Too Hot for Me?

 

A friend of mine has been trying to get me to come to yoga classes at her studio (the studio she attends, rather), Moksha downtown.

That has been my intention for a while now and I recently won a tw0-week pass to the studio (thanks CP24!) so now I have no excuses.

Except one.

All of the classes take place in super-heated rooms, about 35°C. How is it I didn’t know that???

I am happiest in the high teens- this could kill me.

No, no, she assures me- it is great exercise and will help me lean down further.

Another friend is practically giddy with excitement over the prospect of trying this out- she loves the feeling of suffocation that comes with extreme heat and humidity.

Me? Not so much.

I don’t think she has stopped to consider the stimulation of the olfactory receptors which will undoubtedly happen when you have 20-30 odd people sweating up a storm while wrapping themselves into pretzels.

From a physiological standpoint, I understand why the extreme heat can be an advantage. The heat will help the muscles relax and one should be able to go deeper into the poses while lessening the chance of strain.

That would be great except I will have passed out before reaping any of the benefits.

I will go. I have taken yoga before and while I may not have enjoyed it during the class, I felt great afterwards. Besides, yoga (when I did it) enabled me to walk the morning after hours of hard court tennis. (Being able to get out of bed and walk is a good thing.)

The hot yoga thing scares me but I’ll give a go for the two weeks I have a pass. I have nothing to lose except my dignity.

Maybe I’ll wait until the winter when I can jump out of the class and into a snow bank to cool off, a sort of zen yoga version of a Finnish sauna.

Or not.

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~ by angryegg on July 30, 2010.