Lisafr

I always had neck problems and also used to have neck problems when I started doing yoga. This was due to a neck condition and the fact I did most of the poses wrong (shrugging shoulders, using neck muscles). The only pose I still adapt after 2.5 years of practicing yoga is cobra pose. I keep my neck and head at the same level as my back (in proper Dutch: ‘in het verlengde van je rug’) and don’t try to look up. With all the other poses I also started like that. For example, initially,I kept my hands near my ears when doing the backbend after half moon. But once my alignment and use of the right muscles got better, I managed to release my neck muscles or at least use them in a better way.
You mention balancing stick, I remember that one very well: my solution was keeping the arms next to the head, but I make sure I bring my shoulders down and back, as far away from the ears as possible. With pranayama breathing I also have to think consciously about keeping my shoulders away from my ears. With many other poses as well. There is a video on this website about ‘putting your elbows in your back pocket’ Applying that technique in some of the yoga poses (and in daily life) helped me very much. However, I don’t know whether this will work for you. I should mention that I have a different neck condition, called torticollis, which means my neck is twisted a bit to one side. All in all the yoga has helped me, but I don’t think yoga can cure everything and there are certain poses that are not good for everybody or maybe I should say: for every body! There must be some people here who can tell more about your condition in combination with yoga.

Hello Gabrielle,
I practiced for about 3 weeks in a real studio (about 4-5 times a week), which was quite nice. I was very disappointed with the lack of feedback from the teachers, but that is maybe because I’m just a guest and not a regular student. There are so many people in one class that it is probably impossible to correct everybody.
I started very carefully because I really didn’t want to get that ‘overheated’ feeling and just did 1 out of the 2 poses each time. This was really difficult for me, because I knew I could do the rest but would definitely get overheated. I felt nauseous about every class at the end and that improved a bit during the 2nd week. After class, I would normally be feeling fine immediately or within maximum 1 hour. In the 3rd week things went a bit better as well (I kept on going to the cool spots), but I could still not do all the exercises During the standing series I still had to omit one of the standing sep. leg poses to get some extra cool air down on the floor. And during the floor poses I took a pause after about 4 poses (2 sets). I know the ‘symptoms’ very well now: feeling nauseous and a bit dizzy and very, very hot, my face also gets incredibly red. If I continue and ignore the symptoms (which I did once because I just wanted to do the poses),I start shivering and really feel awful and have to lie down the rest of the class.
On the positive side I think there is improvement, but I still doubt whether I will ever get used to the heat completely. I am also very happy that I started practicing at home 2 years ago after just 3 lessons in a studio, I might not have continued in a studio.
On the negative side…how will I ever be able to do a hot yoga workshop or maybe, maybe one day a teacher training, which I really would love to do?
I am back home now and so happy that I can do all the poses without the (excessive) heat stress again. I also have the feeling that I progress much faster when the temperature is lower.
I am probably an exception, but would really like to know whether you think I could ever get used to studio temperatures (and probably more important: humidity) or whether there could be people that can never get used to those temperatures/humidity completely.
And also whether there is some kind of ‘trick’ that helps me adapting faster. I try not to eat at least 2 hours before class (3 hours is nearly impossible for me) and eat not too much, my stomach is empty when I start. I drink a lot of water and look after my electrolytes well. In the studio I also tried coconut water after the classes. I am normally the first person to enter the studio, to have at least 30 minutes to get used to the heat.
I wish the experience had been more positive!

I should also mention that the studio is a real Bikram Studio and the temperatures are around 41 degrees and the humidity is very high. I am pretty sure that the humidity is above 60% because I know pretty well how 41 degrees with 60% in my own yoga room feels like (already extremely hot and sticky!!)

Thanks so much for your help,

Lisa

Hello Aimee,
I just want to share my experience, although you may have something else like Gabrielle is mentioning. I am ALWAYS feeling nauseous when I go to a studio, at least during the first classes. Apparently, I cannot stand the heat (in combination with the high humidity) very well and it takes me about a week to get used to the heat, I even have the feeling I never completely adapt to the heat, although that is difficult to say because I hardly (am able to) practice in studios. I normally practice at home where I practice at a temperature between 37 and 40 degrees and at a humidity of about 50-60%. I never experience any problems at home. In most studio classes the humidity (and maybe also the temperature) is higher I think. It happened a couple of times during class that I had to go out (yes, to vomit…). Now I know I shouldn’t do much during those classes and just wait until I get used to the heat, which takes ages. Especially camel pose is totally impossible during those classes. Teachers have been telling me it is something mental and that camel pose is very emotional, but I am very sure it is the heat that is causing me problems, I love doing camel pose without heat or in my own hot yoga room. Next week I will have a chance to go to a studio again and I am planning to go to the first class in the morning because generally it is a bit cooler then. I also know a studio where there is an ‘air leak’ in the door and that will be my place for a couple of days. I’ve been practicing for 2 years now and wished I could get over it, but it doesn’t seem to happen. I have to get used to the heat/humidity again every time I go back to a real studio. In case anybody knows a way to get used to the heat faster, please let me know!

Whatever heat source you choose, always make sure that you insulate your room well (we used polystyrene, covered with plastic. Cheap and works fantastic!). The material pays for itself within a few months because you will need less electricity and easily achieve hot yoga studio temperatures of 38-40 degrees Celsius. I use a small fan heater and like that very much because it reacts fast, especially when it gets too hot.Some radiant heaters stay hot for a long time after switching them off, so it will be more difficult to cool your room. Because of low humidity, I also use a small humidifier that gives hot steam. Which really helps is inviting a friend: every human being produces extra heat and humidity!!
If you insulate the room well, don’t forget a small air inlet (I use a tiny bathroom fan) and outlet so you will have enough fresh air. An extra fan to bring the heat that naturally goes up, down again is also helpful.
We didn’t insulate the floor in this house and it is winter time now. Last week we decided to put a thin layer of special insulating foil and on top of that the cheapest carpet we could find. It makes a difference of 4 degrees and the room heats up much faster. We reach a temperature of 38 degrees within 20 minutes again. The most important thing to insulate first: ceiling and windows and close all air leaks near doors.
Good luck with your yoga room!

Hi Gabrielle and Robert,
My partner wants to loose weight and I don’t want to loose weight, because I am happy with the kgs I gained because of hot yoga! Hope this program will still work then.
I saw Robert’s message about a “the super-duper coupon discount for Hot Yoga MasterClass owners”. I didn’t get that message but saw a coupon offer on the forum where Gabrielle posted her message about the program. In case the above-mentioned discount is different, could you send the coupon to me by e-mail?
Thanks a lot! Lisa

Doing a lot of yoga, I guess! I noticed that my sweat was ‘smelling’ much more in the beginning, but later on I hardly noticed any smell. Because I moved to a new house recently, I was not able to do yoga for a couple of weeks. I just started recently. My sweat is ‘smelly’ again. But I am pretty sure that it will improve after a couple of classes.

We also have problems with a relative humidity that is extremely low here. I found a humidifier of ‘Bionaire’ that can also give a warm mist. You can go to their website, I found it in South America, but I suppose it will be available elswewhere as well. Maybe that is a useful solution for you as well?

Maybe this is too difficult to do when you are practicing in your living room, but in case you have a chance to insulate a tiny room, that will really help you.
It is really worthwhile to insulate the walls, floor and especially the ceiling of your yoga room. I just moved to another house and can only get to 27 degrees with a heater of 2400 Watts. In our former house it used to be the same. But a year ago, we insulated the ceiling first (you will have the biggest losses there because hot air is going up) and immediately saw an increase in temperature of a few degrees. When the whole room was insulated (windows etc covered as well), we easily reached a temperature of 40 degrees within 15 minutes with the same heater! When we would enter the room, we used to put it at 1200 Watts. I think the insulation will pay for itself as you will use less energy. We used polystyrene and that worked really well; that is also a solution that is not too expensive. In this new house, we are planning to use rock wool, spend a bit more money and cover the existing wall and insulation as well.
If you insulate the room very well don’t forget to make sure you have enough ventilation. We installed a small bathroom fan through one of the windows. We also already had a device that can automatically switch a heater or fan on or off when the humidity and/or temperature is too high. It functioned well in the yoga room. In the next couple of weeks we are going to prepare our new yoga room, I am already looking forward to it. The heat really makes a difference!
But when you are practicing in your living room, it is probably difficult (or costly) to insulate everything in a way that is also nice. Do you have another small room or garage or store where you could practice? It may be easier to insulate.

I found out that a key for me was that I should not ignore the ‘bad’ thoughts. I just allowed the thoughts for a while and would (will!) think: ok, fine, but now I am doing my yoga and will concentrate on that. Sometimes I would spend some time on these thoughts to continue after that concentrating on my yoga (breath). When you try to ignore these thoughts, you will only think about them much more, at least that is my experience. When concentrating on your breath is very difficult, maybe it also helps to concentrate on the instructions of the teacher, so you are very much aware of what you are doing.
The book that I really like and that helped me a lot to be more ‘mindful’, is: Breath by breath, written by Larry Rosenberg.

Hi Gabrielle,
Thank you for asking!
They are at least behaving better. I did 3-4 times a week Bikram yoga and started adding twice a week 1 hour of hatha yoga (which I never did before). With the help of youtube and some other websites and a class that I downloaded I started doing it. To me, it seems that especially downward dog and frog pose helped me to bring my feet to the floor.It is always difficult to say what helped me: just time or also these other poses, I agree. But I really think I had some benefit from these poses as well.
It means that I can keep my feet on the floor, get a bit deeper, but my back is coming forward a lot, although I try to curve it as much as possible. Also my feet keep on fanning outwards, that definitely not seems to improve. My knees also still come inwards but that is easier to resist/correct than the fanning feet. I am nearly always doing yoga with my partner who can do this pose easily and can keep his back completely up. Should I also be trying that -which means that I won’t get as deep- or should I just concentrate on getting deeper and keep on curving my back? I never see other ‘bodies’ in the same poses and can just compare with him or the people in your book. I get down with my back quite a bit more than the lady on page 94 of your master class and my thighs are still not in a horizontal position, my shoulders are just slightly higher than my hips! Any hope for me? Or should I just be patient?

I am doing a 14-day challenge at home now, just to see how different that is from 3-4 times a week and I am improving a lot faster and my mind is more quiet as well. I like it! I can stretch out both legs and lock both knees in standing head to knee, balance for 3 seconds in toe stand an I even start to like Camel pose and regret coming out of it. I mention this because I think another thing really helped me to keep my heels on the floor, which I discovered when doing yoga every day. With ‘standing head to knee’ and the ‘sitting head to knee’ I kept on pressing my toes into my hands to release the uncomfortable pressure on my heels (achilles tendons?). I try to release my heels now and pull more on my toes and still find it difficult to push my heels away.

I may have the chance to go to a real studio in a couple of weeks. But unless you are coming a couple of times, my experience is that the teachers don’t seem to correct ‘drop in’ students a lot, whereas I like to be corrected as much as possible!

Wow, Bonmar, I could not manage! I have tried for a year not to drink during class. And recently I have decided that I am the kind of person that likes to keep on taking a little water every 15 minutes or so (in between poses yes), like when doing any other type of sports for over 30 minutes. The interesting thing is that I thought I would be ‘distracted’ much more when taking the water, that was what instructors kept on telling me. The opposite is true (for me): I can concentrate much more on my yoga practice and feel much more relaxed. For me it was distracting to consciously think: do I really need the water? It is -again for me- much better to take a little water without thinking about it at all.
I normally do yoga at home (at same temperature and humidity levels as a Bikram studio) and once every month or 2 months it happens that I have to leave to go to the toilet. No problem for me. But I was very upset when I was told not to leave the room once when I was taking a class in a Bikram studio. It is a ridiculous rule according to me: of course you try to avoid it and of course you realize it may disturb other people. And of course you try to go when it minimizes disturbance. But if I have to go to the toilet, I have to go and I consider it as an emergency.

When I was starting to do hot yoga, it took me a long time to acclimatize to the heat (2-3 weeks). I tried to drink a lot of water to feel better. But…..I am living in a place where tap water is not suitable for drinking and I was always taking water that we bought in big 20 liter bottles. This water is obtained from reversed osmosis! Drinking water that is obtained from reversed osmosis contains no salt at all and is like distilled water. When I changed to bottled mineral water, I improved a lot. I also tend to have a low blood pressure and changing over to sea salt also helped.

This has maybe not a lot to do with the original question -I never had swollen limbs- but I just want to share my experience that I felt worse in the beginning when I was drinking more water! Make sure your water always contains some salts/minerals or mix a little bit of salt into your water (but be careful with that if you tend to have a high blood pressure and look for salt that is high in potassium and not in sodium).
For the rest I try use the advice of Gabrielle given elsewhere on this forum: check the colour of your urine, it should never be very yellow, but very light in colour.