On Wednesday’s I teach Ashtanga yoga in our small practice space. This space will comfortably hold six people. Lately the Wednesday Ashtanga – I class (at 8:00 pm) has had about six people in it. This is a very comfortable number for the room and we have been generating a lot a heat in the room and in the body. The windows have become steamed up by the end of the practice as well.
On Saturday and Sunday during the Ashtanga – I classes we have been getting enough members to also generate enough heat to warm the room and steam the windows.
My teacher’s studio is about the same size as our small practice space. She keeps the space heated to a warm and comfortable 23c, which allows the participants generate a comfortable heat within the body and to not get chilled.
The ujjayi breath helps to generate heat in the body by bring in lots of oxygen that increases the metabolism of the body.
The vigorous asana practice with the vinyasa connecting movements also helps to generate a lot of heat in the body.
Having a warm or hot practice space protects the body from getting a chill when you practice slows down a little bit and the body starts to cool slightly.
Once the body gets warm from the inside out the muscles and ligaments become soft and pliable. Once the muscles get heated up they will start to stretch a little further than they would before they warmed up. They will stretch a little further with safety as well. You will find that you will stretch a little further than you have before and that some new openings will happen and perhaps some new thresholds will be achieved.
One of our members in a recent Wednesday night yoga class commented that she was much more flexible and able to bind easier than before. This increased flexibility is larger due to the heat that was generated in the body and the heat in the room that helped to keep the heat in the body.
Practicing in a room that is heated to 105F (as is the Bikram and Hot Yoga tradition) is not the same as generating the heat from within the body. In a hot room the body gets hot from the outside in and the muscles may or may not get heated enough to become flexible. When you generate the heat from the inside out as in the Ashtanga system then you are certain that the muscles are soft and pliable and ready to be stretched.
Pattabhi Jois, the guru of the Ashtanga system, has often said that “even steel will bend when you heat enough”. A vigorous practice which generates heat within the body will help even your muscles of steel to stretch and become more flexible.
Embrace the heat within the body and deepen your practice.
March 2008 Newsletter
