An Africian Violet needs a moderate amount of water.
Different plants require different amounts of water and frequency of watering.
Some like it wet – Water lilies as you would imagine based on the name require lots and lots of water.
Some like it dry – Cacti are in the desert and get by on very little water.
Some like it just right – African Violets need a moderate amount of water. They do not like to have their soil wet. They like a small amount of water from time to time.
Much like different kinds of plants have different needs for water, different kinds of activities require different amounts of water.
Water water every where
Everyone is carrying water bottles these days. You see them in Aerobic classes and you seem them at the gym. Everyone is drinking water all of the time to keep hydrated and to cool the body down.
Water bottles are starting to show up a yoga classes. This is a problem. Yoga classes are different from Aerobic classes and running on treadmills at the gym.
There are four problems with drinking water during yoga class:
- lose of heat
- lose of concentration
- distraction
- discomfort
Let’s look at the the lose of heat in the body first.
1 – lose of heat
In a yoga class one of the things that we are working on is creating more flexibility in the muscles of the body. We do this by generating heat within the body.
The Ujjayi breath brings lots of oxygen into the body which increases your metabolism and heats the body up.
Another way you generate heat in the body is by doing vinyasas between postures. A vinyasa uses all of the large muscles of the body and requires a fair bit of energy to complete. When you consume this energy you are generating more heat.
All of this heat will make the muscles softer and more flexible and they will stretch safely.
Drinking water during your yoga practice will put out the fire that we have been building within the body and a cooler body will not stretch as safely or as far as a hot body.
Not only will you cool down the body but you will also lose your concentration on your practice when you pause to have a drink of water.
2 – lose of concentration
During a yoga practice you are working to stay focused on your breath and on the pose that you are working on. Establishing and maintaining your concentration helps you to reduce your stress levels.
Taking a break to drink some water will destroys your concentration. After you have finished your drink, you will have to get back into the groove and re-establish your concentration.
Not only will pausing to take a drink of water break your concentration but it will distract the people around you.
3 – distracting your neighbors
Taking a break to have a drink can cause your neighbors to be distracted.
- The search for the bottle.
- The popping of the top.
- The glug glug glug sound as you drink the water down
- The sigh as you close the bottle and put it back down.
All of these sights and sounds will distract your neighbors and cause them to loose their concentration.
Not only will you distract your neighbors, but you will cause yourself some discomfort.
4 – You will be uncomfortable
Having your belly full of water can be a major problem for a very large number of poses.
When you head is below your hips the water you just drank will want to come back out.
When you are moving into a twisting pose that belly full of water will be in the way and will want to squirt back out. Not a very comfortable feeling.
What are you to do, if you should not be drinking water during yoga class? How do you keep your hydration levels up to adequate levels?
How to stay hydrated for your yoga class
There are a few things that you can do before during and after yoga class to maintain your hydration levels.
Before your yoga class
You should not drink large quantities of water just before yoga classes. This will do no good to raise your hydration level. It takes several hours for the water that you drink to be absorbed and move into the body itself.
You should drink water several hours before the start of yoga class. This will permit the body to digest the water and distribute it through out the body. By doing this your body will be at optimum hydration levels for the start of yoga class.
During your yoga class
You should drink no water during your yoga class. You need to keep the heat up in the body to help the muscles to stretch safely.
If your mouth is dry you can take a small sip of water to moisten it. Avoid taking a large drink.
You do not need to take a large drink of water during your yoga class to replace the water you are losing because of sweat. It will take a while for the water to be absorbed into the body anyway. Wait until after yoga class to have that big drink of water.
After your yoga class
After your yoga class is over, you can start gradually drinking water to replace the water that you lost due to sweating during class.
Avoid drinking large quantities of water right away. This can cause pain and cramps in the stomach. Drink slowly and over a period of time. When you no longer feel thirsty it is time to stop.
Summary
Treat your yoga practice like an African Violet and use water sparingly during your yoga class.
Next Step
Leave your water bottle at home when you go to yoga class.
Additional Reading
Check out the aritcle Why eating a big meal before your yoga class is not the best plan to learn more about eating before yoga class.
If you are hungry before yoga class you will want to follow the advice in Why you should avoid hunger when you do yoga
To learn about loosing weight while practicng yoga read How the Fussy Factor causes you to loose weight
