Hot yoga makes for an intense weekend workout

Thursday night found me sprawled on my living room floor, looking like I’d just trekked… Thursday night found me sprawled on my living room floor, looking like I’d just trekked through the Sahara and possibly been hit by a train — the result of my first time at hot yoga.

If you think of yoga involves lounging around on mats, think again. It’s a full workout, especially when practiced in rooms heated to 90 F, like in the classes offered at Amazing Yoga in Shadyside and South Side. Temperatures can even reach 105 F for practitioners of Bikram yoga. The sauna-like atmosphere is meant to be relaxing and allow for deeper stretching.

To me, that sounded a bit like the perfect storm for dehydration and passing out, but Zeb Homison, director of Bikram Yoga Pittsburgh, assured me that hot yoga is “really quite safe for everyone,” although those who are pregnant or have a heart condition shouldn’t take part. Homison explained that the more flexible and healthy the body is, the less pain it feels. Hot yoga has been said to reduce stress, improve sleep, increase energy levels and boost the immune and endocrine systems. I had to find out for myself.

I took my first class at Amazing Yoga on Copeland Street in Shadyside. Some of my fears about how difficult the class was going to be were set to rest as soon as I entered the studio. It was an open space with wooden floors, like a dance studio, and soothingly low lighting, and I saw students of all ages spread out on their mats. If that grandmotherly woman could handle this, so could I. Gentlemen, don’t discount yoga as a girly activity, because men, too, were well-represented.

Hot yoga is intense and, like with any exercise, you should check with your doctor to make sure it’s safe.

One of the neat things about yoga is that it can be constantly tweaked to suit any skill level. The class was listed as ‘all levels,’ and the instructor offered suggestions for modifications on most poses to increase the difficulty for bored experts or make them easier for those of us that were still fighting for traction on sweat-slippery mats. The instructor didn’t demonstrate poses herself, but instead described them while pacing the studio, occasionally adjusting individuals’ postures.

Sean Conley, who owns the Amazing Yoga studio with his wife Karen, suggested that first-timers have an open mind and warned that they may find hot yoga harder than expected. The instructor definitely seemed aware of this, and suggested that if anyone was starting to have a mental conversation about why they were subjecting themselves to this — for me, the answer was obviously for journalism, but for someone else it might require some soul-searching — they should return to the prostrate Child’s Pose and rest until they felt ready to rejoin the class.

The class closed with a meditation session that seemed so endless I was half-sure the instructor had walked out and left us there, but the opportunity to lie down after the past hour’s exertion was so blissful I wasn’t concerned.

Did it live up to the hype? It probably isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I certainly left feeling limber and in a near-comatose state of relaxation. I would highly advise against making plans after class, because I was dying to jump in the shower and too physically drained to leave my couch for the rest of the evening.

How sore you’ll be the next day depends on your pre-existing flexibility and what pose the instructor prefers to work out of. In class, my instructor favored constantly returning to Downward-Facing Dog, a pose requiring equal weight distribution on your hands and feet. Fifty percent of my body mass is more weight than I care to have my arms bear for any length of time, and I had accordingly sore deltoids and biceps the next day.

What do you need to know before you try it yourself? Be sure to bring a towel, possibly two — one to wipe off with, one to spread over your yoga mat — and the all-important water bottle. “Be ready to sweat,” said Conley. If you’re not prepared, you’ll get dehydrated, because you’re going to sweat an amount that transcends being gross — it’ll just become astonishing. Trendy yoga workout wear isn’t required, any clothing you can move in comfortably is fine. Be sure to show up early so you have time to register and settle in — rushing into yoga class will probably create counterproductive stress for you, and it also might disturb your classmates’ concentration. To avoid this situation, some studios lock the doors after classes start.

Most studios also have packages, which often offer lower prices per class. Drop-in rates at Amazing Yoga are $11 for students, but five class packs can be purchased for $45. Initially, I had trouble trying to rationalize the cost against the price of working out at the Petersen, but hot yoga is a totally different experience, from the communal aspect to the type of workout. I was prepared to be cynical about the spiritual aspects of yoga, but the reverberations of 40 people saying “Om” in unison are actually pretty cool and calming.