3578: Hot Room Yoga - My First Experiences of Bikram by Elly McGuinness on Yoga for Beginners

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[00:01:12] Hey there, happy middle of the week Wednesday, and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily, where I read some of the best health and fitness blogs to you, and always with a bit of my commentary at the end. Now, since today's Wednesday, I want to share a little bit of inspiration with you. So, with that, here we go. Quote, Don't try harder. Try different. Patrick McGrath Alright, now that we're in the right frame of mind, let's get right to it and start optimizing your life.

[00:01:44] Hot Room Yoga. My First Experiences of Bikram by Ellie McGuinness of EllieMcGuinness.com I think I was destined to live on a tropical island. I have all the signs. My fingers and toes go numb in any season that's not summer. I can lose all motivation when the days are constantly cold and dark. Sometimes in the middle of winter, the only way for me to get warm is to get in a hot shower and then go straight to bed with a hot water bottle in tow.

[00:02:12] So, I thought that Hot Room Yoga would be perfect for me. Specifically, I was going to try a form of Hot Room Yoga called Bikram Yoga. In a 40 degree Celsius room, or about 104 degrees Fahrenheit, I could stretch myself out while dripping with sweat, ease my tension headaches, and get rid of general aches and pains. My First Experience with Hot Room Yoga I've often taken my clients along to classes like this. It encourages them to do something different,

[00:02:41] helps build their confidence, and inspires them. The activities we go to are sometimes things I haven't tried myself. Therefore, I have to do my very best to step up to the mark and be the knowledgeable and skilled trainer I'm expected to be and want to be. To do this, I try out several different class styles and training methods so I can experience them for myself. Many of my clients falsely believe that I don't feel pain. I only inflict it.

[00:03:08] Therefore, I give you my unedited, honest experiences at Bikram Hot Room Yoga. Arriving two minutes before a Hot Room Yoga class started was not a good idea. Do you know that feeling when you walk into a room like this? It's packed to the brim. Everyone is dead silent. And you quickly scan for somewhere to perch yourself without making eye contact with anyone for too long. Then you find your spot, but it's not the one you would have chosen had you arrived 10 minutes earlier.

[00:03:37] So here I find myself, squeezed between Mr. Short Shiny Lycra 1 and Mr. Short Shiny Lycra 2. Side note, if you're wondering what to wear to Hot Yoga, tight-fitted clothing and as little of it as possible really is a good option. Be prepared to throw whatever you wear straight into the washing machine when you get home. It will be saturated. Mr.'s Short Shiny Lycra 1 and 2 really did have the clothing aspect sorted. Next, I notice the unmistakable

[00:04:06] and unrelenting smell of stale sweat. I don't have to dwell on it long though as we are straight into the first set of breathing exercises. Just from the breathing exercises, I notice how tight my chest muscles are and I wonder how I'll be feeling an hour and a half later. Progressing through Bikram Yoga Poses We move through the standing series and the room gets hotter and hotter. The temperature has now been cranked up to 40 degrees Celsius or again, 104 degrees Fahrenheit or so.

[00:04:36] It's lucky I love summer. My tendons and muscles are so tight from too much exercise and not enough stretching and I push myself a little further than I should. I'm going to feel it tomorrow and probably for the rest of the week. We move on to the wide leg forward bend and my nose is centimeters away from Mr. Shiny Lycra 1's buttocks. I find a happy place in my mind because it's certainly not here in this position. The intensity of the class increases with each exercise

[00:05:05] and I rest from time to time as my tendons are tight, my muscles are shaking and I don't want to topple over. The lying down postures are the easiest ones, right? Well, we finally move into the lying series and I incorrectly assume that this part will be easier. Actually, it gets harder. I need to have more rest. We do this posture where we have to get our arms all the way under our bodies while lying on our stomachs. My elbows have never been stretched so far

[00:05:34] and my arms tingle with pins and needles for minutes afterward. We move from exercise to exercise from being on our front to our back to twisting, turning, bending and stretching. My low blood pressure protests and sends me into constant head spins and feelings of weakness and nausea. It's okay. The instructor said it's normal to feel anything but normal. I'm not going to die. I'm going to be okay. The benefits of Bikram Yoga for my body and mind

[00:06:03] will be worth the challenges experienced. Mr. Shiny Lycra 2 shares some of his sweat with me as we move from posture to posture but I think happy thoughts and try to block it out. His sweat literally flies through the air to greet me sometimes in the eyes. I can't give up so I focus a little harder, breathe a little deeper and feel pretty proud of myself when I make it to the end. What happened after my first Bikram hot yoga class? Getting moving in the minutes following the class

[00:06:32] proves difficult so I just sit down, contemplate and breathe. This allows my internal body systems to normalize a little. After a quick shower I step out into the cool, fresh air and then it hits me. I feel alive and amazing. My body feels light and full of energy quite contrasting to how I felt 30 minutes earlier. I fully understand and appreciate the benefits of what I've just done so I decide to return a few weeks later.

[00:06:59] In fact, I set myself the goal of coming every week. After 2 or 3 sessions, the tingling and feelings of nausea wear off and I feel stronger, less shaky and more flexible. I always arrive a good 10 minutes early so I manage to find a spot that suits me. I see myself moving further into certain postures each week. I can now wrap one leg all the way around the other and I don't have to stop for rest. I still enjoy the incredible burst of energy I receive when I hit the fresh air.

[00:07:30] The challenge that the class provides is amazing because I can push myself to a new level each time. Most of all, I love the huge release of tension and stress from the week where I feel I can go back to the real world and tackle everything afresh. Other types of hot room yoga This experience I shared with you about Bikram hot room yoga was from several years ago. I wrote it, saved it, and didn't publish it until now. Bikram is only one type of hot room yoga

[00:07:59] so please don't be put off by attempting any form of hot room yoga if you think that this type is too extreme for you. After trying Bikram and practicing for a while, I moved on to a different hot yoga studio. This was purely because I didn't enjoy the attitude of the main instructor at the Bikram studio. The hot room yoga studio I went on to practice at for the next few years was very different and much less extreme than my Bikram experience. They offered several types of hot room yoga from yin yoga

[00:08:29] to flow yoga to power vinyasa. The class temperatures ranged from 30 to 40 degrees Celsius and the 40 degree ones never felt as hot as the Bikram studio ones. There really were classes on offer for all levels and best of all, the instructors were all amazing, helpful, lovely, and kind. So if you try hot room yoga and decide it's too difficult for you or you don't like the instructor, explore what other options are available.

[00:08:57] Remember also that the class will become easier with practice. How have you challenged yourself lately? When was the last time you tried something that put you outside your comfort zone and made you feel alive? And not like you're just going through the paces of life. Something where you felt so proud of what you'd achieved. An experience where you had a great story and memory to take away. Something that inspired you to do more and achieve more every day. Do that thing today.

[00:09:27] Your body and mind will love you for it and you won't look back. You just listened to the post titled Hot Room Yoga My First Experiences of Bikram by Ellie McGuinness of elliemcginnis.com and I'll be right back with my commentary. You're listening to a quick ad. You know what else is quick? Selling your car on Carvana. Just put in your vehicle information and we'll give you an offer. Done. No hassle. No negotiation.

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[00:10:26] space, and budget, customers who shop at Blinds.com experienced overwhelming satisfaction. Side effects may include a fuller, deeper night's sleep and the sudden urge to host the watch party again. Blinds.com isn't a medication, but it can improve how you feel about your home. Visit Blinds.com to order your free samples today. Dr. Neal Malik here with my commentary. I actually hadn't seen any studies looking at the benefits of hot room yoga. So, I performed a quick search looking for them

[00:10:56] and I happened to find a recently published meta-analysis that examined the health effects of hot yoga. Remember, a meta-analysis is like a giant analysis, hence the term meta. So, it's basically analyzing the results from other published studies. It's like one giant study, which is why I like finding them. Here's what the researchers of this meta-analysis reported. Among healthy individuals, practicing hot yoga seems to lead to improvements

[00:11:25] in balance, flexibility, and even psychological and cognitive improvements. That means better mood and better memory and retention. Now, if you think you want to try hot yoga, of course, drink plenty of fluids before and after and if you have any underlying medical condition, definitely get your doctor's approval before trying it. But otherwise, give it a shot. You may just love it. Alright, that'll do it for today. I hope you have

[00:11:54] a great rest of your day and of course, I'll see you back here on tomorrow's show where your optimal life awaits. a good place to do it. So, if you want to if you want to it's always