Some Like It Hot, Some Not
People always ask me what I think of hot yoga. It isn’t my favorite but I occasionally sub hot yoga classes at one of the gyms I teach at in NYC. People really love it, but as a practitioner I have mixed feelings about it.
Hot yoga has recently become popular because of the Bikram Yoga style, which created controversy when his set sequence of postures became patented (how can you patent something that’s thousands of years old?), but isn’t the only style of hot yoga around. Some studios offer variations on the Bikram sequence, others offer vinyasa style classes in a heated room. Guess people just like being hot, sweating and wearing little clothing.
Why not just hang out in a steam room or go to the beach?
I can see the benefits: the heat allows the body to be more flexible so one can deepen the postures and she’s probably profusely sweating any toxins out of her body. Um…but that might be it. The downsides are: she’s unnecessarily taxing her body while already doing a physical activity, she has a false sense of flexibility since she probably isn’t that flexible in a cooler environment (thus risking muscle pulls), and if she isn’t careful can suffer from dehydration and heat exhaustion.
My take: if you’re young and relatively healthy, try some hot yoga classes of different styles, but if you’re out of physical shape, have any medical conditions, are older, have high blood pressure or are already very flexible, then hot yoga isn’t right for you. When in doubt, consult a medical professional before trying it.
Oh yeah, and you definitely want to bring your own, clean mat!
This is a very informative blog entry. I really liked it because I was myself thinking about taking this type of class! Thanks for the information!