a light, healthy meal beforehand for energy. Others take a short spell for breathwork, centering, and transitioning to this time of the day meant to support you, bringing us to wet work. Hydrate! Before, during, and after your session, wet your whistle. Feel free. Feel free to bring your water bottle and fill it up at the tap as needed.
Practice & patience
Ease into the experience. Heat acclimation takes patience and practice. Working out in high heat can be more challenging than the usual practice or gym training. Beginners may want to ease into hot yoga; everyone should take breaks as needed. If you start to feel dizzy — figuratively — chill; for example, rest in the Child’s Pose.
Hot yoga gear
For a practice devoted to simplicity, yoga requires little equipment. However, there are some things you can bring, and it includes the equipment you tote to your usual yoga practice:
- Slip-resistant yoga mat
- Large towel
- Fresh face towel to funnel off sweat (future-you will thank you)
- Water bottle
- Workout gear
- Hairband/clips
- Change of clothes for afterward
As for workout wear, most individuals rock athletic/yoga clothing that’s breathable, comfortable, and allows easy movement — except for the Divas. It’s their brand to look fabulous in coordinated togs and flawless natural-looking makeup while the rest of us are wearing Everlast shorts and oversized college t-shirts.
Some like it sticky, sweaty, and catharsis-inducingly hot. Experience the zen sensation and mental boost from hot yoga that supports you through your busy day.
