Category Archives: Hot Yoga

Whatever Serves You Right

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I was catching up with my friend Grant, who’s also been coming to my classes at Village Green Yoga in Issaquah for the past year or so. He sheepishly looked at me and said, “I have to confess something. There was a Groupon for one month of hot yoga near my house. It was super cheap, so I bought it.” He looked at my face for a reaction and followed up quickly, “But I’m not gonna continue. It’s like an accident waiting to happen in there.”

I laughed, “My god, I thought you hurt a small cuddly animal or something.” I had been pretty vocal about hot yoga, so I think I know why Grant felt like he had to “confess” to me.

But, and this is a big but (now that I’ve made a big butt of myself for hot yoga fans out there), I also believe that there’s a time and place for everything. I told Grant, “Hey, as long as you’re getting something good out of it, then the yoga has done its job.”

I remember a homework from my 200-hr teacher training, where we were asked to think about what we want or expect from yoga, and then reflect on whether our current practice supported that. We don’t all want the same things in life, so it certainly follows that we don’t all want the same from the practice of our own choosing.

Often times, we have no idea why people do what they do. Let’s say you’ve been wanting to work out before work for as long as you can remember, but have never had the discipline, will power, or sleeping habits to do so. If there’s a yoga studio nearby offering classes at 5am. Well, regardless of your style preference, it may be that you sign up to have someone hold you accountable so you can create that habit.

Yoga classes serve different purposes for different people. Maybe someone is in hot yoga because it is just so friggin’ cold and miserable in Seattle right now. Or, maybe someone just really needs some structure and something predictable in their life, and the format gives them that. And of course there’s also the obvious reason that they just really love the style, the school, the teacher, the studio, the community, etc.

I am reminded of a post I wrote almost two years ago titled “Do What Feeds You“, where Stacy Lawson, the owner of Red Square Yoga, told me “I gotta do what feeds me, not what eats me up.” As long as we understand the pros and cons of whatever we’re doing, and we choose our actions deliberately, that is all we can do.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall – Using Mirrors in Yoga

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Lately, I’ve been out and about with the Christmas and New Years Festivities, catching up with friends, reflecting on the old days, planning, hoping, dreaming for the days ahead.

One thing that would undoubtedly come up in the conversation is yoga. “How’s yoga going?”, is a popular question. “Do you teach hot yoga?”, is another popular question. When I emphatically answer no, I would almost always get the follow up question, “What do you think about it?”. Those who’ve heard my stance on hot yoga would even introduce me to a friend, “Meet Lisa, she does a lot of hot yoga.”, “Meet Nikki, she hates hot yoga.”

Um… nice to meet you? (There’s no better way to start a relationship on the right foot than for someone to be told that you “hate” what they spend a lot of time doing.)

Last night at a New Year’s Eve party, I found myself in a conversation with a friend’s fiancée and another friend’s girlfriend about hot yoga, and specifically the use of mirrors. Talking to a friend’s Significant Other whom you do not know very well is actually not that different from being on a first date. You don’t want to talk about anything too confrontational unless you want to make the conversation really short and create some bad blood.

Clearly, I did not observe this rule. Lucky for me, they offered me different perspectives but were also open-minded and nice enough to hear me out on mine, because they both did Tae Kwon Do and could have easily taken me out, and no amount of advanced Pranayama training could have saved me. :)

(As a note of clarity I’m using Hot Yoga and Bikram Yoga interchangeably but always referring to the Bikram style hot yoga where the mirror is in the front of the class.)

A Mirror is A Pneumatic Tool

I’ll start by regurgitating something of a mantra at Taj Yoga, where I study with teacher Theresa Elliott and teach intro to yoga. From the About Us page of the Taj Yoga site:

“Yoga is a pneumatic tool”, states yoga master BKS Iyengar. “It can be used for good, it can be used to harm.” The benefits of yoga for people of all walks of life are innumerable. However, as yoga has proliferated, yoga-related injuries have risen at an alarming rate.

And mister Iyengar said in his book, Light on Yoga:

“Pneumatic tools can cut through the hardest rock. In Pranayama the yogi uses his lungs as pneumatic tools. If they are not used properly, they destroy both the tool and the person using it.”

A mirror is such a pneumatic tool.

The Eye of the Beholder

“What’s wrong with mirrors?”, my new girl friends asked quizzically. It is not that there’s anything “wrong” with mirrors. From my experience, here’s what I’ve seen with mirrors (cheap jokes are the only kinds I’ve got :) ):

A mirror can be used to adjust for alignment. This is a Good Thing for practicing yoga asana. The mirror is a powerful tool to give us feedback on our postures. However, we can very easily slip into self-criticism mode and use the mirror to find flaws, real or imagined ones. In an image-driven and competitive world like ours, it’s a lucky person who has managed to avoid any and all insecurity stemmed from messages of popular culture.

If we were to use the mirror for alignment, that would assume that we know what to check for, which a long-time practitioner would be qualified to do. However, a person brand spankin’ new to yoga does not have the luxury of knowing where the arms and legs go. In this case, the only thing they can do is to imitate others in class and do things that may or may not be appropriate for their body at that specific time.

In addition, experienced practitioners over time will cultivate a certain sense of proprioception and bodysense so that their practice brings them *in* their bodies, and the need to continuously stare in a mirror for the whole duration of the practice would diminish, similar to dancing. A dancer may practice in front of a mirror, but does not need, or use one when the piece is learned.

Naked as We Come – On Self Acceptance

In a hot yoga class, most people are not wearing very much clothes (and the guys are going, woohoo!). You could say that this is the first step towards self acceptance, to see ourselves as exactly who we are without any covering (this is what practitioners of Naked Yoga are motivated by). I am totally open to the possibility that someone somewhere out there is so rock solidly sure of themselves that they could stare at themselves for 90 minutes in the mirror in their bikinis, embracing every inch of their body and all their imperfections.

It is also just as likely that seeing their own body, and then other, perhaps skinnier, younger, more limber bodies in that same mirror will push someone to an even less healthy relationship with themselves. I’ve lost count of the amount of times in a Bikram yoga class that I sized up the class to see who was better or worse than me. I could not wait until my favorite poses were called, so I could show everyone how “good” I was. Of course, I may have looked impressive, but I was merely creating potential injuries in the weak parts of my body.

I can’t remember during the times I did hot yoga (and it was a loong time) if I ever came to any kind of self-acceptance and peace of mind, but I definitely did have more of an urge to be the best, rather than becoming one with anything or anybody.

The Softer Side of Sears… I Mean, Mirrors

Having said all that, I will point out that I’m only speaking from my own personal experience, and my opinion is inevitably flawed and skewed and biased. I will stress this again and again and again. I believe that there’s always a time and a place for everything in life. There is not one prescription, no matter how potent.

Mirrors are just mirrors, it is what we choose to see that can serve us or harm us. They can be an awesome tool for alignment work. But to see, to really see into ourselves, like, in the Avatar movie sense of *see*, to me, they have every bit of potential to hinder as much as they help.

In the spirit of the New Year, here’s to more “I See You”, Avatar style. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a greeting that acknowledges more than just our face and outer appearance. It’s a greeting to something bigger and deeper inside, perhaps not unlike Namaste.

funny-pictures-cat-sees-himself-in-mirror

Seattle Yoga News – New Studio in South Lake Union

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Seattle, are ya ready for more yoga? Well, are ya? (Hello there, inner Clint Eastwood).

This town may lack many things: better public transit, drivers who can merge to and from the freeway, and snow plows. What we do not lack, however, are coffee shops, “pleasure boats“, and–as I stated in my Yoga for Geeks post–yoga studios.

A new studio named Be Luminous, co-owned by Michel Eubank Spruance and Scott Francis, is slated to open at the end of 2009 in the Whole Foods complex on Westlake Ave in South Lake Union. (I’m guessing “SLUY – South Lake Union Yoga” and “SLUW – South Lake Union Wellness” were rejected in early rounds of brainstorming, eliminating any chances of someone saying “I’m taking the SLUT to the SLUW”.)

From the press release [pdf] from Vulcan Inc. (the company that owns the space):

Co-owned by Michel Eubank Spruance and Scott Francis, Be Luminous Yoga will offer Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga classes, which is a dynamic method of yoga that combines education, intuition and knowledge. This style is becoming one of the fastest growing forms of yoga in the world. The studio will also offer introductory yoga classes, classes for children and seniors, restorative yoga classes, workshops and more. This is the first yoga studio opened by Michel Eubank Spruance and Scott Francis but both have been teaching yoga for more than five years.

Be Luminous Yoga will begin its early morning classes at 6:15 a.m. with the last classes ending at 9:00 p.m. A minimum of five classes will be offered each day including noon classes for a lunchtime workout. Be Luminous Yoga members can join as a member with a monthly unlimited pass, a three month unlimited pass or an annual unlimited pass. Drop-in rates will also be available for individual classes.

“We plan to offer fun events and workshops including yoga events with live music, hip hop with yoga classes, a yoga run group and a yoga retreat in Costa Rica next year,” said Scott Francis, co-owner of Be Luminous Yoga. “Supporting the local community is also a main area of focus, and we hope to sponsor a local nonprofit organization every month.”

The studio will include a full tea area for guests to relax and mingle, men’s and women’s locker rooms with showers, as well as a small shopping boutique area with gifts, jewelry, yoga apparel, yoga props and mats, meditation props, and more. Store hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

It sure is gettin' hot in hurr (oh yes, pun fully intended, since there are LOTS of Baptiste yoga in Seattle, and it's done in a hot room)

It sure is gettin' hot in hurr (oh yes, pun fully intended, since there are lots of Baptiste yoga in Seattle, and it's done in a hot room)

Seattle Yoga News – Theft at Seattle Hot Yoga Studios

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Seattle is getting colder, gloomier by the hour, and the rain has come back to resume its throne. In addition to pumpkin-spiced lattes by the fire and hibernating, a warm or even hot yoga studio sounds incredibly enticing to a lot of us, like a cat being drawn to a pile of warm laundry.

It’s perhaps recognizing this trend that a couple thieves are making their rounds to Seattle hot yoga studios, where people trustingly leave their personal belongings out in the open. I’ve been told that the guy (and it’s been males so far) would complain of dizziness and not feeling well, totally common in hot yoga, and leave the room.

Once outside, while the unsuspecting students are working on their Japanese ham sandwich or English bulldog determination, the thief is free to roam through unattended purses and wallets in the lobby or changing rooms.

The silver lining in this is a lot of studio owners are calling and alerting each other, and descriptions of the thieves are being shared, so I believe studios are taking measures to prevent any further incidents. Forewarned is forearmed, and consider yourself forewarned if your belongings are out of sight at your yoga studio, hot or not.

We are all one does not mean my dinner, or bank account, is yours for the taking

We are all one does not mean my dinner, or bank account, is yours for the taking

The Pitfalls of a Health and Spiritual Quest

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There are some things you can’t avoid, no matter how hard you try, like the alarm going off on Monday mornings, the saga of Jon and Kate plus 8, and the James Arthur Ray’s sweat lodge incident. I so very much actively ignored it, but it confronted me, so here are some of my thoughts and reflections on it.

This past Saturday, I taught my Yoga for Newbies class in the morning, spent the afternoon in Jean Massimo’s Deepening Anusara Knowledge workshop, and then another good 3 hours getting mentored in the art of teaching. By the time I came back to my boyfriend’s place, I fell down on the couch like a sack of potatoes and had just enough energy left to say “Feed me”.

The TV was on, and I was in that state where you could stare at whatever moving image and it wouldn’t matter. My boyfriend was doing that stereotypical boy thing of channel surfing every other minute, UW Huskies game, commercial, flip, baseball, flip, news, flip. He stopped at some special report on That Sweat Lodge Story. Some news crew went in the sweat lodge and tried to see what it’s like. “That must be like the yoga class you took me to!”, my boyfriend said.

Yes, it’s true, to my chagrin, I not only did Bikram yoga for some time, but I also recruited my friends and family along once or twice. For me, it was such a good thing at the time, so surely, it would be nothing short of amazing for them too. Looking back, I cringe just remembering what they were going through. My boyfriend was so miserable mopping up his sweat everywhere, and his lower back hurt for weeks afterwards. My brother was just lying on the mat, short of breath and suffering because he couldn’t leave the room. I don’t think he’s forgiven me since.

I don’t necessarily want to talk about my mistakes in yoga and in life in this post, however. There isn’t enough time or space for that. I also don’t intend to bad-mouth hot or Bikram yoga, though I will say that most of the personal accounts here come from those classes. These stories are mentioned because they are relevant and anecdotal to illustrate my point.

What I *do* want to talk about is the psychology of how presumably intelligent, spiritual-seeking, healthy-lifestyle oriented people could get ourselves in destructive and deathly situations.

A disclaimer first: I don’t know all the fine details of what happened in the sweat lodge. I have tried to stay away from the mainstream media “analysis” as much as possible, and I am not claiming to know what happened in this particular situation. I’ve never read or seen The Secret. Until a couple days ago Arthur James Ray’s existence was completely unknown to me. I further don’t know anything about the use of a sweat lodge in Native American culture, and I’m not writing about any aspect of that in any shape or form.

Phew. Okay, got that out of the way :)

The Mental Training Allure

So there I was, watching this reporter checking out life in the sweatlodge, thinking to myself, *how* did this happen? Why would someone put themselves in that situation? It’s really easy for us to think of those people in the sweat lodge as gullible and dismiss their action as stupid or dumb. I can even imagine someone somewhere out there saying, “I would never do that, and they got what they deserved”.

And yet, it was so eerie for me to think back of all the times when I was exhausted, dehydrated, lying on the floor gasping for air in a 105 degree room with 10, 20, 30 other people in a hot yoga class, either because I wasn’t allowed to leave, or because I was “strongly encouraged” to stay. I remember being told something along the line of “training yourself to stay tough mentally”.

Well, who wouldn’t want to be stronger mentally, physically, spiritually (whatever that means)? To achieve this, we put ourselves in the hands of these “professionals” or “gurus” who promise a better version of ourselves, and we are willing to do whatever it takes. We so badly want it to work, and sometimes our desire is so strong that it overrides our built-in internal “oh shit” alarm. In a high temperature with so much adrenaline going, we can no longer differentiate between “Ok team, let’s suck it up!” and “Danger danger! Eject eject!”.

The Need to Prove Oneself, and the Need for Approval

Of all the times that I wanted to puke or pass out in my Bikram yoga classes, I could have very well got up and left. Yes, the room may have been locked. Yes, the teacher wanted me to stay on my mat. But if I really wanted to, I could have made a big scene, and I’m sure I could have left on my own free will. And yet, I stayed. Why?

Some part of me probably thought it was good for me, but more than that, I wanted to prove something, to myself and to others, that I can do it. I didn’t want to look like a wuss, that “I couldn’t handle it”. (I’m willing to bet this is how a lot of guys who come with their wives or girlfriends feel as well, but it’s also well known that men and women have different levels of heat tolerance). I wanted to gain the respect of the other students in class and the approval of the instructors. And you know what? I *paid* for this, I’m not leaving!

Come to think about it, it wasn’t really about the determination to do something, it was more about the determination to show something. Furthermore, the heat was cranked up so high that my ability to receive strong and true feedback from the body and mind was gone. I remember distinctly one particular Hot and Power studio so scorching hot that even the floor burnt to the touch and desensitized all feelings in my skin. Psychologically, I could have said yes to anything, and I trusted that I was in the hands of people who knew what they were doing.

The Misguided Notion of  ”Tough Love”

No matter how crazy our world may seem, a big part of me believes in the inherent goodness of the humankind, and in my hot yoga classes, I believe that my teachers were trying to use their power for good, not evil. I believe that they earnestly believed they’re doing the right thing, that they’re helping others achieve better health and happiness. I’m willing to bet that they were not standing there thinking, “Haha, I can’t believe all these suckers paid me to sweat in misery.” (Well, you *never* know, but the chances are low).

So, in the same vein of how I convinced my brother and boyfriend to try hot yoga, there are teachers out there with a strong conviction of the benefits of being in such an environment. “It is soooo good for you”, they’d say. It detoxes (nevermind the how and what), it cleanses, it makes you tough and disciplined, it cures all that ails you, that’s a small price to pay for spending 90 minutes sweating profusely. Besides, you’ll get used to it.

And lucky for me, I did get used to the heat, but just because you can do something doesn’t always mean you should do it. There are many others whose heat tolerance and health conditions are just not compatible with such intensity, and if they have the need to prove that they could, and if someone, especially some “expert” to whom they paid a lot of money, says they should, well… we’re gathering ingredients for a potential disaster.

Who to Blame?

We live in a litigious society, and I’m pretty sure a lot of the lawyers and private investigators out there are rolling up their sleeves ready for some action in the Blame Game. All sides will have their story to tell.

The truth is, in order to grow, in order to change, it’s commonly accepted that sometimes we need to employ some very strong measures. It’s the Chinese medicine strategy: bitter drugs are good for you. We all need a certain amount of tough love to discipline us, to whip us in shape, and it’s hard and uncomfortable. I have no doubt that many have benefited from the sweat lodges and hot yoga.

And yet, all medicine will kill at a certain dosage. One man’s cure may very well be another’s poison. So, how do we know which is which?Who can we trust to guide us?

I don’t know the answer. I’m still trying to figure that out, along with many other life’s questions. All I know is, if and when my “oh shit” alarm goes off, my only hope is I will not question it, not for any glory, not for any guru.

Oh noes! Do not want!

Oh noes! Do not want!

Seattle Yoga News – One Less Bikram Studio On the East Side

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I used to work on the Microsoft campus in Issaquah (18.5 miles East of downtown Seattle on I-90), and often made mad dashes to Hot Yoga of Issaquah to do yoga by 5:15pm. I still remember sweating like crazy even *before* I got in the heated room with the summer sun beating down on my car as I tried to get through traffic to make it to class on time.

I’ve since stopped doing Bikram, my project in Issaquah ended, and I haven’t been back to the studio for over a year. During my research on the “State of the Union” of yoga in Seattle, I checked out the web site, and saw some changes on the schedule. Instead of Hot Yoga, there were Hot Hatha Yoga and Hot Freestyle Yoga, and I couldn’t tell if they are fancy alternative names for Bikram yoga, or if they are something different altogether.

Recently I just got a confirmation through the yoga grape vine that the hot yoga classes are, in fact, different. There is no more Hot aka Bikram yoga at Hot Yoga of Issaquah.

(Conspiracy Theory Corner: is there a trend brewing?)

Clearing Up the Ambiguity of Hot Yoga

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When asked if I teach Hot Yoga, I often answer with a question, is it Hot aka Bikram yoga, or is it Hatha yoga done in a heated room?

Hot as in Bikram

Bikram yoga is composed of 26 poses done in 105 degree heat. Some studios and teachers call it Hot Yoga mainly to avoid litigation and lawsuits from Bikram Choudhury, the creator of this specific yoga sequence. I described the details of this issue in my post Bikram Yoga – A Hot and Heavy Subject.

In some cases, people say Hot Yoga when referring to Bikram yoga because they enjoy the Bikram practice, but prefer to distance themselves from Bikram Choudhury and his controversial lifestyle and viewpoints. He’s drawn heat (har. har) by saying things such as “When in Rome, I must do as the Romans do. When in America, copyright and trademark”, “The whole Bikram class is one big brainwashing session”, and “Why are your legs spread? Women should not spread their legs any time, anywhere! Only in emergencies.” For more Bikram gems, check out YogaDawg’s Bikram quotable collection.

Hot as in Hatha

There is another type of yoga also called Hot Yoga, which is Hatha, specifically Vinyasa or Power Yoga, done in 80-95 degree Fahrenheit. This kind of Hot Yoga may involve a specific sequence, such as Baptiste Yoga, or a creative flowing sequence depending on the teacher (also sometimes called Flow Yoga). Some Ashtanga Vinyasa classes may also be done in a heated room.

There you have it, I hope this clears up the liberal use of “hot yoga” a bit. And to answer the question, no, I don’t teach any flavor of Hot Yoga. If the room is warm, that’s fine, but I’m not crazy about doing yoga in a scorching heat.

Seattle Yoga News – Less Bikram, More Studios

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Rain City Yoga in the U-District has eliminated all Bikram yoga classes from their schedule, and the owners, Amber Tande and Colin Patterson are planning on opening Sutra Yoga and Wellness Center in Wallingford, next to their vegetarian restaurant Sutra on 45th street. The plan is to open by November 1st, 2009.

YogaLife owner Michael Suzerris is remodeling an arched-roof building on N Pacific Street near Gasworks Park to create the Om Culture for yoga, drum and dance events. Classes are starting on September 28th, 2009.

Anne Phyfe Palmer is expanding 8 Limbs Yoga to its fourth location in Phinney Ridge, on 68th and Greenwood. The studio is set to open in late fall 2009, and will have “a full schedule of classes in two studios, limited childcare, a small Boutique, cork floors, and more”, according to the web site.

It looks like we may be Bikram’ed out, but there is still plenty of yoga to go around, especially in the 98103 zip code.