6 Life Changing Long term benefits of hot yoga You’ll Love.
Should I Do Hot Yoga? Is It For Me?
Hot yoga is becoming the hot thing at the moment and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down and there are plenty of reasons for that. In this article, we are going to look at the long term benefits of hot yoga and how it can help you better yourself in all areas of your life.
When I’m referring to yourself I’m talking about your health and well being and the ability to perform better and for longer periods. This could be performing at work or at home, helping with better decision making as well as better communication. Lower your stress levels and get better sleeping patterns just to name a few. It’s all about improving the body and the mind.
There’s plenty of positive benefits to hot yoga otherwise we simply wouldn’t do it, would we? And there wouldn’t be any successful local hot yoga business in hot demand.
We cannot deny the health benefits and the facts of hot yoga, you’re here to find out more and we are here to tell you all about them.
So today we are going to look at a number of benefits that hot yoga can offer to you that will certainly help you get the best out of yourself.
How Hot Yoga Adds To The World Of Yoga.
If you’re interested in getting into yoga, maybe you’re new to the yoga world and have also thought of getting into hot yoga as well because you’re aware of what heat can do but you’d like to find out more, either way, adding hot yoga into your health routine can be a great idea with a lot of long term benefits, and on top of that you might actually enjoy it as well. That’s the hope anyway.
The reasons why you get into hot yoga can be many, anything from personal health goals, improving your mindset, spirituality or just to balance your lifestyle, hot yoga is a great way of achieving one if not all of these benefits.
There are different styles of yoga that you can practice that are a little out of the scope of this article. They work on different aspects of your body, but they all work effectively with hot yoga. These styles usually come down to your level of experience.
Hot yoga adds that extra and different element, adding heat to your yoga does a couple of things, one being, of course, it heats your core body temperature that does wonderful things to your body, it gives you a totally different experience, your muscles and blood circulation react to the heat which can allow for better movement as well as other things that can be achieved through sweating.
Be aware this can be a positive experience and one that you might want to do over and over again.
Long Term Benefits Of Hot Yoga. What Are They?
To give you an idea. Hot yoga is done at a temperature of around 105 degrees. This helps for a number of reasons which is explained in the benefits below.
Better Flexibility.
One of the best things about yoga is the flexibility and range you can gain by consistent sessions. This is where hot yoga is even better because of the heat.
The heat is said to add to the ability to be more flexible, this is because muscles relax better when there is heat involved. Relaxed muscles create a better range, therefore with consistent hot yoga sessions, you will gain better flexibility.
Having better range and flexibility can reduce the chance of injury thus allowing higher range movements than you otherwise probably wouldn’t do in a normal scenario.
What this means is hot yoga is very beneficial to athletes, dancers or really anyone that wants to improve their flexibility and range of movement. Just make sure you know your limits and not to overdo things, this is a good way to learn about your body’s limits.
Help To Detoxify Your Body
Hot yoga and sweating go hand in hand. And the sweat from infrared heat in this case hot yoga is pretty intense. And that’s exactly what happens when you take an intense hot yoga session. Whether you have your own hot yoga at home or you’re attending a hot yoga session in your local area the workout is like no other.
Some may get a little queasy about the whole sweating thing, especially if you’re new to the hot yoga experience, don’t worry, you’re not the only one going to sweat your butt off. And if your experience at hot yoga this is exactly what you’re after.
This is the wonderful process of detoxing. The heat combined with an intense yoga workout generates this hard sweating process. As you sweat you are detoxing, this happens by you eliminating your water content and in the process, you extract out any unwanted toxins that may be in your system.
This may include different types of chemicals that you have consumed at some point through eating or breathing, pretty disgusting but this is the world we now live in.
After a few sessions, you will experience a total sense of satisfaction, It will definitely get you into a better state, something that we will cover soon.
The best way to get your body flowing is to raise its core temperature, what this does is allows for better blood flow that reaches areas such as your skin cells. Add controlled breathing and interesting body movements you’ll soon be in a world of sweating which is ideal for the detoxing process to begin.
Not only that, heavy sweating is a great way to open up your pores and extract unwanted dirt and other bacteria that may be clogged in your skin. This promotes healthier skin that often gives you glowing smooth looking skin. This leads us into.
Healthier Looking Skin
Everyone knows that when you work out, you’re boosting your heart rate and thus your circulation. Increased circulation means more blood cells and oxygen coming in contact with the skin. This means that any workout, from running to hiking to hot yoga can help to flush out any impurities from your skin.
Any exercise that really works up a sweat can and will do this for you. It’s been stated that when you add heat into the mix it can actually increase better circulation as opposed to if you were just exercising in regular temperatures.
Hot yoga lovers often make a point that a solid session really helps to improve the glow and feel of their skin. And if that’s all they get out of the session which is never the case they walk away feeling very happy knowing they have given their skin a nice cleanse.
Hot Yoga Can Assist With Weight Loss
There’s going to be a few that struggle with this concept that yoga can help with weight loss but when you go deeper and understand the processes the body endures while doing hot yoga you’ll soon realise the health benefits of hot yoga and how they can help with your weight loss journey.
With all the various positions you are going through, along with the added infrared heat this makes your heart rate increase which not only helps to build muscles but will also help to burn calories.
Remember there are different types of yoga programs you can do, some for beginners and some for the advanced, so please keep this in mind, not all programs are the same. Along with that, there are also different styles of hot yoga.
It’s stated that a hot yoga session of 60 mins and more can burn anywhere from 500 to 1000 calories. I’ve put this here just as a reference point, there are a lot of variations involved which can determine the number of calories you can burn so please keep this in mind.
Not only that yoga can also help your digestive system which can boost your metabolic rate which will help in the weight loss process. Here is a great article that shows proof of someone wearing a heart rate while going hot yoga, pretty interesting.
Hot Yoga Helps To Improve Mindfulness
This for some might be just the biggest benefit of them all, practising mindfulness can be a real challenge, especially when we are all time-sensitive. Hot yoga is the perfect opportunity for this, you really don’t have a choice as hot yoga is all about being in the present.
Hang on for a second. What is mindfulness? Well, mindfulness can have a different meaning for some of us, but basically, at the core of it is to practice being present, which for a lot of us including me can be a real challenge.
And that’s where yoga is ideal for this, hot yoga can be even better. When you’re in a hot environment where you need to concentrate and be present it’s all about the now, otherwise, you might find it challenging.
Even if you’re feeling a little stressed before your session, you’ll notice a mental shift once you get started. This is a great lesson for life in general, the fact that mindfulness is a thing, staying in the present is a practice that like most things needs to be developed and worked on.
Mastering this state of mind and focus can be taken into your everyday life and that’s why there’s so much power behind the art of mindfulness, it’s a great skill to develop and have on hand when things are challenging. This wonderful practice can very much help with your overall happiness and therefore a more fulfilling life. Which leads us to our next benefit.
Hot Yoga Can Help With Your Happiness
When we think of yoga most of us think of how it can help with our fitness levels as well as weight loss and other benefits that you might visually see, but just like the art of mindfulness another long term benefit of hot yoga is actually being happy and content with yourself and at the end of the day that’s what we all want out of life.
This is a little close to my heart as this is something I’ve struggled with for some time and I know I’m not the only one, and it’s only in the last few years through learning all about the mind and how it works, learning how to control your thoughts as well as developing new skills.
Research has shown by practising anything from mindfulness and meditation can lead to heightening your mood. And that’s really important for anyone that has suffered any form of depression. Hot yoga is a great way to help you get to a point that you can feel happy and content.
You don’t really have a choice. When you are practising hot yoga you have to be in the right state of mind or it’s pretty tough to do it right. And after a series of sessions, you will start to develop new skills and habits that will help put you in a happy state. Also sweating helps to boost endorphins within the brain.
Endorphins are what is said to be our bodies natural pain relief. Some suggest that is part of the reason why you can feel so good after a solid hot yoga session.
Whether it’s yoga or hot yoga, this is a great way to help you connect with your body and your mind. The sweating is just an added extra. Plus on a side note, this is also a great way to meet like-minded people that may think the same way you do.
When you do something for the first time or something that’s out of your comfort zone, there’s a real sense of achievement and happiness when you complete the task, and I think this is the same for a lot of people. Anyway, it’s something to think about. I hope you get the gist of what I’m trying to say.
With anything new you need to make sure you approach things with a level of care and safety for yourself. Below I want to give you some tips on how you can look after yourself. Again once you do this a few times you’ll get to understand how your body reacts and what levels you can take yourself.
Hot Yoga Safety Tips
Is Hot Yoga Safe? Yes, It’s completely safe for beginners, as I said above where most go wrong is not understanding the situation and the limits of their body. It also comes down to preparation as well.
If you’re in good health and generally on the younger side hot yoga is safe, having said that it’s also safe for the older generation but there are some things that we encourage you to keep in mind.
Dehydration. This is a big one and where you can get yourself into trouble, this is all about the preparation. Drinking water before you attend your session is a must as well as throughout and after. I cannot stress this enough, because there is heat involved and for some hotter, that you are used to keeping your water levels up is vital. You don’t want to pass out or get a headache, not a good look.
Health Conditions. If you have any pre-existing health conditions that you feel might be a concern and might hinder you throughout your session, understanding what can happen is really important. Again awareness is the key.
Low Blood Or Sugar Levels. Again this is something to be aware of as the heat and the intense session might bring on dizziness, please consult your doctor on the best approach. Again understanding what can happen and having something in place in case it does happen is the key.
Pregnancy. Nothing to say here, we highly recommend you consult your doctor on this one.
Heat Problems. If you have had any issues in the past with heat exhaustion it might be an idea to seek medical attention to see what can be done. If your body hasn’t been exposed to heat in a while this can lead to concerns, Again awareness is the key to making sure all safety precautions are in place.
Our Conclusion
Hopefully, after you read all about hot yoga and what it can offer you, you can now see the long term benefits of hot yoga and how it can help improve your life for the better. Just remember to take it slow at the beginning, you can only improve from there. All the best.
