A variant of Hatha yoga known as ‘hot yoga’ is practised in hot, steamy settings that cause significant perspiration. Since hot yoga is practised in a heated setting, it provides a more intensive workout than a regular yoga class.
A variant of Hatha yoga known as ‘hot yoga’ is practised in hot, steamy settings that cause significant perspiration. Hot yoga classrooms often have temperatures between 27°C to 38 °C on average. The length of the hot yoga sessions usually range from 60 to 90 minutes. Several distinct yoga poses are blended in a number of sequences during hot yoga sessions. Music and conversation between the instructor and students are frequent features of hot yoga programmes.
Hot yoga history
While teaching in Japan, Bikram Choudhury was shivering through his poses in the winter. He therefore brought heaters into the classroom. Bikram Choudhury discovered that his trainees could achieve flexibility in the asans effortlessly in the heat, so he carried heaters with him when he opened his first classroom in San Francisco in 1972. The practitioners of Bikram yoga changed the name from Bikram yoga to ‘Hot yoga’ because they no longer wanted to be associated with Bikram Choudhary when he got embroiled in a controversy.
Hot yoga concepts
Heated room setting
In order to stimulate the muscles and make people sweat, the room is warmed with the help of heaters. Warm muscles can stretch properly and more gently. When exercising in the heat, the body works harder to remain cool while increasing its rate of metabolism. Heat causes capillaries to expand, which improves the flow of oxygen to muscles, glands, organs, and other tissues while also aiding in the removal of impurities.
Focus upon breathing
The mind has to strive to maintain focus in a tense setting, just as the body struggles to remain cool. In various schools, there are diverse teaching emphases. In order to improve the flow of praan, hot yoga emphasises deep breathing like it does in all other types of yoga. The idea is that the practitioner moves through the positions with the help of breath, which connects the body and the mind. Deep breathing facilitates relaxation of the mind and body and improves the flow of oxygen throughout the entire body.
Detoxification through sweat
Toxins are expelled from the body through perspiration from the skin, which is its largest organ. Sweat has the ability to cool an overheated body. There is significant debate about the concept that sweat eliminates toxins from the body, but hot yoga practitioners believe that sweat cleanses the body on two distinct levels on the surface, where it removes pollutants and from the pores, and at cellular level, where it removes waste from the organs of the body. The immune system and metabolism are stimulated by sweating.
Benefits of Hot yoga
Although hot yoga offers similar health benefits as Hatha yoga, the additional heat has significant benefits besides increasing physical fitness and fostering mental peace. Hot yoga provides these extra benefits primarily because of the warm setting, which might make it a little more daunting to practise. The permeability of the bloodstream is enhanced by the temperature inside a hot yoga class. This ensures that the muscles receive more blood, which makes them more flexible and less prone to injury.
Hot yoga causes a lot of perspiration, which is a terrific way to detoxify the body. We barely use half of our lung capacity when breathing normally. Deep breathing exercises expand the lungs’ capacity, enabling them to absorb great amounts of oxygen. Exercise of the heart and lungs, that improves blood circulation in the body, is a huge benefit of hot yoga. Regular hot yoga sessions might strengthen your body’s defences against disease. Excessive sweating during a workout increases the benefits of workout. The majority of trained yogais rarely fall ill, and even if they do, their illnesses do not last long, as their bodies are healthier and adept of healing.
The metabolism can be boosted by hot yoga to assist with weight loss. One session of Hot yoga may lead to burning up to a thousand calories. Furthermore, the poses can help the digestive and endocrine systems, which would increase the rate of the metabolism.
Due to the intense workout and numerous benefits, hot yoga is becoming more and more popular. Since hot yoga is practised in a heated setting, it provides a more intensive workout for the lungs, muscles, and heart than a regular yoga class. Furthermore, hot yoga instructors often use many complex postures and combinations in their workshops.
