Heat reaction

Love the heat–there are many people who do not love the heat. I have been doing this for about two years–I am used to it. The more I do it, the more I am becoming sensitive to it.

I need to do elaborate things to avoid the heat, chiefly, finding a cool place in the room, normally near the windows. Further, I pour a quarter a bottle of water over my head occasionally right at the transition to the floor series–that helps a bit.

I always get better results in the cooler class since I can concentrate on the postures instead of fighting the heat all the time. It is easy to say ignore it. I do. It affects me anyway and not positively.

Thanks so much for the reply, Gabrielle and I agree that “it is possible to become sensitive to something over time.” This is why I once loved green tea and after a couple of years–it now gives me horrible diarrhea. Ditto with another favored beverage–fine at the beginning and then real intolerance. And I applaud you again for including the article by Leslie Funk. With my first experience with Bikram yoga, I worried that someone somewhere would sue. So why not a slightly lower standard of say 102?

One studio I attend has clear zones and my joke with the owner is that one could do well to get a “weather report.” One space in the middle is uncommonly hot, one side tends to be more humid, the window spot is good in the winter months but hot during the day in the summer–for a humid day, it is best in the back, etc.

Would you encourage or discourage my “shower break” between floor and standing series?

David

I am just back from a class and it was pretty easy with the heat. The issue is related to the studio, my position in the room, the instructor’s decision on how to run the heat, the humidity, etc.

My complaint here is that as Bikram yoga continues to expand–these details need to be monitored and perhaps even standardized. My initial reactions still stand: if it is a humid day and the studio has little ventilation, specific individuals can suffer bad reactions. I was at a class when a beautiful young woman fainted during the initial breathing–I have seen people having to walk out of class because of the heat, I have seen people slip on hardwood floors and people like myself often turn very red as a reaction to bad conditions.

I am convinced that this form of yoga is a very healthy thing to do, in fact I am sold on it in a big way. This is why I also want to protect it from potential lawsuits and trouble. Too many newbies with no background or adequate preparation show up for classes all over the world right now with varying classroom situations and I think this screams for regulation on the home front. As an analogy, one can be sure that every McDonald’s hamburger is cooked precisely the same amount of time in the same kind of unit so that a chance of an undercooked or overcooked burger is almost a scientific impossibility. One bad burger could cost McDonald’s a boatload of money. Similarly, when I saw the cute 20 year old young woman walk out over-heated in a studio here in Washington, DC–it takes little imagination to see that she could yap to her big-wig lawyer Dad about the experience.

Sorry to say that the heat in the room in a typical Bikram studio throughout the US is a varying experience. Some studios are uniformly “cool”–some studios vary widely and some studios can be burned by macho instructors that push the heat to a higher level than the norm.

Now, more controversy. Lucas has been given a link on this site to take more than a few controversial stands. First, a radical diet. Then a supplement sponsored by apparently no medical authority. But also a crucial statement concerning the Bikram practice and that is that one develops flexibility outside of the yoga classroom doing alternative yoga stretches and that Bikram is primarily where one demonstrates the improvements made outside of class. This goes against the party line of the Bikram studio which tells people to keep coming to class to break past the wall of inflexibility.
Bikram himself has been able to do something one might think impossible–patenting a series of yoga postures that are hundreds of years old and in the public domain and then creating a fortune with his world-wide empire of Bikram studios owned and run by people only he has trained (at a cost to the participants.) Now we have here another great businesswoman, Gabrielle who is selling videos and instruction off of Bikram’s success (I have no problem with it and I think this is an excellent website and Gabrielle is fully entitled) and then there is Lucas with his emerging business of an herbal supplement and more that targets the clientele established by Bikram.

I feel this is an inevitable part of the growth and success of yoga.

I welcome any comments.

Ok, Robert thanks for your reply and I am enjoying this web blog and Gabrielle is loaded with good will. I invite you to re-read my last posting and I will go over it again.

There is a problem with a lack of clear direction regarding the heat index in many Bikram yoga studios which call out for standardization. This is contrasted by the fact that there is a standardized script and a standardized level of control over the concept of a hot yoga studio with postures that are in the public domain.

Regarding the problem with the heat, I am not speaking of one studio but an industry wide problem. 1) Studios have widely varying systems: some are forced air, some have high ceilings and some low and many with no humidity control, some have heat panels from the ceiling, I know of at least one with floor heat, some have portable heating units positioned on the floor meaning it is much hotter if you are close to a unit, some have units mounted up in the air meaning there are consistent hot spots. 2) Studios employ instructors with varying concern about the heat. I have encountered some with a very cavalier attitude about it but beyond the gung-ho make ’em sweat instructors, there is simply normal variation. For example, at one studio in Florida–back to back 9:00 Am visits with a big thermometer post nearby, one instructor started it at 105 and let it cool to about 102 through the class. Another started at 106 and let it run to 107 and let it back to 104 only towards the very end. Some turn on fans and open doors, others do nothing. 3) Instructors oftentimes fail to monitor student reactions. Some are very sensitive, others do not notice at all. At one humid class, almost 2/3rds of the class was down on their mats, three people were forced to walk out and when the instructor barked at one student leaving “why are YOU leaving..you are a regular?”–*still* nothing was done about the the fact the room was way too hot and way too humid. This was one extreme event. But during hot classes less extreme, some instructors will tell us to tough it out and keep mental focus, admitting “I know it is hot” and this is unnecessary and not a positive thing to do. It is a problem and it does not matter if an allegation of excessive heat is there only 5-10% of the time. I am willing to make the complaint if there is a problem only 2-5% of the time.

My solution: 1) install a firm requirement regarding ceiling height in all classrooms. 2) keep firm limits on heat and humidity *no matter what* 3) Tell gung ho instructors to notice if there are more than 5% (or 3 people whichever is greater)of the class sitting out and adjust the heat, open a door, turn on a fan, etc.

Lastly, regarding Lucas, I really appreciate some of his insights. His diet suggestions are radical and although I do not want any supplement to be FDA approved–I want it to have some medical and scientific backing. What studies are there about MSM?

Thanks for the reply, Lucas. Alas, I don’t know how to e-mail you personally so I will reply here. Thank you so much for your link which describes the yoga stretches as a compliment to Bikram yoga. However, I would challenge you to say more about your radical diet and your advertised supplement.

First, regarding MSM, we are speaking of data, studies, medical opinion or scientific evidence to document that the dosage of MSM is both safe and effective. The fact that it is natural and a sulpher compound does not mean that it is without potential controversy since after all, one can consume any number of natural foods or compounds at risk. As for healing, relieving pain and allowing for added flexibility–how might MSM compare with glucosamine and chrondoydrin or other alternatives? If MSM is such a wondrous innovation–please tell us where else it is used and who else recommends it. Further, please concede that the fact that some people like myself are unusually stiff while others are normally and naturally flexible is a natural variation and nothing to do with whether one person takes your MSM supplement and another does not.

Second, your dietary recommendations are radical and I say this in context to the fact that your target audience is already very health and calorie conscious, less prone to eat lots of fat, sugar, meat and even diary. I submit to you that a normal diet by your readers is already pretty good and you have a sure burden to convince people that added flexibility can be garnered from becoming completely free of things like rice, fish and eggs. Your examples are straw-man kind of attacks and the man who has a medical condition of high cholesterol may need something radical while the vast majority of us are fine.

You have me convinced that those extra yoga stretches will help me gain added flexibility. But you need to work harder to explain that a person like myself would benefit greatly from dropping all fish (2-3 times a week), chicken (once or twice a week), eggs (I have perhaps two eggs a week–max), potatoes, rice and bread. I surely eat a good amount of fruits and vegetables and I would venture to say that the vast majority of Bikram yoga students do as well. Therefore, I ask again, is there really a measurable benefit to go radical vegan as opposed to vegan “plus?”

I see that you care greatly about what you preach and I hope that you can be a bit more convincing. In any case, I have learned from you and I hope I can finally gain greater flexibility in my body.