I have been practicing yoga for about 10 years now and I notice that what was hot then is not hot now. 85 degrees was hot. Then it moved up to 90. Then to 95 degrees. Now there are studios that have temperatures between 105-110. People are getting used to the heat and are requesting even higher temperatures. So even if the room is heated to 99 degrees,heaters are being brought in to get it even hotter. How Hot is too Hot?
The two innovators in Hot Yoga are Bikram Chodhury and Baron Baptiste. Both claim that Hot Yoga flushes out toxins and warms up the muscles so that injury is prevented. Bikram rooms are heated to 105 degrees and the poses are fairly simple and repeated twice. In Journey Into Power, written by Baron Baptiste, he recommends that the room be heated to 90 degrees and many of the Baptiste affiliate studios are heated to 95 degrees. Though his sequence is more complicated then Bikram's, it is still accessible to all levels and allows for more innovation.
Some people try to use Ashtanga as a model for hot yoga. They say that Mysore India is hot so this justifies that yoga should be done in warmer temperatures. The reality is that in Mysore, practicing in the hottest parts of the day are avoided. Sessions are conducted early in the morning and late in the afternoon when the sun is at its coolest. To the Ashtanga research institute, there is definitely an understanding of when hot is to hot.
Is their a point where it has gone beyond therapeutic and into extremism? Is this based on the individual? How Hot is Too Hot? I would love to hear from you!
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