Is it normal to feel bloated???

Hello ‘totalzenyoga’

Well done on your certification and welcome to the forum and your practice. A thing we talk about a lot here that seems to be missed in most hot yoga circles are the scientific effects of hydration and electrolyte levels applied to Bikram and hot yoga practices. Hopefully you won’t find protestations of “the yoga will fix it” as a blanket approach to answering questions! 🙂 Haha

What is very likely in your case is that you’ve suffered a great loss of water and electrolyte through sweating. And it’s also very likely that you’ve taken a lot of water to hydrate yourself but not enough salts to balance that water intake. And here’s a strange effect: Paradoxically, even though you have sweated likely crazy and lost a lot of water, because you are dehydrated the body is holding on to the water it has.

Anyone who starts exercising in high heat – such as Bikram and hot yoga students, or those who are returning after a long(ish) break – have to go through a like-it-or-not acclimatisation stage where the body has to establish new norms of operation.

This is what your body is doing but it doesn’t have the right stuff. The reason is that in that acclimatisation phase you’re losing MORE salt than regular acclimatised peeps are losing.

So please make sure you’re well hydrated AND well salted!

The good news is that everything should soon return to normal. But in the event we’re on the wrong track – which is possible – do come back and we’ll work it out together.

Namaste

Gabrielle 🙂