Hot yoga, of which Bikram yoga is one style, offers several benefits over other forms of yoga. If you’re learning yoga, you look into hot yoga and the benefits that come with it. Here are some of the benefits you’re likely to encounter as a yogi.
1. Increased Lung Capacity
As its name implies, hot yoga is practiced in a room with hot temperatures. The high temperatures may make you think that it might be hard to breathe, buy breathing exercises in the hot environments help train your lungs to hold more air. The deeper breaths, especially, force your lungs to expand more thus allowing more oxygen to enter the bloodstream, as well as, other organs.
2. Relieves Stress
Over the past few decades, yoga has been termed as a good stress reliever as it helps you chill out. However, adding heat to yoga is a bonus. The hot environment helps you to focus more on breathing. According to yoga experts, deep breaths are the key to relaxation and stress-relief and that’s why you should never skip a hot yoga session whenever you feel stressed out.
3. Burns Calories
Any form of activity that accelerates your heart rate will burn calories and promote weight loss. Although there is no running or jumping involved in hot yoga, the high temperatures in the room get the heart going. Yoga teachers say that the calories burned in hot yoga are higher than that of many other forms of exercises – a study by Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise revealed that women burn about 333 calories during a 90-minute heated yoga session.
4. Improves Flexibility
The temperatures in a hot yoga room are usually high as they can reach up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. The humidity on the other end is usually around 40-60 percent. According to health experts, the hot temperatures make it easier for your muscles to stretch. The warmth makes your muscles rigid, hence increasing their range of motion and stretches within each pose. As compared to a standard yoga session, a hot yoga sees your muscles extend further than you could ever imagine.
5. Boosts Your Immune System
Over the past few decades, hot yoga has been associated with a strong immune system. The hot environment, especially, acts as a bonus towards a better immune system. Besides, hot yoga sessions help to elevate the body’s regenerative capacity, which is a bonus towards a stronger immune system.
6. Reduces Toxin Levels
Your body has a number of toxins and which can mean harm if not released sufficiently. The good thing is that your body system is designed in a way to allow natural removal of toxins through sweating, for example. Booking a hot yoga session is essential as it helps with cleansing toxins off your body. The hot room temperatures mean excess sweating and hence a reduction in the number of toxins within the body.
Yoga is a form of body exercise like any other exercise. The only difference is that yoga, especially hot yoga, has many health benefits bearing in mind that there are few movements involved. In this article, there are top six benefits that come with a hot yoga session. Read through each one of the benefits to understand why you shouldn’t miss a single hot yoga session.