Thyroid Issues

Hello Natasha

Thanks for joining us! What can I say but … Give it a go!

My suggestion would be to go more often than once per week. For a real try at this I would see if you can try, even if it is only temporary, to go 4 to 6 times per week for 8 weeks. Six days per week would be a maximum allowing one day’s rest per week. Four classes seems to be where the magic starts to happen (fast!).

Your mission … hehehe … is to work out what you’re prepared to do to give it a better than fair chance (!) of working for you.

There is plenty of free information on this website (and through this website free and otherwise) that will help you enormously. IMHO you need much less about the experience you may expect to encounter (tiny bit) and as you start quite a bit of technique assistance. [What others experienced is less important for you than knowing about hydration, electrolytes and heat and some other considerations.]

So… first decide whether or WHEN 😉 you want to make the commitment and we/I can point you in the right direction if you request or require it. You may have friends who are with you to assist. So just ask for what you need.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Natasha

OKI! Well done! So what you need to know is (and this is just for starters) :lol::

>> The heat will be a physiological and mental challenge. You will get [strong]physiological benefits in the heated room, even if you don’t do a scrap of yoga[/strong]. So please remember that. There are no prizes for doing everything. There are great rewards however for paying attention and ‘listening’ to your body (and by implication) responding to what it’s ‘telling’ you.

[strong]2 sets of poses: [/strong]Do what you can. Because the class is comprised of 2 sets of each pose, you will do one set and then another of the same pose. Amazingly, while it feels challenging during a pose or a set, because you get a small break between poses you WILL actually feel fine to do another set with similar energy that you did the first! Just pace yourself. You are coming back!

>> If you do feel a little off in any way and can’t do something or have run out of puff and really cannot go on, then just stop, stand, look at yourself in the mirror and breathe. Looking around to see what others are doing is fine in your first few classes. Otherwise focus is what you are cultivating.

If you still can’t handle standing there and breathing, waiting to rejoin class then the next stage is kneeling, chest up, eyes forward and yes, you guessed it, breathing!

If you still can’t handle that, then lie down. And this is what I honestly tell my students. Try, try just to stand or kneel because if you lie down it really is harder to get back up again! :cheese:

>> [strong]Your body will physiologically acclimatize to the heat over a period of 2 – 3 weeks.[/strong] Even on your first day your Cardiac Output (CO) will improve. You will grow your breath over days, months and years. So allow it to be a [strong]process over time[/strong].

Fascinatingly, your body actually [strong]LOSES more salt[/strong] (electrolytes) in this 2-3 week acclimatization period than once settled so this tip will help you enormously. Use sea salt on your food if you don’t already. During this acclimatization time I would actually suggest you put a pinch of sea salt in your water that you take to class. (Flavour it with lemon juice if you must.) If you don’t want to use sea salt then by all means use a commercial electrolyte tablet or sachet before and or after class.

>> I don’t know what kind of studio you’ll be going to. There are some that will say “don’t drink during class” or “don’t xxx or yyy” for things that you, as an adult should be able to make up your own mind about. So if you need to drink, just do so. Wait for a time between poses so you can keep your focus.

>> [strong]Don’t wipe your sweat[/strong] because it cools your body. It’s an important mechanism. [Otherwise your body will overheat.]

>> It’s OK when you start to wipe your hands on your towel/gear if your grip is too slippery. You won’t need to do so for a long time. It’s OK to wipe sweat from your eyes if they’re stinging.

>> If you have a friend or if you can ask the teacher, get a demo and quick 3 min coaching session of Pranayama (the first breathing exercise) before you start class. It’s a challenge to do just by listening to the words. You’ll thank me for this. I show ALL new beginners how to do this before their first class. You can’t look around during this exercise.

If I think of anything else, I will let you know.

Oh, the other thing I show folks is what it means to ‘lock the knee’ because you are asked to do that a lot.

Dems mostly what I talk about for a new student. 😉 The rest of the stuff you might read around the forum verges on “TMI” ‘too much information’ for me. I am the type of person who doesn’t want to know ALL about everyone else’s experiences because I want to have my own. Also for me, knowing too much about whether this person felt one way or another can sometimes negatively impact simply through the mere suggestion.

Hopefully that gives you some guidelines. These are things that all students should be told. It should be interesting to know what your ‘orientation’ is like.

Have fun!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

good luck! And please please post back here with your experience. I am particularly curious about the benefit you might get for your thyroid issue (have a friend with the problem and trying to convince him to try some hot yoga).

-Kristin

Hi Natasha

Yay! Yippee! You did it! Congratulations. :cheese:

It is quite common to feel some discomfort in parts of your body. It may be due to limited range of movement, it may or may not be something to do with old injuries. Your job over time will be to learn what is due to use/the way you do your poses, and what needs modification in your own technique. Technique can be a result of interpretation of instructions (wrong or right) and whether the examples around you that you could be watching and even copying are correct or not.

I know for sure that there is nobody who can learn the nuances of each pose by going once to class. There’s just too much to pay attention to. So what I am going to suggest is a number of things to look at as you continue your practice. Unless you want to I would probably not overwhelm yourself with too much right now. Look at things at your leisure. With that in mind here is a list of things to look at:

You’ll find helpful free technique videos here.

At various parts of the above page you’ll find videos that will help you with breathing, proper arm movement, posture, how the feet affect your poses from the ground up. There is also a video on a technique to use outside of class for core strengthening. You could probably keep that one for last.

If you are having lower back pain, then there is a very, very big chance there are particular poses where bending your legs will be better than doing what the script says to do (which is keep them straight no matter what). This is a particular technique you’ll find described in this hlog called Opening Up Your Hamstrings With Hot Yoga.

If you find that every class has the same words, almost identical, every single class then the above technique will be essential for you.

Of course, you have the free Hot Yoga Doctor Forum (yep, right here) if you have any questions!

Thanks so much for coming to tell us you made it to your first class. Wishing you many, many more and lots of fun and discovery on the way.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello,

I just want to know bit more about benefits of hot yoga and whether or not shall I join hot yoga as part of my exercise.

I have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and addison disease before 8 years and I am 31 currently and weighted about 48 kg and of 165 cm of height. Considering I have never done any kind exercise in my entire life, would this be good for me considering my health issues. I have never gone above 48 kg in my entire life and always been skinny,though always keeps on eating in3-4 hours and have a good diet also. I have had my addison symptoms since I was 5 but diagnosed when I was 24 . Thats why may be I have never put on much weight and was skinny (considering I had hypo thyroid ). I have given full description about myy medical symptoms so that you get to know my physiology and guide me with your view.

I have read post about hypothyroid and hot yoga benefits. and seems it should be good to join but considering I would sweat more and loose salt and minerals ,which affects my addison directly. I dont want to jump into something where I would start feeling exhausted and lethargic. And I have no intension of loosing weight also. I rather want to build my stemina and muscle, which I think needs attention ,because at my growing age becoz of undiagnosed of addison -It left with weak muscle growth.

Any guidence would be helpful

Namaste and Thanks

Hello Gabrielle

Thanx for instant reply

I have never done any exercise as part of my routine. but I think I walk about 15-20 mins a day. I do cooking about 3 hours a day currently and apart from that I dont do much exercise. And about over exert I could say I do need more physical rest compare to normal human being. My husband would recover from over exert in 1 night sleep and I would take about 3 days. Just eating and sleeping and no physical activity fits back in 3 days. I have no prob with sleep atall, rather when I am tired I need extra 1 hour sleep. And about sweating while exerting ,to be honest I dont sweat atall though I drik about 2.5 lit of water. But before I was diagnosed and was not talking medicine ,I remember faiting and dizziness with lots of sweat. which used to get ok with lime-sugar -salt water. But I guess this was becoz of addison crisis.

Thats why My main concern about joing hot yoga is, sweating which loosing salt and minerals in body. would it be good for me. Have you ever come across with anyone like me. All I know is I hate hit since my childhood, I cant tolerate hit atall. Always feel more tired when in above 25 deg temp. I start feeling burning sensation in my feet and hands and cheeks and just feels like going to cooler place and become more irritate. but as soon as I go to cooler place, withing few hours I start feeling better and my moods changes is what I have observed so far.

Sorry for such a long reply. I though detail would help you determine best

Thank you very much
Namaste
Sejal

Hello

Gabrielle

First of all sorry for the late reply as We have Wifi connection problem so couldnt access the internet.

Thank you very much for your reply and showing me way to start the yoga.

I currently live in Birmingham, uk. but originally from India. So I have seen difference between living in hot and cold country. And about starting the yoga I think I should just try the first 15 days hot yoga and see how I feel before committing to membership. As you said I dont probably need to do each asana and can literally lie down and try it weather it is for me or not. Thanx for showing me the way. Can you also please let me know how to consume more electrolytes?

Thank you very much for your help. Appreciate it much
Thanks
Namaste
Sejal

Hello

Thank you very much for all the info. Really appreciate it. I shall be trying this soon and would let you know the outcome.

Namaste & Thanks

Hello Sejal

If you can manage a minimum of 4 classes per week working up to 6 times per week and always plan to take a day off per week, then you will get very good results much more quickly. As I always say “4 is the magic number”. If you only do 3 classes per week expect changes to be slower to be tangible.

There also tends to be a larger amount of change earlier in one’s practice. So I often recommend that new students do as many as they can in the first 2 months.

You, however, do have to alter your approach as per the earlier conversation with respect to your conditions. There is no point going ‘gung ho’ and exhausting yourself and finding that it’s all too hard or that your body cannot handle the added physiological stresses. Please tread carefully when you have specific conditions that put you in a slightly different position to the majority of other students who embark on hot yoga.

When in doubt, ask questions. Take it one step at a time, one pose, one class. Take your electrolytes. Hydrate well. And rest well.

What changes are you tracking for specifically?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂