They are all strengthening poses.
Now you get the same amount of strength in these poses, whether you do them in a heated room or not. Think about chaturanga.
You aren't supporting any more weight with your bent arms because the room is hot. Therefore, you won't be getting any stronger by doing the pose in a heated environment.
Ok, let's switch to lengthening (stretching) poses. Heated vs non-heated room. More or less lengthening?
Now, everybody who has done hot yoga is saying; more lengthening in a heated room.
To summarize the discussion so far:
Therefore, to get the most bang for your yogic buck, given that you have a limited time in the heated room, it would be best to stack this session with lengthening poses, at the expense of strengthening poses.
So, if you are fortunate enough to attend a studio that has both hot and warm classes, the best combination is to focus on strength during the warm classes and to focus on lengthening during the hot classes.
Yet more and more, we see vinyasa being performed in highly heated rooms.
All that juicy heat, that could be used for huge hamstring stretches like upavistha konasana (side splits) and hanumanasana (front splits), or for breathtaking back-bends like wheel (urdhva dhanurasana) ...
It is so disappointing to attend a hot yoga class, get all heated, only to never be given the opportunity to use that heat to explore deep asana. This is squandering energy.
Which actually goes against the yama called brahmacharya. I know! Bad hot yoga teachers.
Brahmacharya is one of those grey areas where people get confused.
But if you think about yoga and control, you know, ahimsa is violence control, satya is lying control, asteya is stealing control. Well, brahmacharya is energy control.
This includes misdirected energy, like doing vinyasa in a hot room, when you could be busting out a thoroughly deep back bend. Anyway, back to hot yoga.
What is most frustrating is that with a little bit of foresight, those studios could be really benefiting their students.
You aren't supporting any more weight with your bent arms because the room is hot. Therefore, you won't be getting any stronger by doing the pose in a heated environment.
Ok, let's switch to lengthening (stretching) poses. Heated vs non-heated room. More or less lengthening?
Now, everybody who has done hot yoga is saying; more lengthening in a heated room.
To summarize the discussion so far:
There is no additional benefit in performing strengthening poses in a heated room.
But there is additional benefit in performing lengthening poses in a heated room.
Therefore, to get the most bang for your yogic buck, given that you have a limited time in the heated room, it would be best to stack this session with lengthening poses, at the expense of strengthening poses.
So, if you are fortunate enough to attend a studio that has both hot and warm classes, the best combination is to focus on strength during the warm classes and to focus on lengthening during the hot classes.
Yet more and more, we see vinyasa being performed in highly heated rooms.
Wrong way around studios. Wrong way around.
All that juicy heat, that could be used for huge hamstring stretches like upavistha konasana (side splits) and hanumanasana (front splits), or for breathtaking back-bends like wheel (urdhva dhanurasana) ...
...ARE GOING TO WASTE.
It is so disappointing to attend a hot yoga class, get all heated, only to never be given the opportunity to use that heat to explore deep asana. This is squandering energy.
Which actually goes against the yama called brahmacharya. I know! Bad hot yoga teachers.
Brahmacharya is one of those grey areas where people get confused.
But if you think about yoga and control, you know, ahimsa is violence control, satya is lying control, asteya is stealing control. Well, brahmacharya is energy control.
This includes misdirected energy, like doing vinyasa in a hot room, when you could be busting out a thoroughly deep back bend. Anyway, back to hot yoga.
What is most frustrating is that with a little bit of foresight, those studios could be really benefiting their students.
They would do this, by focussing on strength during the warm classes, and then using the heat to the max, by hitting the deep stretches during the hot classes.
Such a waste.
See you in hot yoga class, J (err....on the other hand, maybe you won't)
Such a waste.
See you in hot yoga class, J (err....on the other hand, maybe you won't)
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