HOT, HOT, HOT ... Bikram Yoga
As people search for curative and restorative effects to combat
the impact of a chaotic world, Yoga has become very popular in
our culture. Yoga is for everyone and can be done by every body.
Yoga is the only exercise from which you gain energy instead of
burning it and it doesn't matter how well you do each of the
postures, only that you do it the right way. Traditional cardio
exercise works on 3-10% of the body, Yoga exercises 100% of the
body, from bone to the skin, from head to the toes, and to every
organ, gland, tissue and cell.
Bikram Yoga is practiced in a 105 degree heated room and
consists of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises ... "So what
does the heat do," you wonder? 105 degrees enhances
Vasodilatation, and the capillaries surrounding the muscles
respond to heat by dilating and the greater volume of blood
brings more oxygen, helping in the removal of waste carbon
dioxide and lactic acid. When blood passes through warm muscles,
oxygen releases more easily from the hemoglobin, blood passing
through cold muscles releases much less oxygen.
Warmer muscle tissue temperatures produce a fluid-like stretch
that allows greater elasticity and range of motion. Cold muscles
don't absorb shock or impact as well, so they tend to be injured
more easily.
Heat speeds up the breakdown of fatty acids and glucose, and
burns fat faster and more easily. The stress of intense exercise
drops a deluge of fatty acids into the bloodstream. If you
exercise with cold muscles they can't use the fatty acids as
efficiently and they end up in places they aren't wanted ...
such as in the lining of the arteries.
Muscles are not the only beneficiaries of heat, higher
temperatures improve the nervous system function, meaning
messages are carried more rapidly to and from the brain by the
spinal cord and other neural transmitters and receptors.
Day by day as Yoga gains popularity, people sweat, strain, laugh
and do more for their body, health, and well being than they
could ever have imagined with Bikram Hot Yoga.