So you love yoga, but are wondering: “Why the heat?” and maybe “why the infra red?” With the heat turned up, hot yoga has the ability to give your heart, lungs, and muscles an even greater, more intense workout and makes the relaxation and meditation part of your practice even more sublime.
Infrared heaters work by converting electricity into radiant heat. Infrared is part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The heat is the same feeling of warmth as the winter sun on your face and the heat from a coal fire. It is even the same form of heat emitted by your own body. It is the most basic form of heating known to man.
Infrared is the direct transfer of heat from the heater to the object (you and the room around you) without heating the air in between. It’s the same heat we feel from an environment warmed by the sun, and the wavelength most efficiently absorbed by the body. It is 100% safe and natural (it’s UV from the sun that is harmful, not infrared).
A heated environment can make the practice of yoga more challenging, but some of the benefits may be worth it, especially if you’re looking to make progress in one of the following areas:
- Improving flexibility:
It’s important to stay safe on the mat, and warming your muscles will help them to stretch more safely than stretching cold muscles. Infra red heaters heat the body directly without warming the air around you, providing a more gentle heat than radiant and other types of heaters so many people find the heat from infra red heaters more easily tolerable than the heat from other heating sources. Practicing under infra red heat can make the asanas (poses) easier and more effective as the heat can allow you to stretch a little further and achieve a greater range of motion safely. Studies have shown that after 8 weeks of regular hot yoga practice, participants had greater flexibility in their lower back, shoulders and hamstrings than the control group.
- Burns more calories:
Turning up the heat can help to burn more calories. According to researchers at Colorado State University a 90 minute session can burn up to 460 calories for men and 330 for women. However, if losing weight is your goal, then your hot yoga practice is only a part of a complete wellness lifestyle that should focus on good nutrition practices, plenty of sleep, drinking lots of water and managing stress (which yoga helps with too!)
- Build bone density:
Yoga uses your own body weight to strengthen muscles and bones. Bone density decreases as you age and is an especially important consideration for perimenopausal women. Those who practice hot yoga regularly have been shown to have increased bone density in their neck, hips and lower back.
- Reduces stress:
Many people use their yoga practice as a way to healthily deal with and manage stress. A 2018 study found that a consistent and regular hot yoga practice significantly reduced the participants’ stress levels and improved their health-related quality of life and self-efficacy – the belief that you have control over your own behaviour and your social environment.
- Provides a cardiovascular boost:
The movements and asanas performed in the heat can give your muscles, lungs and heart a more strenuous workout than performing them in a lower temperature. Just one session is enough to get your heart pumping at the same rate as a very brisk walk
- Well, it’s yoga:
So add in all of the other benefits that a yoga practice gives you: reduces depression and anxiety, improves mood, reduces blood glucose levels, improves strength and balance, can help ease symptoms of arthritis, gives you more energy, is gentle on your body, perfects your posture, prevents cartilage and joint breakdown, protects your spine, increases blood flow, drains lymph, boosts immunity, reduces blood pressure, regulates adrenal glands, makes you happier, underpins a healthy lifestyle, helps you focus, balances your nervous system, helps you sleep deeper, increases lung capacity, prevents digestive issues, increases self-esteem, eases pain, gives you inner strength….and all of that is only the tip of the iceberg.
