In this short essay I talk about the
benefits, the drawbacks and what you can do to maximize your experience doing
hot yoga. Much of what is written here applies to all types of hatha yoga.
Coming from the perspective of brain science I emphasize that it is very
important to stay relaxed and supple during any type of exercise. In many types
of yoga, especially Bikram, there is a serious risk of overstraining specific
muscle groups during a pose. While you are bending deeply into your body’s tightest
muscles it is very important to have calm muscles, a calm face, a calm mind,
and calm breathing, otherwise you traumatize the muscles. If you are
experiencing stress, your brain associates the use of these important muscles
in the spine and shoulders, neck and pelvis, with shallow breathing and this
will cause you to breathe shallowly whenever you use them. This also causes
these muscles to develop continuous strain, forcing them to tighten up, lose
circulation and atrophy. You want to derive isometric strengthening from yoga,
not injury from repetitive strain. One of the most important attributes of yoga
is the removal of muscular tension and the increase in circulation so let’s
talk about how to make sure this is your outcome.
The Benefits: Postural Strength
Hot yoga, specifically Bikram, has done so
much for me. It has made me a much stronger person. Consider this, the first
few times I tried it I nearly passed out. It was excruciatingly exhausting, I
had trouble breathing, I could barely finish the standing series and I started
to blackout (syncope) a few times (head spinning, light headed, visual field
going black). By the fifth time I took a class none of these were problems any
longer. After two months of biweekly classes my endurance in everything was
noticeably better. When I was sleepy and tired, I no longer felt weak because
my spine could support me. After doing Bikram for 6 months, I went to play
basketball and I felt like a freight train running up and down the court. I can
sit up straight for long periods, while everyone else is slouching. I became
three times the tumbler, wrestler and gymnast I was before. The strength gains
come with considerable muscle mass gains. They don’t make you look like a
weight lifter, but because they involve postural musculature they help you look
more like an athlete. The ease that this creates made me feel as if I was in
some kind of supportive, mechanical exosuit. My lower back became so much more
hardy and robust, that sometimes it felt like I was sitting in a harness. I got
all of these benefits from Bikram despite the fact that I was wincing
throughout every class and breathing very shallowly. The drawback to this was
that I had several points in my body that became very tense and susceptible to
injury.
The Costs: Unnecessary Strain
Hot yoga is performed in a heated room
where you can bend more fully into your postures. This allows you to stretch
and flex deeply into your underused postural musculature creating strength
where you had weakness. But the fundamentals of the Bikram routine cause people
to flex some muscles too deeply, for too long. When these strained muscles are
in your spine, it can be debilitating. The first 2 years I did Bikram I would
ignore the many small muscles that reached fatigue before the end of the
posture. This is a common occurrence in exercise, small stabilizing muscles
fatigue early and are forced to remain active after they fatigue. This causes a
host of injurious cellular changes related to “adaptive muscle shortening.” This
will cause muscles to atrophy, joints to degenerate, and ligaments to become
painful. You don’t want that.
Please read this entry for more information: Rest Once the First Muscle GroupReaches Fatigue
Please read this entry for more information: Rest Once the First Muscle GroupReaches Fatigue
Let me give you a concrete example. I
developed a knot on the back/inside of my left knee from the “standing separate
leg stretching pose.” Every time I
assumed the posture I would straighten my right knee completely but leave my
left knee bent a little. This bent knee would fatigue very quickly and then
continue to strain. The problem was, I didn’t notice it. I was wrapped up in
trying to keep up with the class, and I was holding the posture with intensity
so the muscles in that left knee learned to hold the strain. I subsequently had
to do other types of yoga to realize what had happened and to make an effort to
straighten, stretch and strengthen the knee. This example helped me to see that
I had similar muscular cramps all over from Bikram. My right hip was cramped by
the “half moon pose” (which I held my breath while doing), and my neck was
cramped by the “standing deep breathing pose” (which I practiced with
restricted range of motion). My lower back developed a severe cramp from the “awkward
pose” which forced me to flex too deeply into one isolated portion of lumbar
musculature without providing any exercise to the surrounding musculature. Straining
too deeply, in very hot conditions, into isolated muscular postures is not the
way to become a well-rounded athlete.
What You Can Do To Reduce Unnecessary
Strain
Unfortunately, at Bikram the instructors
attempt to force you to stay in the postures for the duration of the allotted time,
force you to strain deeply into the postures, and force you to hold still while
in the posture. You cannot let them do this to you. Instead:
1)
You
must stop as soon as you notice that something is straining even if the instructor
is “commanding” you to get back into the posture.
2)
You
must ease yourself into the postures and recognize when to bend less deeply.
For instance, I was stretching way too enthusiastically into the half moon
pose.
3)
You
must attempt to alter and vary your poses so that they are not static and
isolated. To do this you want to lean in different directions, play with the
posture, shifting your weight and your flexion, and alter the geometry of the
pose to get a more well-rounded exercise.
4)
The
rigor of hot yoga makes it is extremely important to relax completely during
the recumbant corpse pose. Try to notice pockets of tension while you are lying
down and attempt to let them go.
5)
Make
sure that you maintain balanced posture to support you. Keep your neck
retracted, your shoulders back and down, and your gluteus flexed most of the
time. This should be emphasized much more in these classes.
It is a shame that Bikram yoga doesn’t
give you time to relax and stretch leisurely in the heat. You can do this after
class and I strongly urge you to do so. In fact, before and after class you
should do some of the more basic yoga stretches to release accumulated tension,
and stretch and flex the muscles that Bikram doesn’t reach.
The Costs: Shallow Breathing
Shallow breathing severely compounds the strain.
I will even go as far as to say that if you cannot breathe deeply and
diaphragmatically (long interval, high volume breaths) throughout the 90
minutes, you shouldn’t go to hot yoga.
Please read this entry for more
information: How to Breathe Diaphragmatically
Anything that you perceive as stressful
will cause you to stop breathing diaphragmatically and start breathing
defensively (shallow, thoracic breathing). Bikram causes shallow breathing
because 1) the heat is stressful and the humidity can be stifling. 2) There
seems to be pressure on you to perform and compete with others. 3) The instructors
are often authoritarian, hypercritical and rude. They also continually single
students out causing the heart rate to speed up and the breathing to become
shallow.
A Bikram class starts with the neck
exercise known as “standing deep breathing.” The breathing exercise that the
instructor describes during this pose is exactly how you should breathe the
entire class. The instructor coaches you to breathe deeply and their
instructions are clear, textbook guidance for diaphragmatic breathing. This is
especially important for the first pose which is a neck extension. Unfortunately,
the neck extensions probably go on too long and there is no rest for the neck
until the end of the standing series causing neck strain that can persist for
the first hour. If it were up to me I would either put the neck extension at
the end of the standing series or allow people to rest their head after the
first posture. However, the “standing deep breathing” exercise will protect the
neck and keep it from holding strain, helping it to grow stronger and healthier.
The fact that Bikram starts with diaphragmatic breathing is beautiful, every
yoga instructor should start their class that way. Again, because diaphragmatic
breathing removes strain from muscles, your first priority in hot yoga should
be to maintain this type of breathing throughout the class.
The Costs: Facial Tension
We all hold far too much tension in our
face. Because of social concerns the muscles are always flexing and this is
exacerbated by stress. Heating the facial muscles up and then engaging in an
arduous activity will cause you to strain them even more. Be very aware of how
your face is contorted as you do hot yoga, and try to make it as calm as
possible even if it makes you feel self-conscious. You also want to try your
best not to squint. The heat, the humidity, the sweat in your eyes and the
strenuous work will predispose you to squint. The fact that the squinting
muscles (orbicularis oculi) are at a very high temperature, will cause the
squint to become burned into your face. Look at all of the long-time hot yoga
practitioners and teachers, many of them have purple bags under their eyes from
the potentiation of the muscular contractions responsible for squinting. If you
can’t keep your eyes relaxed and wide during hot yoga, then don’t do it. Remember,
this tension in the eye muscles is extremely easy to see. You will see a visible,
dark crease under the eye. Tension in other muscles is often hidden from sight,
but just like their eyes, many hot yoga practitioners hold inordinate tension
throughout their bodies.
Please read this entry for more information: How to Stop Squinting
Conclusion
Bikram was the first type of yoga that I
really committed to weekly. I would recommend however that anyone interested in
hot yoga start with Hatha and Iyengar yoga in order to develop more strength, flexibility
and an appropriate emotional relationship with their body first. Otherwise,
like me, you won’t know how to breathe, you won’t have a sense for how deeply
you can safely flex into the postures, and you won’t have the overall
flexibility and strength to safely adapt to Bikram’s static postures. Once you
are doing hot yoga, I recommend that you do other types of yoga as well to
complement it. I do. I have slowly learned to keep a calm face, to notice undue
tension, and to breathe properly, and so I feel invigorated after class rather
than exhausted. Moveover, the knots I developed when I started have since disappeared.
To find out much more about yoga and yogic breathing click here to visit my Program Peace website at www.programpeace.com.
I am a strong believer in the benefits of yoga for bodily and mental health. Here are a few of my favorite books on yoga:
To find out much more about yoga and yogic breathing click here to visit my Program Peace website at www.programpeace.com.
I am a strong believer in the benefits of yoga for bodily and mental health. Here are a few of my favorite books on yoga: