Living Yoga

Today at the gym a very fit woman came up to me after class and told me that she had seriously injured her back in a Bikram yoga class and asked my opinion regarding this style. In a previous blog post I talked about the precautions you should take before taking a hot yoga style class. My opinion is that I don’t think it’s the best thing for most people and that it’s extreme popularity is probably due to the “high” it creates when you’re in a freakin’ hot room. Devotees of hot yoga have even admitted to me that they do get a high from it. I can see the entire hot yoga industry getting heated about this (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun) but if you’re new to hot yoga you must take it with precaution.

Back to the woman with the back injury, I told her that she probably injured her back because her body wasn’t warmed up internally to prepare for the deeper stretches yet she felt warm and flexible because the room was so dang hot. This gave her body a false sense of flexibility and if she suddenly went into the wrong pose…crack! There goes the back. She even had to see a chiropractor about it.

My general advice when you take hot yoga is to always keep in mind how flexible your body is even if you’re feeling more open due to the heat. Go into stretches slowly. Drink lots of water. I also favor hot yoga classes where the room isn’t heated quite as high (a mere 95 degrees will do) and a little vinyasa flow is combined with it, this way your body can work it’s way into deeper stretches.

And I can’t say it enough times, if you get injured rest until your injury is completely healed so you can get back in action even stronger than before.