1. Weight loss – Hot Yoga is excellent for weight loss. Your digestive system and metabolism will improve, normalizing your appetite and diminishing unhealthy cravings. Your fat will turn into muscle as you develop muscle tone and strength. Warm muscles burn fat more easily as the heat flushes and detoxifies the body. Hot yoga is known for burning anywhere from 500 to 1000 calories a session. The harder you work in class the more calories you will burn. Your cardiovascular system is worked and strengthened therefore, the more weight loss benefits you will receive. You may see and feel immediate results. You will naturally begin to start eating less and make better food choices.
2. Arthritis – Many students experience quick relief from arthritis after only a few classes of Hot Yoga. A combination of the heat and the moving, twisting, extending and compressing of every joint can alleviate arthritis. A regular practice is necessary for continued relief.
3. Blood Pressure – Unstable high blood pressure can respond very quickly to a regular Yoga practice. Consult your doctor and don’t push too hard for your first few classes. If you are tested about a week after starting Yoga, you may see a slight rise in pressure. Don’t be alarmed. By the second week, that pressure will be normal or close to normal and will stay there as long as you continue your yoga regimen. Many students who maintain a regular practice are able to stop taking blood pressure medication.
4. Back Pain – Hot Yoga has helped countless numbers of people with back pain, stiff necks, headaches, scoliosis, herniated disks and many other back problems. Yoga sequences are designed to work the spine in every direction with many beneficial backbends, creating a healthy spine and thus a healthy nervous system. Make sure to tell your instructor what type of back pain you suffer from in case modifications are necessary.
5. Skin and Beauty – Watch your face and skin develop the internal yoga glow as your eyes become brighter and your skin becomes more clear and soft. As you sweat, your pores are opened and cleaned allowing natural lanolin to release through the pores, softening and preserving your skin’s elasticity. “I feel so CLEAN inside and out, and my skin is so SOFT I don’t need moisturizer any more!” is a student’s comment. Faces in general change expression from looking disturbed and frustrated to looking full of life and happiness. As your body detoxifies, you may eventually never need deodorant again!
6. Diabetes -Hot yoga can be a perfect complement to the lifestyle changes necessary to help keep diabetic symptoms in check. Recent research has found that performing these postures on a regular basis can decrease blood-sugar levels. A dedicated Bikram Yoga student, who lost 50 pounds without dieting, healed his chronic back problems and no longer needed his diabetic medication after practicing Bikram Yoga for 6 months. He tells his story in the book “Diabetic Always, Insulin No More.”
7. Stress & Anxiety Management – Bikram’s guru Bishnu Gosh said “Mental stress and strain is the cause of all diseases, even infectious ones.” When performing the 26 postures and two breathing exercises, the fight-or-flight response is turned off and a feeling of balanced well-being is replaced. A regular practice can lower cortisol levels, calm the mind, increase mental clarity and release and reduce stress and tension.
8. Depression – On those days when you don’t feel like doing anything, going to practice a Hot Yoga class is key. You just have to show up and the yoga takes care of the rest. After each session your mind will become more balanced and you will see your mood change lifted. The more you practice, the better you will feel.
9. Breathing problems – Asthma, Allergies, Respiratory Problems. Hot Yoga will be good for your breathing problems in several ways. The heat promotes relaxation of the muscles and nerves, and you can work with as much intensity as appropriate for your needs. Yoga will relax your mind and help let go of tensions, toxins and negativity. It strengthens your heart and lungs, improving your lung function. You will breathe easier and deeper than you ever have before.
10. Balancing Emotions -Yoga helps balance the emotions in several ways. Physiologically a regular practice harmonizes the nervous and endocrine systems – two systems which play a large part in emotional well-being. Practicing Yoga cultivates the mental faculties of faith, self-control, concentration, determination, and patience. As we become more aware of our inner life, we notice how events, interactions, and even the atmospheric pressure can affect us. As we become more aware, we exercise better choices in our responses. This helps us balance our emotional life.
11. Cholesterol – Many people come off their cholesterol medication from a regular Yoga practice. Your circulation increases allowing blood to flow throughout your body cleansing and clearing your arteries.
12. Thyroid regulation – Many of the postures in Bikram Yoga compress and work the thyroid thus helping to regulate the gland balancing thyroid levels. Along with thyroid regulation comes increased energy, weight loss and better metabolism.
13. Anti-Aging / Preventative Medicine -Yoga acts as anti-aging and preventative medicine keeping the body young and healthy.