Hot Yoga for Children

Hi Sandra

If the child has interest then that is a good place to start. I think that the environment has to be considered. If your studio is heated to body temperature and not more (in other words you have a controlled environment where nose-bleed temperatures are not the norm) then it is OK!

Take a look at other considerations that we discussed in these other threads:

>> Yoga For Kids

>> How Old Do You Need To Be To Start?

>> Would Hot Yoga Be Good For A 10 Year Old Child With Diabetes Type I?

I hope that helps you!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Kira

It was always my understanding that everyone (well almost) has sweat glands. All kids sweat. It is just that at puberty they develop the type of sweat glands that secrete directly into the hair follicle. This is the type of sweat gland that produces the distinctive smell!!!

I am almost positive that there is nothing but anecdotal evidence and opinion rather than any definitive rule about kids doing the yoga. If your child does gymnastics or runs, or swims or plays football or just runs around, they are sweating.

May I ask you what exactly you have been told and perhaps any fears you have because of it? It would certainly be interesting to know.

I personally can’t see a reason – based on sweat gland development – why a child would have to be excluded. Of course common sense prevails and you would not challenge them (or anyone) with ridiculously high temperatures. I am as ever, happy to hear what others have to say to introduce me to other reasons and be convinced otherwise.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Scandalous!! Ridiculous!! I totally think the parent should be present.

Has the Hot Yoga Doctor spoken to an actual doctor to come up with her observations about children practicing yoga in a hot room?

this article is from Yoga Journal and it has a quotation from a pediatrician…

http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/2010/07/hot-yoga-for-kids.html

Dr. Alanna Levine says
“I do not recommend that young children participate in Bikram yoga. Children handle high temperatures differently than adults. They have a higher surface-area-to-mass ratio, which means they absorb heat more than adults do. They also have a smaller blood volume, which makes it harder for them to dissipate the heat. Lastly, they have a slower rate of sweat production than adults, and sweating is a mechanism to cool us off. Children are not ‘mini adults’ — and should not be treated as such.”

now doesn’t that make more sense than a bunch of mumbo jumbo about sweat glands and “everybody sweats”. Doing yoga in a room with added heat and humidity is VERY different from playing soccer or doing gymnastics…

don’t get me wrong i love the hot yoga practice and i teach yoga in my community but it has to be understood that it is a very intense practice and is not for everyone.

we each of us have a responsibility to keep our community safe and functional… do your research and check your sources… don’t listen to someone just cos their username has the word “doctor” in it.

Ok, I just HAVE to put my two cents worth in…

Browntoes, it seems to me that Bikrams studios have clients fill out a medical history form. This form will limit the liability of the studio itself. If a client fills it out and states that he/she and/or their child is fit to do so and has seen a physician prior to starting, then the studio’s liability is limited. And the physician has given clearance to do this form of exercise. Although if something untoward were to happen, it WOULD be a mess to sort out, that’s for sure. And I too would be worried about lawsuits — this day and age, that seems to be sensible given the number of dodgy lawsuits that are routinely initiated.,

Mjok, you will never ever convince me that children involved in competitive gymnastics, who live away from home and train for hours, “don’t sweat” or don’t exert themselves. Same goes for children at, say, the live-in Royal Ballet school from the age of 10 as full-time dance students. Same goes for kids who are in rep Hockey, all in their gear and doing skating drills for two or three hours a day. These kids are treated as athletes. Their bodies respond just fine. In fact, I’m pretty sure that they are training waaaay more intensely and frequently than the average adult Bikram’s student. It is also interesting to me that you would slam Dr. Gabrielle (who is a doctor in a health science field – just google her for her amazing CV) by quoting an alleged pediatrician from an online source! That was particularly rich!!!! There are equal odds that this pediatrician hasn’t heard of Bikram’s Yoga, doesn’t DO Bikram’s Yoga, or has a skewed vision of what Bikram’s Yoga is. And there is a 100 percent chance that if this same doctor was asked “Is it safe for my child to attend the Royal School of Ballet as a fulltime student?” the answer would be a resounding “OK COURSE” (if indeed this expert is actually a pediatrician).You don’t really know the bias or the background of the pediatrician in question. In fact, you don’t know the bias of the Yoga journal in question, either. A journalist could ask any 10 yoginis from other yoga disciplines about Bikram’s Yoga and he/she’d get an earful of negativity from at least 8 of them, which would be duly recorded without presenting a true or balanced viewpoint of the issue at hand. So info in a Yoga journal doesn’t really mean a whole lot to me as I’m not convinced about the objectivity/bias of the individual writing the article, the editor involved, or the actual publication. This is no different than saying “Gee, I read in “UFO Weekly” that Dr. Jones of The New UFO Research Group states that 9 out of 10 adults have been abducted by aliens and are suppressing the memories…hmmm…this MUST be true. I read it in a UFO journal and a Dr. said it…here’s the online source to prove it!

My personal opinion is that if the studio accepts a student of this age as a “drop off” student, there isn’t much else one can do about it other than find another studio to teach at or join as a student it makes one uncomfortable. The only other comparison is if a child is dropped off at supervised swim lessons — often the parents don’t stay either as it is a taught and supervised class. The same goes for Hockey Camp, or soccer practice, or for football. Gyms don’t accept kids as drop-off clients when the equipment or activity is unsupervised, such as free swim time at the pool — children under the age of 16 need a guardian, for example. This is a different case.

However, having a child in class would really does put a bigger burden on a teacher as there is clearly an increased sense of watchfulness and alertness that has to be focused on a youngster. I suspect that if the others find this distracting, then they will vote with their feet and find another studio (or another class time at the very least). I also suspect that the teachers will vote with their feet if they find that the studio policy of kids in Hot Yoga class is hindering their ability to teach. Other than that, there isn’t much more that can be done. I know that I personally would find my practice hindered as I would be focusing on making sure that the child in question is not in distress, and I would elect to take a different class. I don’t what I would do as a teacher, and I don’t envy a teacher in this position.

As for the parent of the 8 year old, there are a whole number of yoga-for-kids programs out there. It might be a great place to start. At these classes, they will be able to develop a sense of the discipline of yoga and be able to interact like children with other like-minded children. It would be hard for most 8 year olds to do ANYTHING in silence for 30 minutes, let alone an hour, let alone an hour and a half! And it would be hard to find an 8 year old who would be happy lying in silence in savasana for any length of time if he/she could not continue the poses or had to go to the bathroom RIGHT NOW (not that adults don’t do this but seriously, have you ever been on a road trip with an eight year old and NOT stopped at every single roadside rest area to use the bathroom? or said “keep it quiet! don’t make me come BACK there!!!!” at some point during the trip?) And it would be unfair to the other practitioners to bring in a child who either could not abide by the silent practice concept or who elects to leave and reenter the room by virtue of his/her age. The Bikram’s experience may just not be suitable for a child of this age in an adult-oriented class. Bikram’s yoga isn’t going anywheres, and your child will be able to approach it with a disciplined mind and an understanding of the fundamentals of yoga in just a few years.

Freia