Finding your edge and why heat is good for you

As a yoga lover and someone who gets cold and hands feet once the thermometer dips below 65 degrees, heated yoga is not exactly a hard sell for me. The thought of sweating out toxins, losing myself in the rhythm of my breath and movements, and letting myself get warm, maybe even hot, is appealing to me all year long. However, I need to remind myself I live in the land of 10,000 lakes. This means that many of you who are true blue Minnesotans, or just have better circulation than me, are perfectly fine busting out the flip flops as soon as the snow melts, and prefer sweatshirts to swimsuits. There is nothing wrong with this. After all, it is the yoga way to honor our bodies and abide by the maxim: our bodies are our best teachers. Different strokes for different folks. So, if the thought of exercising in a room that is not at a perpetual air conditioned  65 degrees pushes you to your edge, well, all the more reason I encourage you to try it.  Let me digress about finding one’s edge, and then we’ll return to why heat is good for you.

In my 200 hour yoga teacher training class, we recently discussed what finding one’s “edge” means, both on the yoga mat, and in life in general. Finding one’s edge in a yoga pose means finding that point in which you are challenged, even uncomfortable, but of course not in true pain. It is only then can we begin to transform our bodies and minds. The quivering in our muscles can be annoying, but remember, your mind often wants to quit well before your body needs to. Thus, practicing focusing our attention inward to calm our bodies and minds while we are in discomfort, is a skill to be practiced like any other. It is a skill that will help you to stay mentally and physically healthy. It will help you weather the many storms life can bring. One of the definitions of the word edge, refers to where one thing ends, and a new thing begins. In yoga, as in life, true change usually does not occur unless we experience the discomfort that accompanies true transformation. Throw on some shorts, grab some water, find your edge, and try some heated yoga! So, why is heat good for us?

Most of us stay in seated positions for way too long contributing to unnecessarily tight muscles which limits our flexibility and range of motion. When the heat in the room is between a safe 78 and 98 degrees, our muscles and connective tissues are more apt to loosen, lengthen, and release tension.  Heat also helps to better prepare our bodies for the stretching and work we do when we engage in other forms of exercise, thus reducing the chance of injury.  It is no coincidence that my warm class tends to draw more male students than my other yoga classes. Guys tend to be less flexible than females, so the heat can be particularly helpful for men looking to loosen up and increase their range of motion. When we have increased range of motion, our bodies can work that much harder when we engage in other forms of exercise. You can kick higher and harder, get deeper into those squats and lunges, twist a little bit more into those bicycles, gyrate the hips a bit more in Zumba, etc.

Sweat. Many of you know that your skin is the body’s largest organ, but is also the body’s largest means of elimination and detoxification.  When we sweat we release the body’s waste products. Sweating also reduces our internal temperature. To cool ourselves, we must allow the sweat on our skin to evaporate. Thus, whether you are working out or mowing the lawn on a hot day, try not to constantly wipe the sweat off your body. Embrace the sweat. If you must, gently dab the sweat to absorb the excess.

Sweating is also a means by which we can help clear the mind. There is something spiritually cleansing about sweating. When we focus on how our bodies are responding to the heat and our movements, we also quiet our minds.  When I engage in a well sequenced vinyasa, and really start to flow, there really is no room for worry, cares, or self-consciousness about how my butt looks in my yoga pants. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line in our culture sweat has gotten bad rap. Think about our tendency to over deodorize everything-including our bodies, or categorize sweat as something dirty. Some cultural practices still respect the value of sweat. Think Scandinavian style saunas, or Native American sweat lodges. 

Heat also increases our circulation and helps dilate the capillaries in the skin and in our organs. This dilation gives some of us that healthy glow in our cheeks. It is why others report feeling good or revived after a heated yoga practice. In my experience, I tend to sleep like a baby after taking a heated yoga class.

In a nutshell: Take heated yoga to help you find your edge. Take it to help reduce injury and make your other workouts more effective. Take it to assist your body with the elimination of toxins.  Take it to improve your circulation and sleep. If you are like me, take it because it just feels darn good to be warm when we live in place that is cold, more often that it is not.

As with any form of exercise, always consult your doctor first. I do not advise pregnant women to take heated yoga. The fetus tends to be one degree warmer than the mother’s body. Unlike the mother, unborn babies cannot sweat to reduce their internal temperatures. 

Stay warm and as always, Namaste.