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I too have a troubling story, one about the studio in a neighboring community 10 minutes from my home in Darien, IL. I was very devoted to this practice, attending 4-5 times per week and deeply enjoyed the experience. The facility was very nice and the instructors were positive and helpful.

The trouble began when I noticed that although I was acclimating to the heat and the workouts, my experience varied a great deal. For one class it struck me immediately me that the studio’s humidity was very high. I noticed I was sweating much more, became very dehydrated, and at one point 10 out of 20-25 students were lying out postures. Three people left the room, and the instructor left to get more water for two people who were otherwise about to leave. Afterward, one man was lying on the floor outside the studio needing extra help.

I wrote to the owner of the studio, whom I knew somewhat and liked, wondering if the humidity might have been high. She said the heat was the same and ignored my question about humidity. She dismissed all those students’ reactions as simply psychological. I then learned that the heat and humidity gauges in the room are always covered. Friends in other studios said the gauges in them could be seen by students.

I felt that there may be an issue about the humidity, one that was important, but I wanted to be more certain. I bought a small thermometer with a hygrometer (the size of a half dollar) that I calibrated to scientific/industrial standards. For three weeks I brought it in during my workouts. It confirmed my concerns. I found that the temperature was almost always spot-on at 105. But the relative humidity was far from the 40 percent advertised for Bikram Yoga. On the better days it was 54 to 60 percent, never lower. On the worse days it was 60 to 66 percent.

The Weather Service calculates that 105 degrees and 40 percent humidity results in a heat index of 121 degrees, while at 105 degrees and 66 percent humidity it is 159 degrees. The weather service warns that when the heat index is above 130, heatstroke is highly likely even without strenuous activity.

When the humidity was lower at 54-60 percent I could I could give the yoga my strongest effort and at the end I could walk out of the studio with energy and feeling relaxed. On the higher-humidity days I was exhausted, and had to sit down to recover after the class. On the bad days I was significantly more dehydrated and was very thirsty during the last third of the class (thirst is a late indicator of dehydration). Also, I simply couldn’t give the postures my best effort. On the “bad” days others also told me they too were pulling back. However, if I could really feel the difference at 55-60 percent, what on earth would it be like if the humidity really were at 40 percent? Probably great.

With this information, I wrote to the owner of the studio. I was careful to be respectful, friendly and positive. I shared with her the information I had gathered in detail with the attitude that she would probably find it interesting and helpful, and that she may want to check it out. I noted that bringing the humidity down to 40 percent would not only be healthier, but better for business since many people may be avoiding her studio because it was unnecessarily uncomfortable.

The owner’s response was stunning. Her reply was filled with rage and fury. She said my message was insulting and she was indignant that I should write such a thing. She denied that her studio was anything other than within the Bikram specifications, and yet she also defended a room that was much hotter and more challenging than 105/40, saying Bikram had said if people complain about the heat, make it hotter. She told me to never bring the instrument into her studio again and made it quite clear she didn’t want me to return either. She referred to a Bikram studio as a “torture chamber”, and did so with apparent pride.

My stunned response was to say I was sorry that she reacted in this way as it was not intended, but instead was meant to be helpful. I also quoted from the Bikram website that if the heat is higher than 105, the humidity should be lower, and vice versa. Clearly, Bikram does not intend for a studio to be as high as 105/66. She did not respond. I have not returned.

While it was troubling that this studio was routinely exposing its students to very high heat-index levels during lengthy and strenuous exercise, I can understand a heat/humidifying system slipping off from its settings, although one would expect this to be monitored. I found it especially disturbing, however, that this reliable data was summarily dismissed by the owner, who kept the heat and humidity gauges in her studio covered so students could not see them.

As a post-script, I wrote to the Bikram organization if they thought this was acceptable, and I received no response. I would not return to this studio even if the owner had not made it clear I was unwelcome, because I cannot know if it is safe. I do feel a great deal of concern for those who do attend it, unaware of the actual conditions and the risk they may pose.