YOGA ETIQUETTE:
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Before Class:
- Arrive 5-10 minutes before class begins. (First time students arrive 10 minutes before class)
- Turn off cell phones and pagers and never bring them into the yoga room!
- Drink plenty of water throughout the day before coming to class. Hydration is very important.
- Sign in online before arrival.
- Have clean feet and be perfume free
- Ask questions either before or after class, but not during the class.
During Class:
- Refrain from talking in the yoga room. Many students use the time before class to quietly meditate and center themselves as they prepare for class.
- Do your very best to stay in the yoga room once class begins. If an emergency requires you to leave, please leave and return to the yoga room between postures (not during).
- You may bring bottled water into class with you and the teacher will indicate the points during class when everyone takes their water breaks.
- While you may use your hand towel to dry your hands to help with your grip, please refrain from wiping away your sweat throughout the class.
- Practice stillness between postures.
- Honor the silence of the room by moving quietly.
- Focus on only yourself in the mirror
- Do not talk during class
After Class:
- Observe silence after the final savasana. Leave the room quietly. Respect others.
- Place rented/borrowed mats inside laundry basket at the end of the hallway.
- Enjoy the peace and energy you're taking with you from class, and make up your mind to come back tomorrow!
I started hot yoga at the Bonita studio in 2016, when I was 43. As someone who was fairly fit and would run 3 miles a couple times a week, I didn't know what to expect my first class. I thought the heat wouldn't be much of an obstacle so I went into the hot room without water. During my first 90 minutes in the hot room, I had to take a kneel 3 times because I felt faint or nauseated. After the class, it took 30 minutes before I could drive--I was literally hit by the yoga truck. Something about what I experienced struck a chord in me and I knew my body was out of balance. I went twice a week for the next three months and was scared every time I walked through the door because it took everything I had to make it through another 90 minutes of heat. After three months, my body was balancing out. Mentally, I noticed I was more calm and became less bothered by traffic, e.g. Eight months into the practice, my eating habits naturally changed and I didn't crave or want foods that tempted me in the past.
By the second year, I was going 3--4 times a week and turned 45. My body matched the body I had at age 25. As I continued on in the practice, I noticed how over time, it does de-age, detoxify, and de-stress. Last year I turned 50 and had full blood work done at the doctor's along with a scan of my organs and an EKG. Everything turned out great. The doctor made mention of one thing in particular: my electrolyte levels. He said they were pretty spectacular and was amazed at those levels at my age. I'm 51 and still wear the same size as I did in my 20s. To this day I haven't had to be on any medication for physical or emotional reasons. One of the things I enjoy about the hot room is I'm unplugged. Unlike gyms that have TV screens up everywhere and people are plugged into their phones, the hot room offers purity in solitude. I am in the room with just my mat and water. For 90 minutes I am the object and the subject.
Our mental fitness is just as important as our physical fitness. With hot yoga I find balance. You can, too. I encourage everyone to give the practice a chance and know what it's like to find your stillness.
- Jessica G.
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