Red Hot Fitness

It was hot. It was sweaty. It was difficult. And it was awesome.

In the never-ending pursuit of the perfect workout, I decided I would give fitness craze-du jour “hot yoga” a whirl.

After many hours of tedious research, fretting which studio would be the perfect place to try this literally hot trend, I settled on Red Hot Yoga nestled just off Piedmont Avenue on Miami Circle.

I had the great fortune of taking a class with the owner Bethany Vaughn. Vaughn owns the new studio – it’s been there since August – with her husband Wes. They instructed yoga at another studio in town for nine years and decided it was time for them to open up their own place.

Red Hot Yoga is different from most other yoga studios because you get to practice on hardwood floors. Most other studios have carpet. And speaking from experience, the hardwood floors definitely help the heat rise. It was sweltering in the studio. At one point, Vaughn turned the temperature DOWN to 102 degrees.

As someone who isn’t practiced in the art of yoga, I found the hot yoga method made the poses easier to do. The heat acts as a natural accelerant for loosening up the muscles, making it easier to bend and shift around without as much discomfort as regular yoga.

“It definitely warms the body for you,” Vaughn said. “It helps you to detox faster. The heat helps everything move along more quickly. You can move deeper into the poses, the tissue is more malleable, it brings more healing to the body.”

Those are the benefits that you feel immediately. While you are in the class, you are sweating the entire time. It’s called hot yoga for a reason. But the heat really does open up your muscles and allow you to stretch more deeply than normal. 

The range of experience in the class spanned people like me with a limited amount of experience to other teachers dropping in on Vaughn’s class to practice with her. One of the best things about the class was how Vaughn allowed everyone to practice at their own rate. No one was hindered by anyone less skilled, and those who were less skilled weren’t pushed into positions that were too advanced for them.

Vaughn allowed participants to modify the poses as needed and if at any point the heat was too much, students were encouraged to lie on their mats. Working with Vaughn was great. Several times, she showed me how to adjust into a pose that I was having trouble with, without making me feel like everyone in the class was looking at me.

“You have to learn to say what you are doing without being annoying,” she said of explaining the different poses. “We specialize in what we do. We have to be able to walk everything through the poses regardless of experience level.”

The benefits of hot yoga are endless, she said. It helps with your blood circulation. It brings more oxygen to your muscles so you heal quicker and with less pain.

Vaughn explained that one of the main benefits in the practice of yoga is that it’s cumulative. Unlike weight training or running, which often requires a day off in between workouts to allow the muscles to heal, you can practice yoga every day.

“Yoga is one of the few things you can do for your body every day,” she said. “It’s better to do your workouts closer together rather than spacing them apart. It builds on itself, so you don’t want a lot of time to elapse in between days that you practice.”

There are several places in Atlanta you can go to check out hot yoga. Red Hot Yoga offers classes Monday through Sunday throughout the day.

Another great studio is Be Hot Yoga Atlanta on Ponce De Leon Avenue, which also offers classes Monday through Sunday. Most studios will accept beginners and encourage you to show up early to ask questions. Anyone attending class will need a yoga mat, a towel for the mat (and one for your face), as well as a bottle of water. You don’t want to forget your water!

Hot yoga is a hot fitness trend worth checking out. You’ll sweat. You’ll stretch. And you’ll definitely feel great when you’re done!