Heated Yoga classes really are a thing. For instance, Forrest Yoga classes run at 29oC, and have done for a long time. Yogafurie classes (in Bristol) run at between 30oC and 42oC, depending on which of our seven class styles is running. In this blog, we’ll talk about why heat works for Yoga, and what this means for today’s Yoga teachers.
Yoga is Breath..
…or so many people would say. As it happens, good breathing is the first thing a student learns in well-led Hot Yoga classes. If students do not breathe well, then they will struggle to relax into practise. A fit person could go through years of room-temperature Yoga practise, and never really learn to breathe – their strength and fitness carries them. But fitness does not make any difference in elevated temperatures: the body-mind is under a distinct load, and the only way to relax into that load is to breathe well. In this sense, each Hot Yoga class is an opportunity to help students understand and realise the power of their own breath to influence their mood, their energy and their day. At Yogafurie, we understand and want to make the most of the opportunity in our Bristol classes.
Here to stay
It’s unfortunate that many schools of Yoga have been hit by scandal in recent years. Sadly, many of the most senior figures have been discredited. However, despite the problems, Hot Yoga is here to stay. It delivers unique results – we’ve spoken about breath already. There are other, measurable benefits too. For instance, due to a property called thixotropy, Hot Yoga can help our bodies to better manage the waste products that our cells produce.
How does this work? Well, consider this: we all know that the body is about 60-70% water. So, if a person weighs 60kg, then that’s about 40kg of water. And we all know that people have about 8 pints of blood – that’s about 4kg of blood. Where’s the rest of the water? It turns out that much of the body contains a gel-like fluid that carries air and nutrients to cells from the bloodstream, and the waste products to the lymph system. That gel can get too sticky, and then there are problems. The gel is thixotropic: it’s less sticky when it’s warm. The Hot Yoga practitioner really does enable the good function of their system, and if they hydrate well, they can keep that good function.
What does this mean for Yoga teachers?
More and more people want to get involved in Hot Yoga, because it does work. The tawdry days of scandal are behind – hopefully – and we can all get on with enjoying and developing the very real benefits to breath and health that are available in well-led classes. There’s a whole new practice community out there: the students are real people, authentic and dedicated to their practise. Studios respond to the change in demand by incorporating heat – and some have for a long time, such as Forrest schools.
If you’ve already qualified as a 200-hour Yoga teacher, then you don’t need to re-train completely. You can pick up just the additional skills you need to design and lead safe and engaging classes in a range of temperatures. Yogafurie Academy’s 3-day intensive will take you through the key differences to room-temperature practice, and show you how to work with these to take students to a new level of practise. It contributes 24 hours towards your CPD also. The course runs 20-22 March 2020 inclusive at Yogafurie’s Bristol studio, and costs £499. You can get it for just £425 if you book and pay in full before 29 February 2020.
Click to find out more, or contact the studio on 0117 403 1678 to ask any questions you might have.
