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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
 
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Okay, I did it. I went to a Hot Yoga Class that was over 105 degrees ....all I have to say is WOW!! and that was too friggin HOT!!!
Seriously, it was too HOT. The class itself was very good, the instructor was gentle (& pregnant), the flow of the class was really nice and there was NO yelling and it was a really nice class by way of the fact that the instructor threw in different poses that were not in the "Bikram" method, etc. However, I had a really hard time with being able to go from one posture to the next with my breathing. I thought I was suffocating at times from the heat. I couldn't go into each posture as *cleanly* as I like to do, which I feel is important. What I ended up doing was this. I shortened my hold times which allowed me to go at my pace, and I did a couple of the postures only once instead of twice. It was interesting, but I really like my home practice much, much better.
I don't see how you guys do it. I really don't. I think that anything over 95 degrees is ridiculously stupid and dangerous. Even me being a *seasoned* yoga practicitioner, I ended up much later with a headache that kept me up all night long. The only thing that brought me relief since I don't take chemicals, was a serious head massage with Essential Oil of Peppermint. It was the only thing that would bring the heat down.
The good news and BB, you'll love this one. I loved the Savasana at the end of this class. No one came over and tried to massage me or do any of that wierd stuff - no incense, music or bubbles...I was left completely alone. Finally after being there for at least 20 minutes, I started thinking, 'wow, this is a really long Savasana and these people are getting into it'. Turns out, everybody had left the room and I was there, lying in the floor all by myself. It was too cool and very funny cause I didn't know how their Savasana worked. Oh well, I have to say that was in the top 5 of my longest Savasana's....and a much needed one at that!!!
Anyway, thought you guys would like to hear about this. I do wish there were more HOT Yoga studios with a much lower temperature...I'd be there in a heartbeat!
Okay, That's my Hot Yoga Review for this month,  |
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| Cyndi,
Come visit us over here in Hawai'i. The natural heat and humidity makes for some awesome flow classes without my teacher having to turn on the heaters! I don't quite understand why she even bought them for her stuido , I've never seen them used. Thank goodness! Is the humidity controlled in a 105 degree class or was the heat dry? Aloha from the Big Island
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| First, I want to go to Hawaii
Second, intersting share, Cyndi. Yep, 105 is too friggin hot. It's probably more than 105 with all the bodies in the room. What were the other poses they added?
I actually freaked out in one of my Bikram classes at the icky studio because it was waaaay over crowded and I felt like I was breathing everyone's disgusting CO2. Then, because it was so hot and crowded a drop of some guy's sweat landed in my eye. Ugh! I had to leave. (people that fart in a class like this should be shot on the spot).
Did your cousin like the class?
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| boy howdy, i used to love those ridiculously hot yoga classes.
like 115 degrees or hotter.
once you get heated up in that room, you can do anything...
i kinda miss being able to do the full camel (kapotasana) backbend.
i'll be able to do it again someday, and with better alignment
it doesn't matter if you're a seasoned yoga practitioner in a bikram class, its more important that you're seasoned to the heat.
if you somehow managed to be both, though..
hmmm
sometimes my ladyfriend would come kiss me in bikram savasana
so scandalous!
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Hey Fifi,
Second - I want to go to Hawaii too!!! I want to go play with all the feral parrots on the beach, forget the yoga asanas, well, maybe save them for later, like we can do a Bikram Lu Ouch,
The other poses that were added...hmm?? I don't know the Sanskrit names of these postures...It may have been that new "Western" Yoga that's been popping up lately. However, it went something like this....after the 1st set of Wind Relief Pose and/or Fifi's favorite Farting Hour, she had us spread our legs apart in the air upwards and stretch outwards, which was interesting and good for your sex life posture. Then after the 1st set Janushirasana with Paschimottanasana, she had us spread our legs apart again, but this time on the floor, and do a forward bend by placing our arms on the floor in front of us. Tourist might know these postures, I didn't have time to look them up.
My cousin LOVES this class and the heat. The funny part is that she is much older than I and can tolerate the extreme. On the other hand, she doesn't go into the posture as deeply as I do and not as far as I can in most of them. Her flexibility is much, much different from mine. When I do my yoga I work hard and I try to stay very focused. The heat is just not necessary and is a major impairment for me. I don't like being overpushed with heat because my Pitta Dosha is very strong and it is just not good for a person like me. If I were Kapha, I would probably be fine with this. My husband loves the summertime, whereas I like Wintertime and/or being in the cool mountains in a moderate temp. I think I could also live in Hawaii due to the nice 80 degree temperature there. Like I said, 95 is tops for me for Hot Yoga. Which brings me to say this:
Hey Dhanu,
I can do full camel WITHOUT the heat. In fact, my yoga practice is so wonderful at home in my moderate temperature....it makes a big difference when you can ACTUALLY BREATHE and not be strained and/or STRANGLED. However, I will say that I don't like to do postures when its cold, warm is a better term, but NOT HOT!!
Oh yea, and Fifi, I'm with ya on that sweat thing and dealing with overcrowded rooms. This room was perfect and everyone was spread apart. It was Easter weekend so it was a lite class. I'd rather have Yodha slobber over me with kisses than some strangers icky sweat, UGH!! I'd freak too!! You know that carpet did have a slickness feel to it. It was a Berber carpet with a slight slickness to it. I tried not to think about it and stayed on my gigantic beach towel and mat. When my cousin left during Savasana she went to take a shower. Me, I went back home to my apartment...no way was I going to shower there even though it was a very clean studio. I just wanted my comforts from home. All I kept thinking about was the pool when I was doing the class. Although, I changed my mind about that later too, since I hate public pools...even in my nice apartment complex. It was a nice thought though. If I were here in the mountains, it would of been a good day to go jump in the lake!
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| well cyndi, i suspect you probably have a few years of practice on me...
this bikram studio a couple towns over from me is by and large the hottest studio i've ever been to. the room is pretty small, rectangular...maybe 30 feet long by 2.5 mats wide...
they have heater/blowers on either side of the room, and somehow, they keep the humidity ridiculously high.
every time i'd ever been there, the carpet was damp before class even got started.
i prefer hard wood floors myself
oooh, or maybe on a tiger skin rug with marble floors...
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | dhanurasana - 2006-04-20 10:38 AM
well cyndi, i suspect you probably have a few years of practice on me...
I don't know about that D. Your're much younger than I and probably more flexible. Give it a whirl sometime without the heat, you'd be really surprised. Just make sure you warm up by doing all the other asana's in order and in a lowered heated room. You might just like it.
i prefer hard wood floors myself
oooh, or maybe on a tiger skin rug with marble floors...
Me too!! although, I have Berber carpet in my yoga studio...it's new and clean!! I have a friend who has ordered me a Tibetan Sheep's skin rug...I can't wait to do Savasana on it, YIPPEE!! It's the same Sheep they make those really soft Poshmina's from...
Edited by Cyndi 2006-04-20 10:47 AM
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| eh...
i'm not quite there yet.
i still have a lot to learn about opening up my psoas region during backbends
i can do a pretty nice laghuvajrasana, though...
i'm coming from more a place of strength, and building flexibility into that, but i guess i'm kinda flexible...
whats the difference between a tibetan sheep's skin and an american?
or perhaps a ukranian?
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | The difference is the Sheep I suppose D. Like a Yak skin/fur would not be as soft and then you have sheep in America that are real wooly and itchy. Then you also have Alpaca - we have a farm close by, which are totally different in the way the wool breathes and stuff. I like to use their wool for socks and I have a wrap that is DIVINE from Alpaca. The Tibetan Sheep is by far the BEST!! No itchy's and very warm, fuzzy, soft - like kashmir, and cozy. |
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| To me it's almost more about the humidity than the heat. Yesterday I kept thinking all through class "it's not warm enough in here". It was 105 degrees but the humidity was only around 30. Sometimes they start the humidity off low when they're predicting a bigger class and the humidity raises on it's own. |
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| Yes, I've noticed I can go deeper into a pose with higher humidity.
Sometimes the higher temperature just feels like burning.
In my perfect world there would be fresh oxygen pumped into yoga rooms. I'd be happy with having lots of plants, too. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | Fifi, I know that burning you're talking about. My entire head felt like it was on fire that day. Ya'll can keep your hot yoga...I'm going to keep my warm yoga with fresh mountain aire and I we have plants too!! |
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| I just did my first hot yoga (It wasn't bikram - it was Moksha - same thing different title - whatever) and my gods... I'm with Cyndi, you guys can keep it... it was 40C and a 90 min class... by the time we got to the sitting poses I couldn't stop the sweat dripping off me, and now - about an hour later my sinuses are KILLING me!
I didn't find it humid enough - perhaps that was the issue. All I know is that I can make it in full poses through my regular hatha routine with wonderful flexability - I find the heat hinders what you are able to do - and when you can do it - it's almost like a false sense of release... anyway - good for you guys who love it and can do it! |
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| why are your sinuses killing you? Dry heat? Too much energy up to the head? |
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| I have very bad sinusitis to begin with (from the chemicals of living in the city) and I was hoping for a more moist heat int he studio - but it was indeed a drier heat, so it irritated them...
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I survived my Hot Yoga Class!!
