Bikram Yoga 101: Why some like it hot: the benefits of Bikram Yoga

May 27, 10:20 AMChicago Yoga ExaminerAlison Curtis

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Photo: Courtesy of Karyl Alexander

While the sun teases Chicago with its periodic warmth, you can experience true tropical heat through Bikram Yoga. Try stepping into a room heated to 105 degrees Farenheit, and get your sweat on! Bikram Yoga offers a unique series of 26 yoga poses performed throughout a 90-minute class. The poses enhance participants’ yoga practice, no matter the level of the student. It awakens beginners’ bodies by initiating a toxic-clearing, self-cleansing process, and it challenges experienced yogis’ by deepening the understanding and physical execution of each pose.

What are the benefits of practicing yoga in the heat?
Flexibility and Strength
If you’ve practiced yoga, or even stretched, in a heated environment, you know how your body allows you to more deeply stretch into each pose. Heat causes the temporary increase in flexibility by softening the muscle tissues and heightening the elasticity in the muscles and connective tissue. Consequently, the supporting structures of the body, such as the joints, ligaments, and muscles, experience greater ranges of movement, thus, greater flexibility. Additionally, like other forms of yoga, students use their body weight, body mechanics, and gravity to build strength.

Circulation
The scientific choreography of poses also creates a tourniquet-like effect. Certain poses place pressure on an area of the body, temporarily restricting blood flow to veins and arteries. When the area is released, blood rushes through the previously restricted areas. The heat thins the blood, creating a quicker release and flow of blood.

Detoxification
Heat initiates a detoxification process through increasing the both the body external and internal body temperature. Internally, the removal of waste results from greater oxygenation, gland excretion, and stimulation of organs of elimination. Heat causes capillaries to dilate, allowing more oxygen to reach tissues, muscles, glands, and organs. Externally, sweat seeps through the skin as the body works to cool itself. Perspiration allows toxins escape the body through the largest organ in the body – the skin.

Cardiovascular Efficiency
Often, due to the sequence of the asanas (poses), the breathwork, and the heat, students notice elevated heart rates, thus an aerobic, or cardiovascular effect. Depending on the intensity of the class, the pose, and the individual, the level of cardiovascular benefit will vary. However, whenever the heart rate increases, it challenges the heart, lungs, and entire cardiovascular system to oxygenate the entire body more efficiently and speedily. Accordingly, increased intensity during Bikram practice will enhance the efficency and strength of the cardiovascular system.
 

For more information about the benefits of Bikram, visit what is happening to my body during Bikram Yoga?

Are you interested in trying Bikram?  Visit Beginning Bikram Yoga to prepare for your first class.

Read about Hot Yoga classes at Spring Pilates & Wellness Center.