Hot Yoga is popular over in the US and Canada, but is it as effective as people think it is? We’re talking about using your sauna as a Hot Yoga studio!

What is Hot Yoga?

Hot yoga is exactly that: yoga that takes place in a hot room, such as a sauna. By performing the same yoga moves in a hot room, your muscles require less warm-up, and you can get a deeper stretch.

While Hot Yoga can be beneficial to some, it can also be extremely dangerous to others.

Benefits of Hot Yoga

Heavy sweating is said to help flush toxins from your skin, but this is a little misleading. The way our bodies detoxify is mainly through our kidney and liver – meaning you’re not really sweating out toxins from your skin. Instead, you’re mostly sweating out water, electrolytes and some urea. However, sweating more makes you drink more water, which boosts your overall metabolism to make you urinate more, therefore flushing out your kidneys and liver.

Hot Yoga warms up your muscles, meaning you need less time to warmup. This allows you to go more deeply into each Yoga position.

If you’re looking for a more intense workout, Hot Yoga may be for you. The heated room elevates the heart rate, making the body work harder.

Precautions with Hot Yoga

There are a lot of risks involved with Hot Yoga, just like there are with using a sauna. Follow the guidelines, use your common sense and stop when you don’t feel right.

• Be prepared: Don’t eat a huge meal before the session, but don’t go in on an empty stomach. Make sure you drink a lot of water before your session and bring in enough water to get you through the whole thing. If you’re not feeling 100% beforehand, give it a miss until next time.
• Proper aftercare: The risks don’t stop once you’ve stepped out of the sauna. Ensure you drink a fortified drink such as Lucozade or coconut water to replace electrolytes and take a cold shower to bring your body temperature down.
• Be cautious about pre-existing conditions: If you have any conditions, especially cardiovascular or respiratory conditions you should consult a doctor before going to a Hot Yoga session.
• Don’t overstretch: In the heat, you lose the ability to know where your muscle’s end point is, meaning you overstretch. This could cause you to tear muscle fibres, leading to a strain.
• Know your limits: Don’t try and soldier on in the heat. If you feel unwell, leave the room. If you’ve not done yoga for a while, you are going to want to ease yourself into it, especially with how easy it is to overstretch.

Hot Yoga may be growing in popularity but there are a lot of risks associated with it. If you think you’re ready for a more intense yoga session, you can transform your sauna into the perfect Hot Yoga studio just by turning the temperature down and rearranging bench tiers. See the full range of saunas available online or Download a Free Brochure!