Hot Yoga

Hot yoga is not the name of the latest in trendy exercise wear. Instead, it is the practice that has yoga aficionados exercise for about 90 minutes in the sweltering heat of about 105°F with a relative humidity of about 50%. Hot yoga instructors wear Speedos instead of modest shorts and t-shirts, and you can always tell the first timers that come to a class of hot yoga, mat neatly rolled up under their arms, by their warm outfits and the little bottle of water they are carrying. Little do they know that a quart of water may sustain them – barely – through their 90 minute ordeal!

The hot yoga studio is the brainchild of one of the most controversial figures in the yoga scene, Bikram Choudhury, who made headlines by not only training new teachers in an unprecedented nine weeks and treating the art of teaching yoga like a fast food franchising opportunity, but also by attempting to copyright and trademark the age old postures and poses of the established yoga practices.

Appealing mostly to women, hot yoga has garnered a reputation for melting away fat and thus helping those struggling with the last few pounds to finally be able to drop that weight. Yet the real reason why hot yoga is becoming such a commonly used term in alternative health circles is the fact that the sweat which will pour off the practitioner during the exercises is said to help rid the body of a variety of toxins. Furthermore, there is a school of thought that believes that hot yoga mimics the heat of a body that is warmed up and ready for exercise, thus decreasing the likelihood of any injuries that may be sustained during the practice of the poses.

Critics of hot yoga claim that the sweltering heat – at times the sweating bodies as well as the high heat may make it as hot as Death Valley during high noon in the middle of July – coupled with the humidity leads to lightheadedness that may cause some practitioners to lose consciousness. Furthermore, the insistence of some hot yoga teachers to not let students leave the room to take a break or even drink some cold water has brought severe criticism onto the entire practice. Interestingly, some aficionados who claim to have stuck with it and not give up do explain that after the initial 90 minutes and a short break they experience a burst of energy so strong that they are ready for another round of yoga – hot, cold or in between.