This week I tried something I’ve never done before….hot yoga! Back when I was in university I had a roommate who used to go on about “sweaty yoga”. It took me a while to figure out that she meant “hot yoga”, but now I get why she called it that. I have never sweat so much in my life. Even in the most simple moves, my heart was racing and I was drenched.
I went to the Moksha Yoga studio in downtown Toronto to try one of their 90 minute classes. Moksha Yoga hot yoga is a series of postures practiced in a heated room. The series works to stretch, strengthen and tone the muscles while detoxifying the body and calming the mind. The heated practice room allows tight muscles to stretch with greater ease. This sounded perfect for my goal of increasing my flexibility.
Apparently even some of the Toronto Maple Leaf players come here to help them deal with the heightened body temperature during a game and improve their body awareness and focus. I was especially interested in trying it, because I hear that it is great for people who run and bike. Over time these activities can tighten the muscles of your hips and limit your movement, but by increasing your flexibility you can improve this, resulting in few aches and pains after runs, as well as a better mental focus when you get into endurance runs. For cyclists, opening up the hips, calves and hamstrings with help diminish knee pain as well as lower back pain.
When I first walked into the class, the lights were dimmed and everyone was laying down in savasana pose. This was really great for getting used to the change in temperature and to let everyone focus on their breathing. I started to feel all the tensions of the day melting away already. Its been a long time since I’ve done yoga, so I found that during the class, I really had to focus on my breathing and performing the poses correctedly. That being said, I think with more classes, this would decrease and the moves would come more naturally. My instructor was really great abour walking through the room and helping people get correct posture. She was soothing and guided everyone through each move. It was amazing how quickly 90 minutes went by. I took a nice cool walk home to wind down after the class. And of course I had a shower when I got home. This is not the kind of class that you sneak in on your lunch break.
As a friend recommended this to me, I’ll pass it on to you: Make sure to bring a water bottle to rehydrate and a small towel to wipe off your face. I also wish that I’d taken the time to remove the mascara and makeup from my work day, because it wasn’t 15 minutes into the class that it was running down my face!
There are many benefits to going hot yoga such as improving flexibility and cariovascular activity. Just taking 90 minutes out of your week to do deep conscious breathing is enough to de-stress yourself, but it is also great for emotional and physical well being. Focusing on something that is not your job, family, friends, etc. is a big part of keeping your internal balance.
Hot yoga is also said to improve back and knee pain by relaxing the joints, just like a heating pad or hot water bottle, but all over your body. I found it really helped open up my hips, which get really tight from biking (and sitting at a desk all day). Its also said to prevent headaches, by increasing the blood flow and loosening the tension that many of us carry in our neck and shoulders. The increase in blood flow can also help with insomnia and depression by flushing out the pineal gland, which controls the release of melatonin (hello sleepy time!) and the good mood hormone serotonin.
Hot yoga can be great for increasing that spine strength and making it easier to sit and stand straight. This can be great for anyone with poor posture, including people like me who lean over a desk all day.
Overall, I really enjoyed the class and left feeling invigorated. I will definitely be incorporating this more into my workout schedule.
Exercise Log
This week as a little slow starting off with the Toronto International Film Festival still going on, but by the end of the week, I started to get into my stride again. Next week I want to add another strength workout and maybe some swimming too. I need to get back in the water!
Wed, Sept 15: Day Off
Thurs, Sept 16: Bedtime Yoga
Fri, Sept 17: Run (about 4 km)
Sat, Sept 18: Bedtime Yoga
Sun, Sept 19: Indoor Bike (12.53 miles) + Intervals:
Warm up: Bike 5 min (1.26 miles)
Stretching
Bike 10 min (20 mph, 3.38)
Interval 1: Resistance Band Exercises + 30 sec Plank
Bike 10 min (20 mph, 3.39)
Interval 2
Bike 10 min (20 mph, 3.38)
Interval 3
Cool down: Bike 5 min (17 mph, 1.10)
Stretching!
Later on I did some Bedtime Yoga to calm me down before sleep.
Mon, Sept 20: Moksha Hot Yoga
Tues, Sept 21: Bedtime Yoga
Coming off the tail end of the festival, my eating and exercise habits were put on hold, but now that its over, I’m going to get back into focusing more on healthy eating. Oh how I missed vegetables and fruit last week! Despite trying to prepare for it, I still ran out of the fresh stuff and had to rely on what I could find at local vendors, which was next to nothing. Looking at the stats though, seems that maybe I wasn’t as unhealthy as I thought and maybe all the walking for the festival helped keep these going. I gained a bit of lean body mass and lost some body fat and a little weight, but I want to improve that waist-to-height ratio. so here we go into another week. Lets see what we can improve!
Stats
Body Mass Index: 24.1
Waist-to-Height ratio: 0.44
Percent Body Fat: 27.2%
Lean Body Mass: 113.2 lb
