Robert Scanlon (Webmaster)

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You will find many many more answers than that in this forum and around the Hot Yoga Doctor site!

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Hi Faizah – a quick question – how are you measuring the humidity?

We’ve noticed that if the measuring device is placed close to your yoga towel (for example) you will get a false (high) reading – from sweat vapor; towel-humidity etc

And it’s not always true that the heat and humidity rise and fall in inverse proportion – it really does depend on local conditions. What is worth focusing in on is the general “heat index” and your own body’s unique responses to heat.

Here’s a quick ref to heat index info for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_index

Hope that helps!

(And from a personal point of view, 60% humidity is a great humidity and the temp really would be fine for me at 37-38 degrees C [98.6 – 100.4 in the old numbers!]. Usually 60-70% is considered “optimum” … but depends on what you personally prefer. In winter we find it hard to get past 25% for example.)

Today where we live, humidity is at 98% (torrential downpours!) and it is also summer … so the heat doesn’t need to be too high to get a good sweat going hehe!

😉

Robert

Yet another unsubstantiated claim …

Hi Zach – thanks for the feedback. We have an entire redesign coming soon which will change the way the ads work.

As Gabrielle says, if you are logged in on the Hot Yoga Doctor site, you will never see them.

But at http://www.bikram-yoga-noosa-australia.com/ they will persist, since we haven’t yet added a login system over there (but I’m working on making the boxes appear less often!).

Thanks!

Robert

That’s perfect Alex – I did run a search yesterday at USPTO but couldn’t find you!

Now it’s nice and clear for anyone else landing on this thread – good luck with protecting your patents (not for the faint-hearted!).

Namaste

Hello theonull and welcome to the forum!

We’re going to need some more info in order to help – when does the hip pain start? Immediately after class? Overnight? When walking or sitting? Is it the joint or muscles surrounding?

It’s quite normal to have some aches and pains (and also normal to have none) when you first start hot yoga, depending on your level of fitness, other activities etc You will be using muscles you haven’t really done so much work with – and it can take a good couple of months before nothing “aches”.

Having said that, it’s possible that misalignment in poses can cause undesirable side effects – and if you try to force some poses (Fixed Firm for example; Eagle is another) you might unknowingly create issues in your hips.

Correct alignment will always reduce the chances of any issues!

Let us know some specifics and we’ll try to help.

Namaste,

Robert

Hi Liliana – sorry for the tardy reply! Gabrielle is away running some workshops and so we only just got a chance to discuss your issue & reply!

Basically you should just be staying in stage 2 (ie don’t force the knees) until you can keep your knees down with only moderate effort or preferably, not even thinking about it.

Something you CAN experiment with though, to assist this process is to widen the knees to allow you to get from stage 2 to 3 without the knees popping up at all. Same applies on exit – it’s OK to widen the knees (leave the head hanging back) as you come back out.

It can be a tough pose on the knee joints and you don’t need to add any extra pressure!

Hope that helps – if not, keep asking the questions!

Namaste

Robert

Hello Brenda – Gabrielle is away as you know and she’s only had her phone for internet access … yikes!

So I just spoke to her (she had asked me to read out your posts) and gave me some initial responses.

Also Gabrielle had done something to her left hamstring herself about a year ago and tried to use her yoga practice to fix it … didn’t work and after seeing a physio she made great progress with some specific hamstring strengthening exercises. (You can read her very brief post about this here: https://www.hotyogadoctor.com/index.php/site/forum/viewreply/4472/)

So:

1. Have you been given some RH-hamstring strengthening exercises at all? eg Lunges etc?

2. Gabrielle suspects that your hamstrings in general need strengthening (and of course in Bikram, there is a great focus on STRETCHING them!) – poses such as Awkward are great in this respect – especially concentrating on very slow descent and ascent in part III. So this would be worth working out how to strengthen and not stretch those …

3. Gabrielle asked me to clarify that when we talk about core strength, the exterior (abs & tummy) is often mistaken for the entire thing – which is far from the truth. Even people with a 6-pack can have a dangerously weak internal core (intra-abs) – from what you have said, I’m sure your reference to “strengthening the outside” wasn’t specific to core strength, but we wanted to be sure!

You can work on internal core strength by making sure you are lifting your pelvic floor & getting some help in activating the internal muscles. Gabrielle wrote a newsletter once all about how a quiet “Ahem” just BEFORE any pose entry (or even sitting or standing) will help to train those internal core muscles to switch on (they are hard to spot functioning – but the individual can sure FEEL them!

4. Feel free to post a list of forward bends/poses you are not sure of or how to modify here and we’ll take them one at a time – if necessary, we can PM if there is anything you don’t want public.

Finally – Gabrielle also thinks Pilates could be useful and suggests the reason for some of them being expensive is that they use a machine (not necessary to Pilates) – she herself took some Pilates classes for HER hamstring repair – these were held quite inexpensively at her physio’s premises.

But your PT should be able to give you all the Pilates exercises needed anyway and since it seems you are very disciplined for doing these at home, you should be able to keep the costs down once you are certain you are carrying them out OK!

I hope that helps to start with – Gabrielle is back fully online on Saturday!

Namaste,

Robert

@hankgretchen – makes great sense, thanks for your contribution!

@donkeythomas – it might surprise you, but it’s entirely possible to FORGET that your arms ever ached. I’ve had several absences from hot yoga over the last 11 years or practice and I can tell you on return, I have those exact issues again (heavy arms in any warrior setups and also awkward – and even pranayama).

It does disappear pretty quickly (of course depends on your general condition) as long as you practice more than once per week. In fact we tell folks to “take your pain early!” (haha) and to come as much as they can in the first few months – that way you WILL recondition your body quickly and move past the early painful days. After that – well 3 times a week is pretty much maintenance ….

What hankgretchen says is well observed. It’s the flexible “ballerinas & dancer noodles” who can have issues with yoga as they can “perform” the pose, not realizing that their amazing flexibility can be disguising a lack of strength & stamina in places (by the way, I’m not suggesting professional dancers & ballerinas are not strong … goodness – go watch a Cirque de Soleil to see an amazing display of strength and flexibility and stamina. Wouldn’t want to be one of them when they get old though …)

So … keep up the effort – the more effort you put into holding those arms out with the muscles nice & engaged, the quicker you will build the strength & stamina … AND you’ll have lovely sculpted arms!

Namaste,

Robert

Yes, it can seem very cult-like from the outside! We can’t help loving it so much can we ….

Did you get the super-duper coupon discount for Hot Yoga MasterClass owners? Let me know if not and I’ll PM you one 😉

Robert

Oh – tell the significant other that if you aren’t delighted I will personally refund your money!

Namaste

Hi Brenda – oh goodness, I FEEL your sadness!

Gabrielle is away, but I’ll talk with here shortly and request advice asap!

OK first question – has your PT attended any Bikram classes, if so, how many?

While I won’t take on an expert directly, I will always qualify anything they say with an understanding of their own model of the world.

Secondly – Pilates COULD help your core … but you know we’ve had issues with people getting injured in Pilates too, so let’s not jump to conclusions.

And thirdly – there are some shortcomings (physically) with the Bikram series – and core development is one of them. It’s actually possible to become externally “good” at the poses, yet still be very weak in the core.

So you would be advised to practice some core-strengthening exercises every day, outside of your yoga. I’ll ask Gabrielle to post some idea of her recommendations in this respect – but your PT should be able top give you some (and not just tell you to do Pilates).

Re: Hypermobility – I believe it’s a question of where your body has become too “loose”. My ankles for example are a mess and if I run anywhere for any length of time then they HURT and eventually can get damaged … running just isn’t for me (as my PT says!). My PT has no issue with yoga (actually believes in it) BUT we have to work on areas where we need STRENGTH – so in my case, there is little point in me working on ankle “flexibility” just to show depth in a pose – I’m better off in Awkward for example, really working on lifting my arches and ankles to develop strength.

Same thing applies to you – you can focus on two things: Core building WITHIN your hot yoga (possible, but needs good direction) and STRENGTH building around your mid-torso (also possible within class, as well as outside of it).

Regarding the forward bends, as Connie says, it’s still worth doing what you can, even if, as she says, you end up sitting out. There are some poses I simply cannot do in the form required due to a minor tear in my meniscus in my left knee (I use modifications), but it’s been so long now I forget that I do these things differently – the yoga still works for me!

I’m sure Gabrielle will have some ideas about the hamstring/sciatica and forward bends modifications … personally I think the PT is right, it probably would take at least 6-8 weeks to build your core – and it would be well worth it – but in my opinion, you shouldn’t need to give up your yoga too … with a big proviso … IF you can work on your core within yoga AND you work on precision and strength (abandon any further depth in poses) AND find some modifications so you don’t exacerbate anything with forward bends.

OK that’s my 2c worth – I shall ensure Gabrielle gets to this as soon as she can!

Thank goodness you have the Hot Yoga MasterClass – now you REALLY want to get as precise as possible in every pose 😉

Namaste,

Robert

PS. Never give up hope … cry for the friend you may have “lost” and appreciate the new friend and lessons you have found on your journey.

While I haven’t suffered anxiety attacks, I have been prone to nervous anxiety and stress, and have had a breakdown through nervous exhaustion (basically running on adrenaline – way before I did hot yoga), so I can relate to the “anxiety feeling in class” having experienced similar (to the degree of needing to leave the room).

I do think there is a degree of “old triggers” – ie the body stress in class is an approximation of similar physiology outside of class (when subjected to intense stress).

In fact I found this to be great training – once I’d learned to handle the intense stress in the hot yoga room, everything else outside became easier. (A byproduct I hadn’t expected! I went, like most people, for the physical benefits!)

One thing I had researched was the effect on poor breathing in class – exacerbated by the hot environment.

If you breathe shallowly (upper chest) – and this is easily stimulated too by mouth breathing and/or gasping – then this can turn into what is known as “paradoxical breathing” – the type of breathing anyone undergoing severe stress is likely to adopt (along with fight/flight/freeze reactions set of in a chain reaction by this type of breathing).

On the other hand, by training ourselves to breathe abdomino-diaphragmatically (deep belly breathing), this can be counteracted. This is probably the hardest type of breathing to maintain in the hot room (and not appropriate in all poses) – but in my personal experience and in that of coaching other students who have experienced some stress/anxiety in the room, it has been key to overcoming it.

While this might not be true in your case, it’s another avenue to explore!

Love to hear how you are going …