The word yoga was used in tex millennia ago as a source of physical, mental, and spiritual development. Yoga focuses on creating harmony between the body and mind. The practice of yoga is an art of healthy living. As an exercise, yoga helps to build and strengthen lean muscles, but there are different sorts of yoga styles under the general yoga umbrella. Hot yoga is one of them, which involves increasing the temperature and humidity level in the studio. Hot yoga is a fat-burning and flexibility-improving exercise.
What is Hot Yoga?
The very first form of hot yoga was Bikram Yoga, which was founded in 1970 by Bikram Chaudhury. Bikram yoga consists of a series of postures performed in a room with a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit and a humidity level of 40%. The purpose of hot yoga is to enhance your heart rate for intense practice and shed extra fat from your body.
Bikram studio is the very common name of many current hot yoga studios. The practitioners and teachers of Bikram yoga saved hot yoga from the concept of sexual abuse with this name. Nowadays, many other forms of yoga styles are conducted in heated rooms, which gives popularity to hot yoga.
What are the long term benefits of hot yoga?
Hot yoga and Bikram yoga, regardless of the ambient temperature, both seek to promote mental relaxation and enhance physical fitness. Yoga can be more difficult to practice in a hot setting, but some of the advantages may be worthwhile, especially if you’re hoping to improve in one of the areas listed below. Hot yoga can benefit from the following advantages when practiced appropriately and safely:
- Improves flexibility:
As you know, stretching warm muscles is safer and more beneficial than stretching cold muscles. So, creating a yoga style in a hot environment is easier and more effective. The hot room temperature permits to achieve a greater range of motion. While doing hot yoga for 8 weeks, participants attain greater flexibility in their shoulders, hamstrings, and lower back than when working at a cold room temperature. According to Healthline, a warmer room temperature takes less time to reduce your muscles.
- Reduces body fat:
According to the research from Colorado State University, traditional yoga burns d183 calories for a 160-pound person, but hot yoga has higher values of calorie-burn rate, that is 460 in men and 330 in women during a 90-minute workout.
- Increases bone density:
In a yoga pose, bearing your weight helps increase bone density. According to a study in 2014, premenopausal women who practiced hot yoga for five years had higher density in their hips, neck, and lower back. So, this is also helpful for older people or premenopausal women.
- Deal with stress:
Usually, people practice yoga as stress-relieving exercise. Many people use yoga as a healthy stress-reduction technique. Adults who are not physically active are found to dramatically decrease their stress levels after a 16-week hot yoga session. Hot yoga also improves the quality of healthy living along with the stress-releasing workout.
- Relieves depression:
Yoga is well known for its ability to reduce stress and improve your mood. According to the American Association of Psychology, hot yoga can be depression reducing therapy.. Yoga is a powerful approach to lessening depression symptoms that focuses on the practice as a treatment for depression.
- Strengthening Cardiovascular Muscles:
Yoga positions that are performed in high heat might be more taxing on your heart, lungs, and muscles than poses that are performed in low heat. A single session works your heart as hard as a brisk walk (3.5 miles per hour).
- It lowers blood glucose levels:
Usually, every type of workout consumes energy that reduces the level of glucose (sugar) in your bloodstream. Hot yoga is especially beneficial for people who have type 2 diabetes. A small and short-term hot yoga help to tolerate glucose level in obese people, but have lessen effects on young ones.
- Skin nourishing:
Sweating is a major goal of hot yoga that improves blood circulation in a warm enviornment. It brings oxygenated and nutrient-rich blood to skin cells, which nourish your skin.
- Improve Breathing:
Hot yoga poses also increase your lung capacity at a wide range of possibilities, which improves your breathing.
Safety Tips for Hot Yoga:
If you’re a beginner and have never tried yoga before, you might want to start with a regular yoga class to see if the instructor and studio are suitable for you. While you’re there, inquire whether there are any hot yoga classes for beginners.
Before committing to one, Try to visit different yoga studios . Inquire whether the yoga studio provides free or discounted trial classes so you can judge if it’s a good fit for you. Before you jump into hot yoga, remember the following safety measurements:
- Make sure to prevent your body from dehydrating during exercise. Try to drink water before, during, and after the session of hot yoga.
- Wear stretchable and lightweight clothes.
- Pay heed to your body cues during practice.
- Take a rest or leave the room if you’re exhausted or feeling dizzy.
- Bring a towel to your yoga mat for clean sweat.
- Use practical socks and gloves to make your grip stronger.
- Don’t forget to bring a water bottle with you to the yoga studio.
Hot Yoga vs. Pilates:
Pilates and hot yoga both focus on flexibility and muscle-strengthening workouts. However, Pilates is done with the help of machines. Its major goal is to build and support muscles. But hot yoga poses are done on the ground.
How to Get Started with Hot Yoga?
If you want to practice hot yoga, there are some preliminary measures that you have to follow before poking your nose. First, drink plenty of water on the day of class, which doesn’t allow your body to sweat so quickly. Next, don’t stuff your belly with eating different things. Always take a light meal before your session. A filled stomach may cause hindrance during abdominal work. Also, bring a towel along with you to wipe out sweat. Lastly, don’t expose your body to cold environments, which can contract your muscles immediately. This may lead to stiffening of your muscles.
Frequently Asked Questions about Hot Yoga!
Q1. What to Wear to a Hot Yoga Class?
For a hot yoga class, wear stretchable, flexible, antimicrobial clothes. Avoid cotton stuff, which absorbs moisture. That means you grow heavier when you sweat. A light-weight outfit will save you from overheating.
Q2. Should you try hot yoga?
If your ultimate goal is to burn fat quickly, then hot yoga will be preferable. Also, make sure that your body can bear the temperature of the hot yoga room without any allergic problems.
Q3. What is the point of hot yoga?
Hot yoga has numerous mental and physical health benefits. It can help you burn calories, increase bone density, improve cardiovascular fitness, and improve flexibility. It may also help with depression and stress relief.
Q4. What is the difference between yoga and hot yoga?
The major difference between regular yoga and hot yoga is the temperature of the studio where practice is done. Traditional or regular yoga can be done at room temperature, but hot yoga needs a specific hot environment.
Q5. Does hot yoga help you lose weight?
As the name shows, this type of yoga is done in a hot environment, which burns your fat. Hot yoga also allows your digestive enzymes, endocrine, and respiratory systems to work at an optimum temperature. If you take 3 classes per week, you will soon notice weight stabilization.
Q6. Is hot yoga OK for beginners?
Yes, it is okay for beginners to try hot yoga. All people go through the same learning curve when they are beginners on the hot yoga journey. Within 2 or 3 classes, students begin to acclimate to the warm surroundings and the series of yoga postures.
Final Words:
Not everyone can be the right fit for hot yoga. But if you are curious about regular yoga and want to scale up, it can be your desired thing, what you are looking for. Hot yoga gives you various benefits. It reduces your extra fat, increases bone density, builds flexibility and also boosts your cardiovascular fitness.
Consult your doctor if you have any health issues like diabetes, breathing problems, anorexia nervosa, heart problems, or heat intolerance.