Hot yoga is a derivation of Bikram yoga, created by Bikram Choudhury. In Bikram yoga, the class is kept at 105 degrees and you flow through 26 poses in ninety minutes. Hot yoga came about after Bikram and uses similar poses in either slightly warmer or cooler temperatures.
There has been a lot of controversy over Bikram and hot yoga since there creation over 20 years ago. I was just talking to a friend last week about whether or not we should do hot yoga. We thought of perks and downsides, and what makes it so interesting to fitness and yoga enthusiasts. This got me thinking about why some say "no" and others say "yes".
Pros
Yoga in heat is good for the obvious reasons of loosening ligaments and muscles so we can stretch farther and not worry about injury. But, there are some other equally fantastic pros behind it.
Hot yoga has a series of poses that will help with heart health and cardiovascular strength. These poses, done in higher heat, cause our hearts to work harder and our vascular system to get stronger. This is much like jogging or any other cardio activity, but the stretching and shunting of blood can help a bit extra for the organs and veins. The shunting of blood helps detoxify the body while the massive sweat session gets rid of loads of impurities. Most impurities leave our bodies through a few different methods, one of the greatest is through our sweat. The mix of a massive sweat and the detoxifying poses help to give our bodies a fantastic cleansing session.
The heat also does wonders for our muscles. Sure, heat warms them up and gets us nice and limber, but it also makes our muscles tone that much faster. The super-toning is because the heat and poses work all of our muscles, ligaments, and joints as one. The yoga positions in both Bikram and hot yoga are intense and require coordination and tension of almost every muscle and ligament in our body. This combination of balancing, muscle engaging, and heat help strengthen and tone even the smallest muscles. Beyond that, the heat also increases our helper T-cell count. T-cells aid in fighting off diseases and the increase can make hot yoga helpful among those with HIV/AIDS.
One of my favorite reasons to do hot yoga is the stress relieving benefits. All yoga has stress relief, but hot yoga has a mind-over-matter benefit that causes you to stop thinking and focus on the present. This effect can be great for those going through a stressful time or for day-to-day life. The positions will push you outside of what you think your body is capable of and increase your mental stamina as well!
Cons
For the most part, hot yoga is safe. But, there are a few exceptions to the rule that people need to watch out for. The first is who should or should not do hot yoga. Children, the elderly, and women who are pregnant should avoid hot yoga like the plague. This is because all of them react much quicker to heat and the effects can be bad. Children and those over 60 can have heat strokes much easier than others and the heat can also do damage to organs. Likewise, women who are pregnant are much more susceptible to heat- not for them, but for the baby. Your internal temperature can get too great and cause health issues or hypothermia.
People who are sensitive to heat, have cardiovascular disease, are obese, or have respiratory problems should talk to their doctor before doing yoga.
For those who are healthy[ish], the right age, and not pregnant, the health issues and cons become far fewer. Dehydration is one of the greatest health concerns for hot yoga since your body is sweating a mass amount of hydration away and drinking too much water can make poses difficult and cause cramping. To avoid this, try to drink about 16 ounces of water one to two hours before your class. Then, bring two bottles of water with you to class, one for during and one for the ride home.
Other complication with hot yoga have to do with over-zealous yogis that push their bodies further than what it can handle. Hot yoga makes you focus on your body much more than most other forms. If we do not focus on what is too far for our body, we can push ourselves further than we should since the heat makes things easier. This can lead to overstretched muscles and ligaments that do not go back to the normal size. Overstretching can also do a great deal of damage to our joints since the ligaments have been greatly weakened. Listen to your body, if something is painful, stop. Yoga of any kind should never hurt.
Be sure not to only listen to your body during the class, health complications can arise in the hours after the class is over as well. If you have ever had tingly limbs shortly after a yoga session, it is most likely from the heat or the poses that take blood away from certain parts of the body. This can feel a little funny but is not any reason to be concerned. If the numbness does not go away after twenty minutes, contact your doctor. Numbness can be a sign of stroke or spinal, nervous, or arm injuries.
Although these concerns are only in extremely rare cases, it is best to know the upsides and pitfalls of any activity. If you have never tried hot yoga, start slow. There is no reason not to try it once, but even less of a reason to go in guns blazing as a beginner yogi. If you ever feel light headed or nauseous, lay down for a pose or two. This is very common in the beginning since your body is getting use to a whole new level of working in heat.