What Is Hot Yoga
The first form of hot yoga was Bikram Yoga, founded by Bikram Choudhury in the 1970s. Bikram yoga is a series of yoga postures that are practiced in a room with a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit and a humidity level of 40 percent. The purpose of practicing yoga in a hot, humid room is to increase heart rates for a more intense workout, and for the heat to allow muscles to loosen.
Many current hot yoga studios used to be called Bikram studios. It was after revelations of sexual abuse, and subsequent litigation, in the past decade that Bikram practitioners and teachers decided to distance themselves from his name. Though many hot yoga studios are Bikram-based, the idea of a heated space for yoga has continued to grow in popularity in recent years and numerous other forms of yoga besides Bikram are also conducted in a heated room.
Im A Beginner How Many Times Per Week Should I Do Yoga
Beginners should be worried less about fast results and more about forming a habit.
Most probably you didnt get on the mat just to get a killer body and six-pack abs in 2 weeks anyway. Firstly, because its nearly impossible in such a short term. Secondly, yoga isnt the place for super quick transformations.
Start doing yoga as often as your schedule allows. Even an hour every week is beneficial.
Naturally, the more you do yoga, the more youll improve. In this case, however, consistency is more important than overall length. Youll likely see more progress when practicing half an hour every day than two hours once a week.
Theres a higher chance of sticking to the habit if youre not forcing it. So listen to your body cues. If youre exhausted but have a fast Vinyasa class scheduled, theres no shame in taking frequent rest throughout the session and modifying challenging poses.
Make yoga a happy place where youre comfortable in your own body. It should become an activity that youll be glad to free your time for. This way, even if youve got a busy schedule and have time for only one studio class a week, youll grow willing to come back to the practice at home, during your lunch break or whenever you have as little as five spare minutes.
Vinyasa is a dynamic, flow-style yoga. Check out our comprehensive breakdown of the most common yoga styles here. If youre an absolute beginner, here are the best yoga styles to start with.
My Favorite Yoga Gear Essentials
You Might Become Dehydrated
Youre going to sweat out a lot of water during a hot yoga session, which means you need to drink ample water before and during class to compensate. The hotter room temperature can cause fainting and muscle cramping, according to Numbers, as well as vomiting. But staying adequately hydrated can help prevent these issues.
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Regular Yoga Vs Hot Yoga: How Are They Similar
All types of yoga involve a series of poses that focus on the mind, body, and soul while strengthening your muscles and increasing your flexibility.
Yoga helps relieve stress while toning the body, and the yoga movements themselves also help tone and strengthen the core, improve balance and prevent injuries.
Pricing Packages And Memberships
Im particularly keen on yoga class packages and memberships.
I suggest you offer a variety of yoga class pricing packages. Dont just offer drop-in rates. Consider unlimited yoga packages , multiple class packages, batching packages, sharing packages, private packages, on-site packages, promotions, referral bonuses, first-class/week free, holiday specials, and any other pricing plans you can think of. Also, ask your yoga students what type of pricing package they would like. Its important you seek and receive client feedback.
Ensure that the more expensive your package, the lower per/class the cost is. For example, if your drop-in rate is $18 per class. Make it so a 10 class package results in a per-class cost of less than $18.
Be sure to post your prices clearly in your studio and on your website. Create a menu. After each package, if its possible to calculate, give the per-class cost. This is a great way to sell larger packages. As a business person, you must always strive to receive a dollar today rather than tomorrow, because a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow.
You can steady and increase revenues with memberships set up with auto-pay. Memberships are attractive because students can then practice yoga at your studio as much as they wish. Its good for you because youre guaranteed a certain amount of money per month from a set number of students who are your members.
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Who Should Avoid Hot Yoga
There are risks involved in practicing hot yoga for those with specific health issues.
According to Laskowski, pregnancy, heart disease, dehydration, heat intolerance or a prior stroke would be cause for concern and these are just some of the potential conditions that may affect your ability to practice. If you have questions about the potential risks, consult your physician before trying a hot yoga class.
Overall, Laskowski says, “If you have no health concerns, you dont have any problems with heat-related illness and that is what you like to do, it probably is OK.”
At The Studio In Toronto Where I Taught I Was Given $60 Per Class Which I Thought Was Very Generous Of That $50 Was For Teaching The 90
I had studio owners Liking my post. Because it is a good amount of money for what we have to do. But if you’re just teaching five classes a week, yeah, you’re not going to make enough to live on in any North American city. And probably any European city.
But some teachers don’t want to teach 10 classes a week . And that’s probably barely livable.
The reality is that there are a lot of really, really, really, not good and completely delusional hot yoga/Bikram teachers out there.
What makes a bad teacher :
Good studio owners take student feedback and fellow teacher feedback seriously. They coach. And they weed out those from teaching who are bad.
Bad studio owners – and I’ve only come across a few in my time – do none of that and don’t lead by example when they themselves teach.
So to be a good teacher, one who gets the number of classes they want a week and can therefore make a living, you have to do more than just show up to class and teach.
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Little Things Are A Big Deal
The little moments made these 30 days great. The warm daily welcome from the people at the studios front desk. The friendly doorman who waved and smiled as I headed to the studio. The daily selfie I sent my parents as proof that Id gotten up every morning. Ultimately, it was how this experience cleared my mind and made me look at my life with new eyes.
My 30 days are over, but my practice isnt. This wasnt a binge or a phase Im going through. Its my way of integrating this practice into my life. I hit the mat every day not for the physical benefits, but in pursuit of clarity. Im sure obstacles will come up sometimes, but I would be stupid to let go of something thats given me so much happiness.
Hot Yoga : What To Expect The Benefits And More
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In This Article
Yoga originated millenia ago as a source of spiritual development. But these days, we tend to use it more as a form of exercise, with focus centering around the asanasor posturesinvolved, more so than the meditative aspects. As an exercise modality, yoga is known for helping sculpt long, lean musclesbut there are a few different forms under the general yoga umbrella. One popular form of fitness-oriented yoga is hot yoga, which involves turning up the temperature in-studio. This is said to deliver a host of calorie-burning and flexibility-improving benefits, but naturally, we’re skeptical. So ahead, we asked two yoga instructors about their thoughts on the practice, where it originated, and if it’s right for you.
Meet the Expert
- Amy Rosoff Davis is a celebrity trainer with clients among the likes of Selena Gomez, Sofia Richie, and more.
- Rebekah Rivera is a yoga instructor and holistic health counselor based in Venice, CA.
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The Heat Is Addictive
The heat is both the trendiest and the most controversial part of hot yoga. The heat and humidity effectively prevent your body from cooling itself if you’re not careful, you can suffer dehydration or heat stroke.
If you do try hot yoga and you feel yourself getting light-headed, please, just stop. Lie down . Or leave the room for a few minutes . Don’t feel the slightest compunction about it. And if you have an instructor who makes you feel bad about it, or tells you to “push through it,” or that “pain means it’s working,” find another instructor. This is the source of many negative experiences in hot yoga daft, poorly trained instructors who don’t know how to take care of their students.
All that said, I find the heat addictive. Really. The first few times I went, it was overwhelming. But over time, I’ve become hooked on the sensation of sweating it all out. You are not really “sweating out toxins,” as many instructors are in the unfortunate habit of saying. Getting rid of toxins is a job for your liver and kidneys. You’re mostly sweating out water, along with potassium and some other minerals, which is why rehydration and remineralization is so important.
Still, it’s like going through a giant wringer. You walk out feeling new, like you were just born, like an empty vessel ready to start all over. These days, if I go more than a day or two without hot yoga, I start feeling heavy, burdened, as though I’m hauling around too much psychic baggage.
Whats In A Yoga Instructor Salary
There seems to be more than a little bit of confusion surrounding the average salary of a certified yoga instructor.
In the United States, yoga instructors make an average of $24.96 per hour, making anywhere from 31K-100K, with the national average clocking in at wait for it $60K.
Real US dollars, not Monopoly money.
Now, depending on where you live in the United States, the notion of a $60K annual salary might sound pretty sweet.or wholly underwhelming.
To reach that figure, you would basically have to teach 26 yoga classes per week for a whole year, at the rate of $50 per class. This hourly rate is shall we say, not extremely commonplace.
Which is why when someone asks so, whats an average salary of a yoga teacher? you cant just throw out five-figure salary figures and shout NEXT QUESTION!
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How Hot Are We Talking
Just as the class structures can vary, the temperature of the room can as well.
Kuberry advises that Bikram studios are generally heated to between 106-109 degrees with 40% humidity. Y7 Studios heat its classes from 80-90 degrees.
There are also different ways to heat the studio. The traditional method is to use a hot yoga-specific heater which pumps in hot air as well as a humidifier, but at Y7 and many other modern hot yoga studios, the rooms are heated with infrared heat.
“Infrared heat actually heats you from the inside out,” Levey says. “If you held your hand up to an infrared heater, you wouldnt actually feel any air coming out.”
With this style of heating, she claims that you sweat out less water and a larger percentage of oils and toxins.
Studios often advertise how they heat their rooms and the temperature. Before you try a new class, you should ask the studio about the temperature so you can mentally prepare for your workout.
Provides A Cardiovascular Boost
Striking different yoga poses in high heat can give your heart, lungs, and muscles a more challenging workout than doing the same poses in a lower temperature.
According to a 2014 study, just one session of hot yoga is enough to get your heart pumping at the same rate as a brisk walk .
Hot yoga also revs up your respiration and metabolism.
While any type of exercise can help burn energy and reduce circulating levels of glucose in your bloodstream, hot yoga may be an especially helpful tool for people at higher risk for type 2 diabetes.
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It’s A Complete Workout
Despite the prevalence of bogus weight loss fads and specialized workouts, physical fitness, like eating well, is actually pretty simple. The best summary I’ve seen of the balance of evidence on the topic is this post from Zeynep Tufekci. She explains that to get and stay fit not necessarily to lose weight or get ROCK-HARD ABS, but just to stay healthy you need to do two things:
One, you need to get your heart rate up, and keep it up for a while, at least two or three times a week. You can do that by running, swimming, briskly walking, playing basketball, doing jumping jacks, whatever. Doesn’t really matter. As long as your heart rate is elevated and you’re breathing hard for at least 10 or 15 minutes, you’re doing it right.
And two, you need to strain your muscles, signaling to your body to build new muscle tissue. This goes for all the major muscle groups. You can do it by lifting weights, by doing pullups and pushups and squats, by “planking,” whatever. As long as all your big muscle groups get a little burn two or three times a week, you’re doing it right.
The advantage of hot yoga is, while it may not be a perfect substitute for a carefully constructed regimen of alternating cardio and weight-lifting, it is, for my purposes, close enough, in a one-stop-shopping package.
This is basically how I look when I do it.
One: Train Like A Yogi
The first step to becoming a yoga teacher of abundance and comfort is to become a yoga teacher.
These days, you can choose a yoga school in a variety of styles of yoga. Traditional styles such as Hatha yoga, Iyengar yoga, or Ashtanga Vinyasa are common for 200-hour teacher training programs. If you choose to register with Yoga Alliance, you can also log hours spent training in other styles of yoga.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but the more you learn, the better you will teach.
The more immersed you are in the teachings, the more authentic and valuable your presence will be in the classroom.
Win for the students in your yoga classes: they dont have to listen to a fitness instructor just reading a script about yoga poses and breathing. Win for wherever you teach: better yoga teachers are more likely to have yogis who return to practice with them, generating more income for the gym or yoga studio.
And WIN for YOU! Whether you teach yoga full-time or as a part-time job, its exponentially more fulfilling to do something that you love. To work a job that you cannot get enough of.
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Hot Yoga: Is It Super
Proponents of Bikram yoga say it improves their heart health and helps them lose weight. Critics say theres no scientific evidence backing up these benefits.
Bikram yoga, commonly known as hot yoga, continues to draw ardent supporters as well as harsh critics.
This style of practicing yoga in a heated room is still popular with a slice of yoga enthusiasts despite a scandal that apparently prompted the creator of this form of yoga to leave the United States .
Overall, yoga continues to grow in popularity in the United States.
A 2016 survey estimated that 36 million Americans practice some form of yoga. That was up from 20.4 million in 2012.
Women make up 72 percent of yoga participants. People between the ages of 30 and 49 make up 43 percent of practitioners.
There arent any firm numbers on how many of these people practice hot yoga, but those that do say they enjoy sweating it out.
A Bikram yoga class moves through a fixed series of traditional poses in a 90-minute session, in a room with an air temperature of 105 degrees and 40 percent humidity. Many studios tinker with the formula in order to offer their own versions of hot yoga.
However, you wont find such a setting at Yoga Shala in Portland, Oregon.
Director Jody Kurilla happily sends would-be hot yoga students down the street to another studio.
And the practice is not about extremes. Its about listening to your body without distractions, she said.
An Easier Way To Price Classes And Issue Gift Cards
Of course, you can run your studio manually with spreadsheets and the like. However, if your studio is humming along and you want to introduce more pricing options , you should check out yoga studio software to manage all this for you. It makes it much easier to computerize everything and sync it with your client database.
If you dont have the technology to offer auto-pay, self-booking, and/or gift cards, check out MINDBODY Yoga Studio Software.
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What Were My Results After Three Months Of Hot Yoga
I only measured and weighed myself twice during this three-month experiment on day 1 and on day 90. The reason being that I didn’t want to obsess over numbers, but focus on my physical and mental transformation as I was experiencing it.
My goal was to feel better about the way I looked and improve my own self-confidence, and this was never tied to a number for me. However, I did want to be able to track my progress in some way, and to be able to share my results with you in a measurable way.
The numbers ended up telling a very dramatic story.
Waist
In 3 months, I lost 4.3cm off the widest part of my waist and 6.2cm off the smallest part of my waist.
Hips
I lost 1.7cm off the widest part of my hips and a whopping 8.4cm off the smallest part.
Arms
My arms stayed exactly the same numerically, but they look totally different. They are more toned and muscular, and I feel so much stronger.
Weight
To tell the truth, I am actually no lighter now than I was when I started. However, my shape has completely changed.
I have burned a lot of fat into muscle and its distribution is now more flattering and in proportion to the rest of my body. As muscle is heavier than fat and I’m still the same weight as when I started, we can conclude that I actually did lose weight in the process.
I have also observed a number of other benefits from doing hot yoga:
Overall strength not just in my arms Better balance No pain or stiffness the day after
Diet
