How necessary is the heat ?

Hi Mary Ann

Not a dumb question but moreover a very often asked one!

Yoga asana is yoga asana. You can do it in the heat, you can do it without the heat. The Bikram yoga has always been practiced in the heat. But would you get the benefits if you practiced in a regular ambient temperature room? Sure you would. But maybe not in the same way.

When you practice in the heat you introduce a different kind of environment which makes your body respond in a certain way. There is the physical effect on the body of warming it and even allowing it to be more responsive to the poses (that is more responsive than in styles where less heat is used or generated). You may be able to go deeper/further in the poses than if you do it without the heat. But is that better? Who knows? Maybe the attachment to going deeper for some is more about ego than benefit. On other levels including mental and emotional the stress of the heated environment can challenge growth and personal evolution. Partly because the body responds to stress in the same way (triggers) whether you experience physical, mental or emotional stress. Introducing stress (in the form of the poses in that heated environment) in a ‘controlled’ way teaches your body how to cope with stress. It seems that the heat allows you to fast track your progress. Even giving you an opportunity to breakthrough physical, mental and emotional barriers. In my experience and that of countless others (yes that sounds anecdotal but maybe some will chime in here) hot yoga helps create palpable change in one’s life and often in a pretty short time frame.

What do you do if you can’t tolerate the heat? Try to practice in a mildly heated environment. Maybe over time you can increase it a bit. If you can’t cope with 100+ temps maybe start experimenting upwards from 85F (30C).

Is it harmful to practice in an unheated room? Well that depends on the temperature. 😉 You would never practice in an air conditioned (cooled room).

There is no reason at all why you wouldn’t do all the poses if you are only considering the heat as the differing input!

If you want to read other posts on this subject then there has already been much discussion before: other discussions on The Heat.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

I’ll chime in on Gabrielle’s comment re: “palpable change in ones life…” After I had been doing Bikram for a short time, I suddenly stopped drinking soda altogether. This was a bad habit that I had had since college. I had tried to quit before, but just never made the commitment to doing it. Suddenly, I just didn’t want it anymore. It wasn’t even a conscious decision. The same can be said for my food choices. I just automatically eat more healthfully now.

Also, I didn’t think that I would be able to take the heat, but it hasn’t been a problem.

well put Bonmar…. even when I was laid up on the porch too drained to move after the first few classes I STILL LOVED it 🙂 Knowing how good it felt on a diff level than ANY thing else I have ever done good luck exploring a whole new world!