Benefits of Hot Yoga

There are many types of yoga and sometimes understanding their benefits is the only way you can make the right decision for your needs. One of the most popular styles is Hot yoga. Developed from the Bikram practice of yoga, this style is probably one of the most talked-about, but why? What is hot yoga? And what are the benefits?

In this article, we will discuss these questions at length and hopefully, you will be ready to get your sweat on and burn some calories. Speaking of which, if you have already decided that yoga is for you and want to check out a great challenge, you should head on over to the Yoga Burn website and have a look at this amazing program. But first, keep reading and get the skinny on hot yoga.

What is Hot Yoga?

Based on the outline of Bikram yoga, hot yoga has been popular for a while now. The practice is done in a room that is heated to high heat and elevated humidity levels.

Usually, the temperature is about 105° Fahrenheit and the humidity rides around 40%. These classes tend to run about 90 minutes and detail going through 26 different poses. The heat and humidity are designed to help your body get rid of any unwanted toxins and to help enhance your blood circulation. This process is designed to help your body and mind reach an elevated state of overall health. In fact, this teaching has many health benefits both mental and physical. Let’s look at the top 5.

Top 5 Benefits of Hot Yoga

There are so many benefits you can take advantage of by practicing any form of yoga but with hot yoga, there are a few extra added benefits. Below we discuss five of the top benefits your body and mind will see from this specific practice.

Flexibility

Sire flexibility is a benefit for any style of yoga, but some experts say that hot yoga promotes more flexibility. How is that possible? Many think that the external heat in the room helps your muscles to expand and contract to a greater level. This means that with heat you will be able to work on increasing your flexibility to new levels.

Detoxification

Simply put, you are going to sweat out all the nasty chemicals and toxins that are floating around your body. The heat and humidity cause your body to sweat more than normal and that increase the blood flow to all your cells. This will help you not only get rid of those toxins but excess water and salt. And because you are sweating all that icky stuff out you will have better skin too. Just remember you may want to sweat it all out, but you still need some of that water so remember to hydrate.

Weight Loss

“You can’t lose weight doing yoga!” That’s crazy, but it really isn’t true. Some yoga practices can burn up to 100 calories per session and hot yoga is one of those. The high heat and intense poses you must hold help your body build lean muscle as well as help with other systems as well. All of which help to boost that metabolism and in turn burn fat. Hence you can most definitely lose weight from yoga.

Peace of Mind

Taking a hot yoga class can help you in so many ways physically but one of the best benefits you can get is a better grasp on mindfulness. Sure, all yoga does that but when you add the intense surroundings your mind is made to focus more and pay attention to the here and now, and that is what finding peace of mind is all about.

The heat and humidity give you something to focus on and then when you add in the poses and making sure you are competing them right you have no other choice than to be in the here and now and that promotes a better grasp on mindfulness.

Mental Health

Yoga is naturally good for mental health. The meditation and focus you put towards your body and the motions allow many people to release a lot of internal struggle and thoughts and live in there here and now.

Then when you add in the heat you add a whole new level. It has been proven that exercise helps release certain chemicals that help with mental health. This practice may offer some a sense of mental clarity and a release from everyday tensions that help improve your mood and emotional health.

Heart Health

There have been some studies that prove being exposed to high heat can help with high blood pressure, so why not take advantage of that and add the extra benefit of getting a good workout in? By helping alleviate hypertension, your overall heart health will be improved and your risk of heart attack decreased. But if already suffer from a heart condition make sure to check with your physician first.

It is Intense

Hot yoga adds quite a big challenge and it will make your heart beat much faster as you need more blood pushed towards your skin to help you remain cool throughout the workout.

So, the more your heart pumps, the better the cardio workout will be. What this means is that you get a better cardio workout in the same amount of time as normal yoga would allow you to get. This saves you time, gives you a more intense workout, and gets your heart pumping fast.

Final Thoughts

So, as you can see, hot yoga has a lot of great benefits. Sure, some of them are just amped-up versions of benefits you can get with any style of yoga but there is nothing wrong with a few extra benefits when you are trying to help better your mental and physical health. There are many places you can check out a class or get more information before making your final decision, and you should check them out now. In fact, you should head over to the Yoga Burn website right now and see what it has to offer.