Hot yoga - Is it worth it?

[Jayamilne]

Hi all, my ART physical therapist recommended that I try hot yoga to help with my flexibility and core strengthening and was wondering if anyone had experience with it vs traditional yoga? There is a place near me called CorePower Yoga that has a few hot classes but wanted to get folks thoughts on it.

thx.

[Aiseop]

I do Ashtanga yoga regularly. (At a studio and at home.) I heard hot yoga is bull, according to my yoga instructors. Take that with a grain of salt because that's their competition so...

As an athlete, though, nearly everyone recommends Ashtanga (or, as it's known among MEN who are insecure about their masculinity, "power yoga."

[ben jones]

most yogis believe your body should be hot, by doing yoga, not by heating the room
bikrim or hot yoga tends to be a little culty and not neccessary imho
ashtanga is the most jiu jitsu related

[Nick Tiganis]

I have been doing hot yoga for about 5 weeks now and I love it . I can see much improvement in flexibility . I am sure any form of yoga is great though

[Craig Murray]

I've been practicing yoga for many years, both at room temperature and heated. Heated yoga is far more effective in my experience. You will warm up faster, get much deeper into the postures, and get far more benefit from each session.

The Yogi's in India didnt need to heat the room, it's 105 degrees already in their country.

As far as it being "culty", I'm not even sure what that means. It's all just yoga.

As far as the debate between them.... cold yoga studios do not have the option to go heated. They don't have the furnace or humidifier. Hot yoga studios can do both, but generally they don't. Why not? Because once you start doing yoga in a heated room, you'll never want to do it cold again.

But don't take my word for it. Find a cold yoga studio that offers a beginner's package (usually unlimited yoga for X days for a flat rate). Practice it every day, or as often as you can. Then go to a hot yoga studio and do the same thing.

After you have tried both, you can decide for yourself which feels better.

For me, there is no comparison. Hot yoga is far more effective.

[Aiseop]

I don't think there's such a thing as "cold" yoga. I understand what you're saying, but the binary you're setting up plays right into the "hot" yoga's marketing.

[Craig Murray]

I don't think there's such a thing as "cold" yoga. I understand what you're saying, but the binary you're setting up plays right into the "hot" yoga's marketing.

I just don't know what else to call it. I don't really care about marketing or cults, I've just done a lot of yoga at all different temperatures and I personally find the hotter the room, the more I get out of it.

It's also worth mentioning that this debate in yoga is very similar to the gi/nogi debate in JJ. That's why I've been trying to keep my responses focused on my own experience doing yoga. I don't really want to enter into a debate about Bikram's franchise policy, traditional Indian yoga, whether Yoga derived from the teachings of K Pattabhi Jois (Ashtanga) is injury prone or is close minded.

In the end it's all just yoga, whether it's hatha, power, ashtanga, bikram, heated or not heated. I recommend just trying them all out and deciding for yourself which feels best.

Personally I prefer my yoga heated... the hotter the better. When I do Bikram I can literally wring my towel out when I'm done because I've sweat so much. I don't get that doing yoga at 71 degrees. I sweat, but not like that. At 105 degrees the sweat rolls off me like a river. That's my preference, your mileage may vary.

No matter what kind of yoga you're doing, it's going to be good for you.

[Aiseop]

For me it was more of the style. Ashtanga yoga is a much better fit for athletes - IMHO - than something like anusara. Also, teachers matter. It took me a while to find a good teacher here in CT after being in SF.

[Craig Murray]

For me it was more of the style. Ashtanga yoga is a much better fit for athletes - IMHO - than something like anusara. Also, teachers matter. It took me a while to find a good teacher here in CT after being in SF.

Yeah if you're an athlete I would not recommend a class in pre-natal yoga... or anything called "gentle yoga". There are certainly all various levels of intensity.

I also completely agree about the instructors. Much like a JJ instructor, their own skill and ability to teach is critical. I also believe this is one of the benefits of Bikram. All instructors are required to practice the exact same progression, every time they teach. There are trade offs to that, like you'll never get to do a downward-dog... but it also means you can walk into any Bikram studio and know exactly what you're getting. See now, I've started to get into specifics about these various styles and that's what I wanted to avoid!

My best advice is try it all out and see for yourself what works best.

[Craig Murray]

As an athlete, though, nearly everyone recommends Ashtanga (or, as it's known among MEN who are insecure about their masculinity, "power yoga."

Every yoga studio I've been to that claims "power yoga" has been heated. I'm sure they are not all hot, but every one I've been to was.