Bikram Yoga Challenge: 32/60.
"You just finished a hot yoga class, didn't you?"
I momentarily pause and try to smell myself. Do I smell like I was just a hot yoga? Or do I just look like I was in a class, with the sweaty hair and dripping yoga mat?
Either way, it is true. I did just finish a hot yoga class. The woman who asked me on the street was correct. I told her so.
"I love doing that," she said to me. "But I really can't handle it getting too hot. Some studios let it get to 106 degrees!"
It surprised me that she used the Fahrenheit temperature grade, rather than the Celsius one... As this is Canada. But she made an excellent point in that some hot yoga studios (not just Bikram ones) do let it get too hot. I've practiced in studios where it was 114 (Fahrenheit) before the class started. And one you get all the bodies in the room, the humidifiers running and the heat going more... It just gets hotter. And more painful. I know we're supposed to be good yogis/inis and not even think about the heat... But it can be a turn-off. ESPECIALLY to new practitioners.
I am a huge advocate of the 105 degree temperature in the class... And even letting it get hotter. BUT there needs to be a greater understanding of the yoga room; how the heat circulates within it and when fresh air needs to be brought in by simply opening the door.
I don't know why, but it seems newer teachers are hesitant to open a door and let fresh air in the room. By the time people are ready to go down in Savasana, a 20-second blast of fresh air from the outside would be energizing for most people. More experienced teachers have no problem opening the door if and when the temperature and humidity are really pushing it and the energy in the room from the practitioners is falling off the charts.
I pledge to my future students that when I become a Bikram teacher, I will not hesitate to open a door or window for a few seconds when needed. But I will commit to keeping the class respectably hot (105 to 110) and humid. But not "Death Valley" hot and "Shitatstic Tampa" humid.
Only 28 days left in the challenge!
I momentarily pause and try to smell myself. Do I smell like I was just a hot yoga? Or do I just look like I was in a class, with the sweaty hair and dripping yoga mat?
Either way, it is true. I did just finish a hot yoga class. The woman who asked me on the street was correct. I told her so.
"I love doing that," she said to me. "But I really can't handle it getting too hot. Some studios let it get to 106 degrees!"
It surprised me that she used the Fahrenheit temperature grade, rather than the Celsius one... As this is Canada. But she made an excellent point in that some hot yoga studios (not just Bikram ones) do let it get too hot. I've practiced in studios where it was 114 (Fahrenheit) before the class started. And one you get all the bodies in the room, the humidifiers running and the heat going more... It just gets hotter. And more painful. I know we're supposed to be good yogis/inis and not even think about the heat... But it can be a turn-off. ESPECIALLY to new practitioners.
I am a huge advocate of the 105 degree temperature in the class... And even letting it get hotter. BUT there needs to be a greater understanding of the yoga room; how the heat circulates within it and when fresh air needs to be brought in by simply opening the door.
I don't know why, but it seems newer teachers are hesitant to open a door and let fresh air in the room. By the time people are ready to go down in Savasana, a 20-second blast of fresh air from the outside would be energizing for most people. More experienced teachers have no problem opening the door if and when the temperature and humidity are really pushing it and the energy in the room from the practitioners is falling off the charts.
I pledge to my future students that when I become a Bikram teacher, I will not hesitate to open a door or window for a few seconds when needed. But I will commit to keeping the class respectably hot (105 to 110) and humid. But not "Death Valley" hot and "Shitatstic Tampa" humid.
Only 28 days left in the challenge!
Comments
I lived in Tampa for two years as a child. Swore to never, ever go back.
I would probably enjoy it more as an adult, correct?