Bikram Yoga Decatur

 I am very interested in the heat aspect of Bikram Yoga.  I have been practicing for a year and have experienced many unexpected benefits.  I have been in the habit of taking my body temperature with an electric themometer.   The temps have ranged from 100.4 to 102.9 (highest ever).  I have researched the benefits of fever.  There are many.  Fever kills or inables bacteria, funguses and viruses.  Fever also stimulates the immune system to produce white blood cells and T-cells.  And, an increase of heat speeds up most chemical reactions.  Basic chemistry.     I have had the challenge of Hiv for 20 years.  T-cell count had been 6 at one time.  Two months ago, no virus was detectable and T-cell count had increased 114 points.  I have a new excitement about life, what the future holds and how I can share my experience with others.  Thanks you Eric.  Really grateful for your dedication.  Craig

Once again, another blog about the heat in the studio.  Yes, the ideal has always been 105 degrees with 40% humidity.  But I do not know of a single (affordable) heating system that can achieve such conditions on an everyday, every single weather circumstance.  It depends on the type of system you have to heat the room.  I see that you use radiant heat, which I assume are the radiant panel mounted on the ceiling.  You might as well call it a microwave.  It "radiates" heat down onto you, basically cooking you from the inside out.  These systems generally always feel HOT.  But take a forced-air gas heating system, with constant air circulation, and the room will feel a bit cool.  The air passing over sweaty bodies will cool them, and depending on the humidity, it may not feel hot enough.  I can run my gas heat around 120 degrees.  does it feel hot, no, not usually.  But if i dropped it to 105, i would freeze.  We do not have that competative edge as you call it.  We simply understand that different systems run differently.  So to write this letter bitching about the heat at some studios, you are basically saying you are the best, and the rest of us suck.  Why even mention this?  Dont you have better things to do running your studio?  If a student tells me it is too hot, i tell them that it is different every single day.  if you want consistency in this life, well, you will be sorely dissappointed.

Another point to consider is that many of us hope to be practicing Bikram Yoga for many years, perhaps for the rest of our lives. This is a long term life style choice. If the heat is excessive, will we find out down the road that it's actually been harmful to our health?

The whole point of the heat, I thought, was to warm up the muscles and improve our flexibility, so that we could practice yoga. I don't think it was ever meant as a macho challenge as to who could stand the most heat. As an older practitioner (58 years old - for 2 years - 5 times a week) who has some problems breathing when the heat is excessive, I mostly attend early morning classes when the heat tends to be more moderate.

What about retention rates of new students? Is excessive heat turning people away from Bikram Yoga? Owners may want to consider this if their retention rate is one out of every hundred new students (as quoted to me by one studio owner). If moderate heat allows more people to practice this yoga and does not compromise its essence, why not consider it?

I'd like to see more people benefit from both the heat and the yoga, rather than have it become an insurmountable obstacle.

John Dorig

I feel like a bigger issue is studios that are not hot enough. Studios that keep it under 105. I have practiced all over the world in studios, yours included, and I find that many, many more studios err on the side of too cold than too hot. That's my experience anyway. I do like the heat though and don't have a prob with 110 or 115. So, personal preference enters the equation and you can't please every personal preference when we are practicing as a group. Overall, it's part of the equation that we have to deal with and not let steal our peace. Hot or cold, we have to concentrate, breathe, listen to the dialogue and KILL OURSELVES!!!!!! :).

Thank you for a great site, studio and teachers.

Waylon

In hot environments the body responds to Heat Index. HI is a function of both temperature and relative humidity, RH. At 105 F degrees, humidity has more of an impact than temperature to the HI result.

If Bikram's target is 105 F @ 40% RH, the Steadman Heat Index formula used by the National Weather Service returns a temperature of 123 F.

To achieve the "feel" of a 123 F HI at 100 F, 53% RH is necessary.
To achieve the "feel" of a 123 F HI at 110 F, 30% RH is necessary.

If you don't have a science background, this combination of temp and humidity is directly related to specific humidity, not relative humidity. Please go to Wikipedia and learn about Specific Humidity.

The number of students in the class has an enormous impact on the amount of water vapor in the air as class proceeds. Both respiration and perspiration add a non-trivial mass of moisture to the air. My class grows about 1% RH for each student when measured during tree pose. Your class may be different depending on room size and type of HVAC system.

Given a 20 student class and a RH target of 40%, if the RH at the beginning of class is 20%, its probably OK to not do a furnace burn if its a bit above 105 F at the beginning of class. What most teachers do is add heat while the students add moisture, then over correct the temp too cold, or don't correct at all until I feel like a chicken pot pie. Often I finish class at 108 F with 50% RH, which is a 145 HI. This is too friggin hot and ruins savasana, which is the most important pose.

The elevated temperature goal of Bikram yoga is to protect the muscular skeletal parts from injury while permitting a greater range of motion, and to clean the body with perspiration, and some deeper physiological stuff with blood, etc. A class with too high a HI does not help these goals, is dangerous, and discourages many customers from returning to class to pay your salary. Heat freaks can wear additional clothing to add heat. There is no way to remove heat for those who find it unhealthy.

Sattyam

Thanks so much for the info and sharing your perspective on this topic. I am a new Bikram's student in Alabama and notice that when the room is hot but not overwhelmingly so I am able to stretch more deeply and concentrate on my practice in a wonderfully satisfying way. I leave feeling renewed. Unfortunately the room more often than not is kept so hot that I and several other students feel so nauseated and dizzy that we have to sit out some of the postures and hold back from pushing ourselves on others so we can make it through the class. When any mention of temperature is made the instructors tend to get defensive and say things to make you doubt yourself. After my first class I mentioned finding the heat challenging and was told: "If you're feeling nauseated that means you must have eaten or drunken or done something you need to sweat out." The other day a woman became so hot and sick during the class that her friend called 911. Unfortunately that hasn't caused a reduction in the room temperature. In fact during my last class the room was hotter than ever. I did notice the instructor constantly running over to check the temperature. (Whatever she was trying to keep it at, it was way too hot.) I feel what she should be noticing is how many of the students were struggling and having to sit out postures. I quite doubt that having the room a little less hot would impede any advanced student. With heat as any physical training challenge there comes a point of diminishing returns vs. the risk of injury. After my introductory offer month is up I'm not going to be attending any more classes at this studio. Luckily there are many other places to take yoga in Alabama. Hopefully I'll get a chance to visit your studio the next time I'm in Atlanta.

OMG, Eric. I am so happy I found this blog post. I was looking everywhere for confirmation of my concerns after I ended up in the ER earlier this year. Looked for info on dangers in various yoga pubs to no avail. But found your post just now when googling heat/humidity index and Bikram. I am posting the note I sent to the studio owner in Washington, DC after the incident.

DearXXX: I am writing to express serious concerns with your studio. First, a little background. I am very experienced in yoga, and have practiced hot yoga, albeit not Bikram, several times. Most recently, in March, I practiced hot yoga in the high altitude setting of Sun Valley, Idaho with no ill side effects.

So, during DC Yoga Week, I decided to give Bikram a try to see if I might want to expand my practice. I looked at your website, which explicitly says:
Each instructor honors the experience of each student and is committed to sharing the yoga practice through compassion and love.

On the other hand, the link from the DC Yoga Week page didn’t mention the need to drink copious amounts of water prior to attending, nor the need for a towel.

But that is merely a digression. I showed up for the noon class on May 19, where it was fully apparent I was a newbie. Although sporting a water bottle, I had no towel and I had to sign the first-timers sheet. So, the instructor knew I was new. 20 minutes into the session, I started feeling a bit light-headed. After 30 minutes, having experienced previous bouts of heat exhaustion that had left me in the ER, I decided I would quietly leave. I am aware it is not polite to leave a yoga class early, but I was trying to honor my body.

Unfortunately, despite the statement quoted from your website above, your instructor had no such honor for me or my experience. When I rolled up my mat and started heading out when the door, the instructor said, “Oh, oh“ loudly into his mic (as if to say, “hey, everybody, weak man down”). He literally blocked my path and said I should stay. I told him that I had suffered from heat exhaustion in the past and that I was feeling lightheaded. He insisted I stay in the room and just sit out a few poses. Feeling humiliated and on the brink of tears, I did as I was told. I repositioned my mat, sat and drank water. To the instructor’s credit, he did refill my water bottle.

I tried a few more postures, but after another 30 minutes of alternating between posing and resting, I couldn’t take it anymore. I waited until the break between the standing and sitting poses and quietly left the room. The instructor chased after me and started chastising me, telling me I was panicking. He also mentioned I wasn’t breathing correctly, which may be true. But I wasn’t panicking. I was honoring my body, which I have learned to do after 10 years of yoga instruction. After five minutes of berating me for “panicking”, he went back into the room to teach the last 40 minutes (the class ran long). Why he spent the five minutes scolding me and not unlocking the office door so that I could 1) rest in a comfortable place 2) get more water or 3) get my things and go was inconsiderate at best. Fortunately, as I was sitting on the steps outside your locked office, a yoga instructor from the studio upstairs came to my rescue. I was able to get plenty of water from her studio in order to wait out the rest of the time until the class ended and the door was unlocked. Because I had to wait, I was delayed in getting home to try to fend off the ill effects I was on the brink of experiencing….I.E. icing myself down, drinking an electrolyte concoction, resting, etc.

Indeed, when I got home, the familiar symptoms of heat exhaustion intensified. I called my doctor, whose nurse suggested I immediately get myself to the ER. I have attached the result of that visit--a diagnosis of dehydration and heat exhaustion.

I would advise you to advise your instructors that next time someone wants to leave the room, especially a new client who expressly mentions a history of heat exhaustion, perhaps they should honor the client’s wishes. As I said, I have done hot yoga before, so I didn’t think I would be putting myself in physical danger by coming. Plus, I am in shape and experienced in yoga. So, it’s not like I was in over my head. Whether due to lack of water, the excessive heat, or even the time of month, my body reacted unusually and I know my body better than your instructor. I guess I should have tackled him in order to leave the room after 30 minutes, which would have saved me a lot of pain, aggravation, and money.

While I am sure the instructor will give you a sanitized version of the story, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding and the ER receipt. I can only hope my story saves others from a similar fate. ---

Turns out, the instructor supported all my claims.
The moral of the story, aside from me never doing Bikram again...newbies must be properly warned.