Get Hot!

Counting days and realised that I have journeyed with yoga for almost 15 years.

I started with Hatha yoga and went on to try yoga that gives more attention to pranayama (breathe). It was not a consistent practice, unlike my jogging. It was more impromptu, but I never forget about it. I enjoy the calmness that follows after each session, but I like to sweat when I exercise so that I can flush out the accumulated stress and toxins. 

Somehow I did not sweat as much when I was doing yoga. Until I found Bikram. 

I fell in love with it before the trial session ends. The studio is preheated to about 40.6˚C with humidity of 40%. The amount of sweat was amazing -  I was already sweating when I closed my eyes to wait for the class to start. The ache after my first Bikram was nothing like any yoga that I did before. The heat could have relax my muscle a lot more than a non heated room, hence enhancing the stretch of each pose. It was a beautiful feeling; knowing there are muscles in parts of my body that I was never aware of. I am hooked ever since.

Some studios do hot yoga, and the poses vary from Bikram's standard 26 poses that are repeated twice. Hot yoga practices are usually made up of Hatha, Vinyasa and Ashtanga yoga (there could be others which I could be not aware of) in a heated room. Generally I felt the temperature for hot yoga is slightly lower than Bikram, but the heat is still good. Two things I love equally about Bikram and hot yoga are - the heat and the consistency of poses. I like to know the sequence of the poses so that I can just let the body takes over and relax into the practice. 

I went back for more, and more and more. Hot yoga practice does not come cheap, and I can understand why. Showering facilities is a must, a heated system for the studio and sanitization for the sweaty mats after each practice. I hopped around trying out classes at different studios' newbie rates. This may sound cheapskate but it is the most economical way to check out studio without the initial hefty commitment. 

Sometime last year, I found Hom Yoga. They are not the cheapest but they are not the most expensive too. Their teachers constantly correct students during the class, and give them the extra push to help the students achieve the maximum out of the pose. 

Taking up a package with Hom constantly is not 100% possible since I move between Singapore and Malaysia. I hate to waste classes, and I do not like to rush for classes just so that I can finish them within the stipulated time. 

Therefore I started to research on the possibility of a hot practice at home. There are so many recommendations, like lighting giant candles in the room, practising in the bathroom with the bathtub filled with hot water, practising next to your pool during summer etc. I experimented and the below are what work for me:

• Buying small portable heater and turn it on for about 15 to 20 minutes, with all windows and door shut tight, before the practice. Keep this to your bedroom, you do not want your utility bill to skyrocket. No fan is turn on pre, during or after the practice. I bought a small transformer to cater for heaters with voltage that vary from Singapore and Malaysia's electricity voltage. I usually turn off the heater about 30 minutes into the practice. Sometimes if the weather is really hot, I would leave the heater on for about 10 minutes only. One of my heaters is a gift from a pair of lovely friends who live in Perth, and the other heater was bought from Amazon. If you can slowly plough through the assortment of heaters and find something that is of the same voltage at wherever you stay, that would be the best. The two heaters should cost about USD60, with the gifted heater taken into consideration. I paid about USD80 for the transformer, and it is the weight that kills... It is easily 9, 10kg. I got it from a DYI store in Singapore. 

The black box with red sockets is the transformer. 
Prepare to sweat big time, if you are taking a train home with this... 

• Skip rope for about 5 minutes prior to starting the practice works can usually generate sufficient body heat for me to carry out the practice if I intend to save on electricity. 

There are other accessories like medicine ball, weights etc. if I do not feel like skipping. 

• My favourite option is to practise after my jog as there is plenty of body heat and my muscles are usually very warm up. This is what I usually do if I am in Singapore. If I want the extra oophm, I would turn on the heater. 

• Slightly-hotter-than-warm water helps to bring up the body temperature. I start taking them about an hour before the practice. Just make sure not to bloat the stomach, otherwise it gets really uncomfortable for some of the poses. 

• When I was in Malaysia, I do not really jog and we have a spare room after we moved into our current home. After much consideration, I decided to fit the smallest room in Malaysia's home with mirrors and portable heaters! I would totally advocate this option if you have a spare room. The mirrors help me tons in checking my alignment and it also helps me in trying to perfect some of the poses. I could not get the temperature to as high as the studio, but it is good enough for a home practice. 

Mirror 1 - made up of two pieces of not wall-to-wall mirrors, 
but it is big enough to see my full body.

Mirror 2 - a smaller piece but it is also big enough to see myself.

• Sometimes if I am in some mood, I would light a candle and burn some aromatherapy oil just to pamper myself a bit. We do not have a bathtub, and this is a way for me to self-pamper. As a precaution, I would never have the heater and aromatherapy burner working at the same time. 

Caution: Never drip the oil into the candle. Have a separate burner, 
don't be a lazy idiot like me and waste good oil. 

A lamp from a good friend that travelled from Singapore with me. 

I still go back to Hom Yoga about every three to five months for classes to make sure my alignment is correct, and also to enjoy a good heating system. After all these years, I still could not get my chest to touch my thighs with my legs straight, I still cannot do a handstand. But this is not what yoga is about. As long as I feel good after each session, I do not injure myself (or others in the process), yoga is what yoga to me after all these years - being at peace with oneself. 

Namaste.