Cautiously Curious about Hot Yoga?

The first time I took a hot yoga class, I was nervous. If I'm being honest, maybe flat out scared. I had no idea what to expect and was fearful that I might pass out, or even (dare I say) die! That fear kept me away from hot yoga for the first ten years of my yoga practice. Finally, I faced my fear and attended my first Bikram yoga class in 2011 in Northern Virginia. It was hot. I poured buckets of sweat. I slid all over my mat. I was a seasoned yogi and I had to take multiple breaks while the other yogis were happily sweating and striking poses. My mind threw silent curses at the teacher and questioned the sanity of the other students in the room (especially the ones who made it look easy). Even my dear friend, Child’s Pose, did not comfort me in the midst of this madness. At the end of class, while soaking in my Savasana sweat, I felt empty. Empty in a good way --in the way that you wring the heaviness out of a wet wash cloth. The past hour was the first time in months, maybe years, that I had not obsessively replayed the day’s stressors in my head. You know the ones: the annoying co-worker, the spat with your partner, the ailing family member, the endless list of to-dos, the should’ve’s and could’ve’s and ‘if I had it to do over’s. My mind had been so focused on the sheer survival of the present moment, there was no room for anything else. At first, I kept going back to hot yoga for the respite the 60-90 minutes provided from obsessive thinking. When I entered that practice space, no one could reach me for a solid hour. No text messages, emails, forced social engagements, phone calls – I was gloriously untouchable. The hot yoga practice became my time-out from daily life. There was something about it that was different from unheated yoga, something more potent, at least for me. The relaxation effect was more intense, I slept better, I was calmer during the rest of the day. I was even nicer to myself and others. It wasn’t until 2019, that I dug into the scholarly research on the physiological benefits of heated training. I knew how I felt after my heated practice, but the science told me why.

1. The intense sweating, like from that of a dry sauna session, leads to hermetic adaptation and beneficial cardiovascular and metabolic effects. 2. Activates thermoregulatory exposure pathways via the hypothalamus and CNS leading to activation of the autonomic nervous system. In other words, it activates the rest and digest response and helps regulate heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and digestion. 3. Leads to increased HRV (the higher the HRV, the healthier the individual in most cases). 4. Some studies show that heated yoga and sauna bathing lead to an increased serum level of growth hormone (anti-aging). 5. Studies show that heated training may have particularly beneficial health effects for those with cardiovascular-related, those with rheumatological disease(s), and for athletes seeking to improve their performance. 6. Improves skeletal muscle contractility

7. Possibly induced shear-stress-mediated upregulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase activity leading to improvement in endothelial function

8. A greater sense of well-being. 9. Increased plasma volume and reduced heart rate. With an increased plasma volume, your heart doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood, resulting in a reduced heart rate during exercise. 10. Improved exercise performance: Heat training can have positive effects on exercise performance, particularly in hot and humid conditions.

While the science supports the adaptations gained from heated training (sauna sessions, hot yoga, etc.), every person has an individual physiology, history and heat tolerance. If you plan to practice heated training, make sure to sufficiently hydrate before, during, and after each session. Take it slow at first -- it is okay (and encouraged) to take frequent breaks until you are adapted to the environment. Adaptation is individual, but the sweet spot for hot yoga benefits seems to be 3 sessions per week. For an added bio-hack, jump in a cold shower (60-degrees or less) immediately after a heated training session to reap the benefits of hydrotherapy. Reach out if you have questions or if you would like to host an outdoor heated yoga session in your area!

Until soon,

Kim