I've been getting a lot of comments and questions about the 'heated' Vinyasa classes that we offer at Tula lately. I am discovering that their are a lot of people that are afraid of the heat. I've heard "I hate getting hot/sweaty", "the heat makes me sick", "what's with the heat?", etc. On the other hand, I also get people that make comments about our studio not being hot enough. They want to come out of class soaked by sweat and are disappointed when they are not. I want this post to explain why I chose for my studio to offer heated classes and also explain what kind of 'heat' you will experience at Tula, so that you are not afraid to check it out.
Why did I chose to do mostly 'Heated' Vinyasa?
It's pretty simple - it's what I prefer. I started doing yoga in a hot room and when I would take classes in a 'cold' room, they just were not the same to me. I love the warmth and the way that the heat warms and loosens your muscles. I love the feeling of being just a bit sweaty so that you feel like you are detoxifying. In the winter, it is wonderful reprieve from the cold outside!
The Heat at Tula
I have taken Bikram yoga classes and can tell you the heat at Tula is nowhere near this. Bikram yoga studios are set at 105 degrees, but with many bodies crowded into a room, is is not uncommon for the temperature to push 110. This makes me feel sick. In my opinion, you are not suppose to feel sick after yoga.
I have taken many other Hot yoga classes around town as well. Some were still too hot for me. I don't like it when I am so hot and sweaty that I am concentrating more on trying not to slip on my mat than on the actual pose. It makes me tense, stressed and distracted. Again, not what I think yoga should do to you. I don't want there to be pools of sweat around my mat and sweat being flung in my direction by the person next to me. Yuck.
At Tula, I try to have a good, moderate heat. The temp is usually set to 92 degrees in our heated classes. Depending on the number of people in the room, the temperature may rise by a few degrees, but because of the large size of our studio (about 1500 sq. ft. with 17' ceilings), it may also feel slightly cooler than this. We also always have our ceiling fans on low because it helps to blow the heat down to the floor. So you may feel a bit of a breeze from time to time. I believe that this is just the right amount of heat. It's not suffocating and it's only 'sweaty' if you are vigorously moving and/or enjoying an especially challenging yoga class. It does what I want it to do, warm your muscles, relax you and allows you to enjoy your practice. I purposely chose to label the classes at Tula as 'heated' rather than 'hot' because I believe this more accurately describes the temperature in our studio.
The bottom line is, try the heated classes at Tula because it may be different than what you think!