As part of my gym training regime I decided to try and do something different to break out of the monotony of weight training and cardio work outs. A model that I photographed in the past had told me about hot yoga and I was curious to try it out. Most people have a very biased misconception of yoga. Other than it being made trendy by celebrities, most people perceive it as a “tree huggers” work out where you sit with your legs crossed and chant “ohm” while you meditate. So for those of you that have this opinion, below is the definition from dictionary.com:

YOGA yo-ga Pronunciation [yoh-guh]
– noun (sometimes initial capital letter)

1. a school of Hindu philosophy advocating and prescribing a course of physical and mental disciplines for attaining liberation from the material world and union of the self with the Supreme Being or ultimate principle.

2. any of the methods or disciplines prescribed, esp. a series of postures and breathing exercises practiced to achieve control of the body and mind, tranquillity, etc.

3. union of the self with the Supreme Being or ultimate principle.

Saj’s Definition:

– Pain…

Now let me explain. Hot yoga is done in a room that has the temperature raised to 40 degrees and you do the class for 90 minutes non stop! The class goes through 26 different poses that you hold and believe me some of the poses are impossible to maintain! You feel like you’re a human pretzel!! In some of the moves you thread your arms and legs into such convoluted knots that you feel like you won’t be able to untie your body. I’m sure that over time my flexibility and balance will improve, but when you see other students in the class perform the same moves they definitely make it look easier than it is. These positions work out the core of your body and with the raised temperature your body improves blood flow to all parts of your body and you flush out all of the toxins.

What I liked about the class is that there are so many people at different levels of “skill” and the instructor will encourage you to do a pose as far as you can go within your range, rather than give up and not try at all. My conception of this style of exercise has definitely been changed for the better and I definitely get a lot of enjoyment out of the workout. It definitely breaks up the monotony of going to a regular gym and the results are great.

Until next time… Namaste…