Beginner/New - question!

[invisibility3]

Hello, my name is Emily. I'm a college student studying Biology, usually in the States but currently in Australia for a semester.

I've been interested in Yoga for a while but haven't had the opportunity to try it until recently, so I attended my first class today, and it was mostly better than I was expecting, but I do have one main question/concern:

It was HOT in that little room. Ok, now I understand the physics of putting 30 or so adults in one small room with almost no airflow, and then having everyone do any kind of activity (or really, at this ratio of people:room size, just sitting there would up the temp and humidity pretty fast!). When we entered, another class had just left so the side doors, which open to outdoors, were opened to air out the room. As soon as we began, however, all the doors were closed, leaving us all in a little concrete sauna. I suppose for most people this is only a minor annoyance, but I really don't like heat and humidity. It was a major distraction for me (and stressful!) and made it extremely hard to focus on what I was doing. One of my roommates said he thinks that there is a reason for having the room hot/this is done intentionally. Is this true? If it's just a case of keeping people from wandering through the room, there's ways of doing that which don't require us to be cut off from the lovely evening air outside.

Like I said, other than that it was awesome: until I finished high school a couple of years ago, I danced ballet/tap/jazz/pointe and I've really been missing the discipline, particularly in keeping up my flexibility, so it felt really good to work tonight (and I was pleased to see that I'm still more bendable than the average person ).

Thanks in advance!

ETA: The style is some kind of Vinyasa, its offered through the school here.

[Pandara]

There are types of yoga where they will deliberately heat up the room, I think Bikram is one of them, but I talk under correction here. I once attended a class like that and never again, had more or less the same feelings about it than you.

My advice: Find another group or class, you sound too stressed by this experience - not good, this is the opposite of what yoga should attempt to do.

[sarahy]

Yes doors are closed for certain types of yoga. Ashtanga keeps doors closed, and also vinyasa flow or power yoga. Bikram, in addition to closing the doors also supplements the body heat of the room by bringing it up to about 98oF. There are various reasons, one is that the body is more flexible at this temperature, and sweating releases toxins from the body. The reason i like the best is that the closed doors keep all the prana in the room during the practice, everyone is sharing their energy with everyone else. Of course if everyone has had curry the night before they're also sharing various other things .

Yes, it's HOT and humid in the little room, but one does get used to it, and eventually grows to appreciate it (i miss it when i practice alone). Imagine what it's like to practice in india during the hot season, or the monsoon season. Those were the conditions under which yoga evolved. If you liked the practice embrace the environment. If not, there are other styles to choose from.

sarah

[invisibility3]

Thank you both for your replies. I haven't decided whether or not I will give this particular class another try (its the only style offered and I don't have reliable transportation to find somewhere else), but I know I will find a different style when I can. I just don't handle hot and humid well, though I do see now what the benefits of a hot, humid, closed room would be.

Are there any styles that encourage open rooms (or outdoor practices)?

Thanks again!

[InnerAthlete]

Hello Emily,

I am not aware of a practice where the doors are open. I am, however, aware that there are practices where the climate is kept "bearable". I set my room to 73º.

There are several incarnations of "yoga" that seem to manipulate the climate a bit higher up the thermostat. In a Bikram class (or "hot" yoga which seems to be the same without the trademark costs) the temperature is 104º. In the style of Power Vinyasa it seems to be in the 80's.

I will not get into the reasoning(s) behind such things nor do I want to churn up the old, worn out debates of whether such a thing is "good" or "bad". These days I just murmur "to each their own" and mosey along - mostly

[Pandara]

Hi Emily,

I think it is very much also a personal choice of the teacher and then the type of yoga you do, but I feel your environment plays a big part as well. In South Africa we are extremely blessed with about 8 months of sunny skies and warm to hot weather and only about 4 months divided between autumn and winter and then it is not terribly cold as well as we don't receive any rain or snow here in winter.

In Pretoria where I live it can get extremely hot in summer from November to February, sometimes in the 40's (I talk Celcius) and the humidity is usually between 50 - 60% sometimes even higher.

Pretoria and Johannesburg are about 30kms apart and many of my yogis live in Pretoria but work in Johannesburg, by the time they arrive for class they have been stuck in traffic already for about hour and a half, so they are already hot and bothered. I don't want to add to that by cramping them in a small space which is over heated. I have also learned that many of my fellow countrymen and women are extremly sensitive to heat so I avoid heating the class more and therefore open as many windows as possible and we even switch the fans on when it gets too hot in the class.

However, I think heating a room in the colder weather countries do make sense, becasue you don't want to risk injury when the muscles are cold and stiff and if you don't have natural heat to heat you up, then I suppose heating the room is the best answer.

[invisibility3]

Of course some heat in the room in cold weather is necessary, but I'm currently in sub-tropical Australia, and I'm from Iowa (where it snowed, yet again, over Easter)... I'm a cold weather person so 70 degrees for me is plenty warm (degrees F... that's about 20 C?), 80 gets to be slightly uncomfortable, and I'm pretty sure that the room where we were practising was almost the same as human body temperature. I am aware that my personal climatic tastes run much cooler than the majority opinion, so I'm not about to say that hot classes are a bad idea - I just have an unusual idea about what makes a space "too warm." I visited the Amazon rainforest a couple of years ago and while my classmates seemed to be OK with the temperature and humidity, one of my most vivid memories from the week is returning from a short hike, jumping into the (cold) shower fully clothed, and crying because I couldn't handle the climate. On the other hand, one of my favorite temperatures is 20 F - I find it to be excellent camping weather.

Thanks everyone - when I get home I'll go in search of a practice at a temperature that is more bearable for me personally.

[stargurl84]

I personally like warmer rooms. I guess I'm used to saunas and steam rooms after working out so I naturally parallel heat with relaxation. I think you should give it some time, you might like it.