I must say that I've done lovely hot YogaYoga before under the instruction of excellent teachers. It was my introduction to Yoga and my very first training - yes, my first teacher training was in Hot Yoga! That said, this Yoga was around 36c degrees and not Bikram 42c.
Would I do it again? Sometimes I join a class if I have no other choice. Still, I hope I'm advanced enough to cope with the demand and know the consequences - I severely injured myself before. I was not walking for three months, so I am not the biggest fan anymore. Nothing like safe 22c Yoga.
This blog article intends to provoke some thinking in the general population that believes Yoga must be hot and newcomers who are not informed enough. Do it hot if you want but know what you are getting yourself into.
It is the second weather warning from the met office
for hot weather in the U.K. in 2022. And, I cannot stop thinking that they are either wrong or some of us, who love 42 degrees Yoga, are just a bit bonkers!
If you are like me, you must have looked at Mr Bikrams documentary - shock and horror! Just watch how he shouts "fat", "bitch", and other horrible insults to his students, insults that would make me exit the room in less than a breath. But seems these unfortunate masochists loved it and made him famous - bless our crazy world!
Hot Yoga is big! Is massive, actually! Made billionaires!
In this documentary, you might see that Mr Bikram is pushing people to bathe in their clammy sweat while doing challenging postures for one and a half hours. However, he was comfortable seated underneath his air con - I know, right?!
If you watch attentively, you will hear testimonials of people passed out - probably with severe heatstroke and dehydration. Still, they worshipped this rude man who brainwashed people's minds in the name of Yoga and probably harmed them more than benefited them. Naturally, I think that with such daily exposure to extreme heat during their lives, their brain shrank, and they were not capable of thinking anymore!
I tried three classes - I needed to check what this was all about! In all of them, I had to stop and give up. I was trying to gasp for air, and I could only breathe people's body smells. I wished I could leave, but I dared not move from my wet tower for fear of being overlooked as a weak, poor soul, just like Mr Bikram would punish his students: "You silly bitch! What's wrong with you?"
When I finished a class, I tried to convince myself that I was just fine. I would tell myself this is the way and tough it up. Have a cold shower for 30 minutes until you feel clean and your body temperature is back to normal. I thought, maybe this is the endorphin rush everyone raves about! But I was about to faint with high blood pressure due to dehydration and would be tired most of the day.
I must say that I only went because it was almost naked Yoga Yoga (!), but back then, I had a six-pack. I'd not do a t-shirtless hot yoga nowadays with my affectionate post-COVID belly!
And that is why I don't understand why people do this to themselves! We are supposed to work hard enough in a yoga class, sure, we might sweat a bit, but we should leave refreshed after our relaxation and ready to face a hectic day ahead.
Now, why do we do hot Yoga and not complain about the temperature day in and day out? Then we have 35 degrees Celcius for two days, and we need air conditioning; the world is about to burn dawn; I'm going to get skin cancer, and my kidneys will fail, and I'll need haemodialysis for the rest of my life! Panic!
Maybe people who do hot Yoga think that the met office and doctors are exaggerating what extreme temperatures can do to us! After all, they expose themselves to that sweaty environment daily. 40 degrees outside? I better do yoga! Peace of cake. Or maybe they think that only people with other problems are in danger; Things never happen to us. Until they do.
And where did people get this idea that we need to do hot Yoga because that's how they do it in India?! It's not truuuuuuuue gizzards! Yogis would do their Yoga at 5 am with the first rays of the sun when it was cooler. Sure might still be hotter there - for you and me - but they are used to it. We are not in India! Wake up!
I find it funny, but some like it hot! Do you?
Do Yoga which leaves you energised, not tired. Join us!
If you have any of the symptoms, please do not ignore them, your health is at risk.