The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › General Hot Yoga Discussion › The Heat › Bikram yoga at home
The Hot Yoga Doctor – Free Bikram and Hot Yoga Resources › Hot Yoga Doctor Forum › General Hot Yoga Discussion › The Heat › Bikram yoga at home
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Hello all,
I’ve recently moved to a new city with no Bikram studio. I’m thinking of purchasing a sauna heater and using it in one of the bedrooms in our house. It’s cheaper than installing an actual sauna in the basement, and we don’t have the room or budget anyway. I’m wondering if anyone else has tried this? Was it successful? I’m also concerned about any damage to the hardwood floors or walls from the intense heat?
Thanks in advance for any input!
I just use a quartz heater if it feels to cold. I don’t worry about getting the temperature to the level that hot yoga people talk about. It doesn’t seem necessary to me. I realize that is one of the factors, but I don’t do those annoying rests in the floor series either.
Yeah, I guess it doesn’t need to be quite as hot as in the studios. I asked my former hot yoga teacher and he recommended using 2-3 oil heaters and a couple of humidifiers. I’ll start with 2 heaters, skip the humidifiers (I’ll be in the basement and it’s pretty humid down there as it is) and see how it goes. Thanks for the input! By the way, I find all those floor rests annoying too – I guess that’s the luxury of practicing at home: you can customize the workout somewhat to suit you. That’s the danger too, though (for me, at least): I might get tempted to be lazy and cut the workout short or sit out some poses! 😮
Hi Faizah
Leonard is right that you don’t need to aim for those extremely high temperatures. The 105 oft quoted has become an artificial standard. Just get a very warm room of above 90 degrees, play with the humidity to get the conditions that you like and go with that.
I had left this response open for a while and in the meantime you have responded to Leonard’s post. 😉
Focus on insulation and getting rid of drafts is a good tip.
Let us know how you go.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Thanks so much for the advice. I’ll definitely post again and let everyone know how it went.
ok, my first attempt at doing hot yoga at home was promising but I definitely need to get the room hotter. I used just one 1500W oil heater (thought that might work if I left it on long enough) in a spare bedroom and after 2 hours, the room just got up to 77 F and wouldn’t go higher, so I had to go with that. It got up to 85 F about 30 minutes into it but that was as high as it went. One of the problems is that the heater has a built-in thermostat that shuts it off well before it reaches my desired temp, even when I set it to maximum. I’m not sure what to do. I’m thinking I might have more luck with a ceramic heater, so gonna pick one up. I’ve also been reading about infrared heaters. They all seem to have built-in thermostats, though, so I’m worried that even if I get more heaters, they’ll just shut down faster! Anyway, this is a long post, but was just wondering if anyone has been successful in reaching 90 degrees, and how they did it!
I just saw an ad for a Dyson space heater, and it has a “precise thermostat” that goes up to 99 degrees. That may work?
-Kristin
Hi Kristin,
Thanks for the tip! This looks like a great one. I just had a look at it, but price is a bit prohibitive, though (looks like it’s $450.00). Too bad. I’m very tempted, but I think I’ll have to see what I can find on the cheap :-). Thanks anyway!
Hello all
I use Xpelair heaters that are originally an English brand but they are available in the US. They have a website xpelairusa.com. However, I can’t find prices anywhere for them. But these were not expensive but they blow air very diffusely, without the feeling of a hot spot, plus have no thermostat (which means they can get the room hot). You can buy an Xpelair thermostat to set your temperature. See if you can come up with something. I do love mine. Just wanted to offer another solution. If anyone finds details then post them here.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi all,
If anyone is interested, I just wanted to give you an update as I’ve finally been successful at getting my yoga space sufficiently hot! I gave up on heating an entire room. Instead, I mapped out an area of the room about 5ft x 7ft, away from any windows and sectioned it off using that thick plastic they use on construction sites. I just attached it to the ceiling, walls and floor using masking tape. You can buy a zipper that adheres to the plastic so you can get in and out. I used my same old baseboard heater (1500W) and got the room hot in no time at all! So excited! Hope this is helpful for someone!
I should also add that I bought a sheet that was wide enough for me to fold it into 3, so I actually got 3 layers of plastic – so, better insulation.
That sounds like an excellent solution! Are you doing anything to increase humidity? Or just relying on the heat?
– kristin
Hi Kristin,
Strangely, it says the humidity level is 60% in there :-s. That seems quite high, so I don’t really feel I need to add a humidifier.
well no I guess you don’t! That does seem high. I figured with the increase in heat the humidity would be lower.
Glad you found a solution. Now I’m thinking about what space I can take over for my own mini-studio! 😉
-Kristin
Hi Faizah – a quick question – how are you measuring the humidity?
We’ve noticed that if the measuring device is placed close to your yoga towel (for example) you will get a false (high) reading – from sweat vapor; towel-humidity etc
And it’s not always true that the heat and humidity rise and fall in inverse proportion – it really does depend on local conditions. What is worth focusing in on is the general “heat index” and your own body’s unique responses to heat.
Here’s a quick ref to heat index info for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_index
Hope that helps!
(And from a personal point of view, 60% humidity is a great humidity and the temp really would be fine for me at 37-38 degrees C [98.6 – 100.4 in the old numbers!]. Usually 60-70% is considered “optimum” … but depends on what you personally prefer. In winter we find it hard to get past 25% for example.)
Today where we live, humidity is at 98% (torrential downpours!) and it is also summer … so the heat doesn’t need to be too high to get a good sweat going hehe!
😉
Robert
Hi Robert, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you something.
I have also noticed false “high” readings placing the hygrometer too low. I place it now at about shoulder height (where the thermometer also is). Do you think this is also the best place for the hygrometer? Thanks!Hi Lisafr!
I think that would be fine – what matters most is that it gets a clean reading I think – ie well in the “air” and not too close to a very sweaty body or towel. In an ideal world, I’d hang two of them in the middle of the room about 1/3 the way in from any wall and not stand close … but I think that’s obsessive haha 😉
So yes … well away from windows, towels and suspended in the air is ideal … if that helps!
Putting it close to your thermometer also ensures the heat index is measuring humidity and temp at the same point in the room, ie a bit more scientific (assuming as above, that it’s not an overly “wet” point in the room).
Hello, I work for a company in the UK that sells infrared heating panels for homes and businesses, we have supplied these heaters to hot yoga studios, but to be fair I dont really understand about the requirements for hot yoga, which is why I am here reading up!
I do know that you need 2 or 3 times more heat than normal to warm the room, here in the UK we have advised having an alternative hot air heater as well as the infrared panels. But I can see they would work well in a home yoga environment. They screw fit onto the ceiling and simply plug in, so do not take up any space or require any maintenance. The one thing that I do not fully understand is how you create the humidity, infrared is a very clean warmth to the skin and keeps the air conditions stable. Perhaps someone could explain how you achieve high humidity, and also how you get rid of it once you have finished doing excercise!Surely humidity in the home would lead to mould growth?Hi Heather
Have you had a chance to look around the forum yet? There are so many questions on heating in studios and at home that you should be able to find your answers.
If you wouldn’t mind, please send me an email (help @ hyd .com) and let me know what company it is that you’re associated with.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂I just tried practice at home today. I used the rest room and put the general heater upto 90 (wich is the max) and I add extra portable heater (Lasko Ceramic) also upto 90. I run the hot water for sometimes for huminity. Lasko has thermostat in it and went up to 98 and than stop. Although it wasn’t as hot as the studio I was able to sweat, but not as much as if Im in the studio as well…
What makes me wonder is that I dont feel as tired as if I am in the studio either. Is that because of the heat that can generate more sweat burn more calori? I am so curious about this. I am afraid I can’t get the maximum benefit from it… Thanks in advance for the answer..
Fatma
Hi Fatma
You seem to equate feeling tired with getting more benefit. I wonder why. The opposite could be true. There are a number of reasons for the difference. It is hard to say exactly because as I understand it you have only practiced once at home so it’s not a reliable sample size. It is possible that you are getting more out of your practice at home because you are not tiring yourself out. It is also possible that the studio you attend could be heating the room much higher than is necessary and over time could be causing some heat exhaustion. I can’t know at this stage! 😉
Perhaps you can practise a 3-4 times over a week at home. Use the same sequence that they use at the public studio and then after that week see how you feel overall! Come back and let us know.
Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂Hi Gabrielle,
Thanks for the quick response. I look at the thermostate in the studio the other day it was 96 and the humidity was 63. yet, it felt much hotter. You may be right that I might experienced heat exhaustion. I will try more often at home and will see what happens. I deffinately will keep you posted.
Fatma
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