Robert Scanlon (Webmaster)

Right, now this one is very silly – apparently you must all be MUCH more prompt if you want to see blue Oms a lot more!!

Officially (from the supplier) the forum has this behavior:

Your last visit is defined as the time that your last session ended. The default expiration is two hours. This means that if you’re gone for more than two hours, any posts you didn’t read before you left will be marked as old.

So to translate the geek-speak …

When you next login, you’ll pretty much only see blue Oms from the last time you visited – even if there was other stuff you didn’t look at last time.

Best bet is to use the View New Posts function at the top of the forum (or click this link: https://www.hotyogadoctor.com/index.php/site/forum/new_topic_search/).

That will show you all the Topics that have new posts in them and all new topics.

TIP

I recommend that you SUBSCRIBE to the forum RSS feed – click the small Orange Icon below the copyright notice at the bottom of the forum.

Then, depending on how you read “RSS”, you will receive notifications for all new topics.

If you see a topic that is interesting to you, but you don’t want to post right now, then when you visit it, you can “Subscribe to this thread” by clicking that link at the right-hand-side-top of the FIRST POST in the topic.

It’s a bit geeky I know, but these days most browsers and email applications let you add RSS without having to even know what the acronym is or how it works!

🙂

Robert

(And Bonnie I ALWAYS love your feedback, may it never stop!!)

PS. Cindy, Jeff and Ame, I’ve added you all to the “Live Chat” secret feature test – read about how to access it here: https://www.hotyogadoctor.com/index.php/site/forum/viewthread/531/. Love to have you participate if you feel the urge!

OK folks – like to try the new chat trial? I think this one is a bit funkier as you can have it open in a separate window AND use your Hot Yoga Doctor username/password!

So …

Instructions

1. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and just below “Active Members” (this is who is logged in and online right now by the way) you’ll see a new button: (don’t click this one here haha – it’s just a screen capture to show you … keep scrolling down … it’s below the last part of the forum)

2. Click the button. A new window will open with the chat inside it. You’ll have to login using your Hot Yoga Doctor credentials and it will take you straight into a default chat room. If anyone else is logged into the chat room, you’ll see them and can chat publicly or privately.

Tips:

* Type in the text box to introduce yourself!

* Click on the other person(s) name for a chat options menu

* Click on your the square box to the left of your name (on top of the list of people in the room) to change your status (available/busy etc)

* Listen out for notification sounds when someone else enters the room!

If it works well for us, I’ll open it up to all registered members (and will have to purchase the software)

Love your feedback as always!

Robert

Phew *wipes sweat* … the case of the erratic Oms: A Yoga Detective Novel?

Tnx for the FYI Amy.

Hi Cindy – yes I’m not sure why you and Bonnie are not seeing “Blue Oms” – I do (Bonnie sent me a screenshot). The only thing I can think of is that you access the forum via links in notifications and therefore the post is already marked as “read” … I’m under investigation anyway!

Tnx for the follow up. 🙂

Hi Bonnie – we already have this – you should see the “Om” sign on the left – if there are new posts since your last viewing, they show up as blue, if not, they remain orange. (You have to be logged in for this feature to update – otherwise they’ll all appear blue!).

Let me know if this is not working, or if I need to make it more obvious (for example I originally spent ages getting the right colors, but maybe they don’t catch the eye enough!).

Thanks!

Robert

Too funny!

Love to see a photo of practicing yoga in sunglasses … 🙂 The ultimate in western cool.

Robert

Hi Chronic – yes Gabrielle didn’t realize the link is localized to the person searching! Just type in “infra red” (without the quotes) into the search box and you’ll get the results!

Robert

Hi Amy,

Great that you’ve made so much progress! Hot yoga truly is brilliant for rehab from any broken bones/surgery methinks.

I didn’t experience any “stabbing pains” from my rod & screws, but they would get “sore” around the areas where they clearly protruded and would conflict with the localized muscle & tissues. Having them out was instantly a relief – I felt “freed”.

So I wonder for you whether, as it happens towards the end of a day, whether the constant mini-scraping (ie over the period of a day) is causing sufficient inflammation and maybe some internal swelling around that area and either acting on a nerve/pinching a nerve – or just giving you pain warnings from the inflammation itself?

I did notice for me that I tended to favor “protection” from those areas with the pins as they could be painful if knocked, but once I had them out, I noticed I wasn’t so guarded.

Don’t know if that helps at all?!!

Robert

Yes this corroborates with our hot and humid summer experiences where we found we had windows opened and MAX temp of 37C/98.6F when humidity was unavoidably high at 70-80% or higher.

Personally I don’t think it at all beneficial or healthy to go beyond that 130 or so heat index and remembering there are a ton of other variables affecting your core temp (as has been pointed out above – and taking into account radiant heat from other practitioners standing close to you; the general air flow in the room; ceiling height).

Gabrielle has an excellent report which goes into good detail about how to handle the heat: https://www.hotyogadoctor.com/images/uploads/How-Hot-Is-Hot-Yoga.pdf though not specifically discussing the heat index. She points out that 60-70% humidity is considered healthy for lung efficiency, which would mean a MAX temp of 97F.

Our ‘favorite’ environment is around 98F/60% – but like I say, so many other variables at play!

Generally if more than a couple of regulars are taking to the floor to recover during a class and everyone is severely red-faced … then something’s not right!

There IS a lag too – so simply switching heaters off if this point is reached is too late – one has to anticipate, usually well before triangle.

Of course a well designed temperature control system and a properly measured heat gradient in the room helps prevent serious over-heating … as BikHead says, few seem to be able to control this precisely.

Gabrielle had carried out some intense research on this and we had a very reliable system which did not rely on any “tricking” of the thermostat, as many do.

Here’s a good resource for any studio owners interested in temperature regulation:

http://hotyogastudiodesign.com/

Also good reading is this article by Leslie Funk – an independent fitness instructor, not a hot yoga teacher – who gave us permission to reprint this article about core temperature regulation and hydration etc.

http://www.bikram-yoga-noosa-australia.com/hot-yoga-facts.htm

Anyway, to get back to the main topic that started this thread – what each and every person does to regulate their core temp will vary, as will the perception of “how hot it is”. The heat index is a useful basis for setting some norms to compare to so thanks for posting the links!

By the way, the “recommended” temps link above says “minimum 105F” but doesn’t take into account the effect higher humidity has on the body’s ability to regulate temperature. If the temp is really 105F (and it could easily be higher, don’t trust what the thermostat or thermometer says) and humidity climbs higher than 40%, it would be advisable to monitor students and look to gradually reduce temp to maintain that heat index.

Good discussions!

Cheers,

Robert

OK Kirsten I found your correct email address in our customer database, all fixed now, you should receive notifications (as well as Gabrielle’s technique emails!).

Robert

OK kind people – here’s the scoop!

I’ve currently enabled a new Google Friend Connect & Chat Feature for invitees only to test.

If all goes well and it works for what we want, then I’ll open it up to all. At the moment, only Amy & Annie are pre-enabled. If you also would like to get into this private test, just reply to this post and I’ll add you!

INSTRUCTIONS

Once you are enabled, you should see a pale blue bar at the very bottom of any FORUM page.

1. Click the bottom left to sign-in/join this site:

(see “join-friend-connect.gif” below)

You can use a Google account, Yahoo a/c, AIM a/c, Netlog a/c or OpenID a/c to login.

2. Once you are logged in you’ll see your details at bottom left:

(see “signed-in-friend-connect.gif” below)

3. Now you can comment directly on any forum page (somewhat redundant since it is a forum after all) using the comments feature (see “comments.gif” below)

4. More importantly, clicking either the “Comments >>” or the “Members >>” links will reveal a small purple outlined “box” (see “click-to-chat.gif” and red arrow below. This icon is made by Google, why it is so unintuitive I have no idea!). When you click it will take you to a page where you can chat directly with others online!

What else can you do?

* “Friend” people (similar to other social networking sites).
* You will see your “Friends” on other sites you visit that also use Google Friend Connect.
* If you click on someone’s Profile (name or photo), then it will reveal a box showing info they have entered into their Google/Yahoo/AIM etc profiles.
* To get the best out of this, I’d suggest you make sure your Google etc profile does include your yoga-related interests.

Gabrielle & I are already there, so feel free to test it out with us of course.

Next Steps

I thought this would be a useful tool to test – of course ideally we’d just use features already built into this forum, but I’m waiting on a couple of developers who are testing “social addons” and also a new version of the forum due later this year. In addition to that, I’m working on adding functionality my self, so we’ll keep trying things until they work as we’d like them to!

Any feedback – please leave it here.

Want to be a part of the test and network with others? Just reply to this thread and tell me “I’m in”!

Thanks,

Robert

I totally agree with Jeff!

Bikram is my favorite practice – but it still lacks in some areas – long stretches (the Yin Yoga that Jeff mentions) and core strength, upper body strength.

I do always love coming back to the hot room though …

Both Gabrielle & I are of the “mix it up if you want to” opinion – no harm in it at all!

It’s also great for shaking out that “I can do these 26 poses with my eyes shut” complacency that can creep in (for some folks, not me, oh no of course not, never.)

Namaste

Robert

@ Jeff … Bikram not a bitter lover? Sounds like you know something I don’t … LOL 🙂