By Aanika Sethi

If you’ve ever been in a sauna and thought to yourself, “Wow, this would be an amazing temperature to do a workout in!” then hot yoga is for you. 

Hot yoga is a vigorous form of yoga which has skyrocketed in popularity over the past decade. However, it is not for everyone, as there are a variety of risks and illnesses that can happen with the high temperatures and humidity levels associated with the practice. If you have heart disease, dehydration, or heat intolerance, it may be better to skip hot yoga; however, with the many positive side effects of hot yoga, many people are true believers.

Attendees in the middle of chair pose.

Yoga is supposed to bring “harmony between mind and body,” according to Dr. Ishwar V. Basavaraddi, the Director of Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga in India, and there are many benefits of practicing yoga, as it relaxes the body, lowering levels of inflammation, while increasing flexibility and strength. The practice of yoga began in ancient India, and is said to be around 3000 years old. The rise in popularity in the United States came when yogis and monks brought the practice to the US. According to IBIS World, a market research company, at the end of 2020 there were nearly 41 million yoga studio businesses in the United States. 

The specific modern hot yoga phenomenon is credited to Bikram Choudhury, a controversial figure due to numerous sexual abuse charges. He was born in Kolkata, India where he trained as a yogi, and he is credited with the boom of hot yoga that started in Los Angeles in the 1970s. He saw that when he increased the temperature in the room, people sweated more and associated that with a better workout. His specific type of yoga, “Bikram Yoga,” consists of 26 different poses in 40°C for 90 minutes, but many yogis have grown out of his approach to keep hot yoga fresh and new. 

A few weeks ago, Alice Davis (‘25) and I were talking at lunch about trying different types of yoga: hot, goat, and even paddleboard. We looked at numerous yoga studios before deciding on Midtown Yoga. Midtown Yoga is a North Carolina-based hot yoga studio that recently opened their third location in Carytown. They offer five different types of classes, ranging in difficulty and heat level from 85°-100°F. For a new member offer, they have 10 days of unlimited classes for $25. 

Midtown Yoga Richmond.

I walked hesitantly into the studio for my Hot Flow class on a Sunday morning at 9:45 a.m., which is supposed to offer a challenging sequence of yoga at 100°F. The welcoming interior of the studio and the nature of the instructors made me feel at ease, as they provided towels and mats. At first, the heat and humidity of the room did not feel insane; it was like a warm hug. But when our instructor started guiding us through all the moves, in more of a HIIT-workout way than a relaxing-yoga way, the heat became much stronger.

In the middle of the class, while in warrior III pose—where one foot is on the ground, your other foot is in the air, and both hands are supposed to be off the mat—Davis and I looked at each other with shocked faces about what we had got ourselves into. While the first 45 minutes of the class were arduous, the soothing cool down and cold towel that was provided at the end made me feel accomplished. I left the studio sweaty and tired, but with a sense of accomplishment as well. While not relaxing by any means, it was a lovely start to my Sunday morning that made me feel awake. 

At the end, when I asked Davis about her final thoughts on the experience, she commented, “Hot yoga was extremely challenging, yet rejuvenating. The intense heat and confusing moves were hard to keep up with at first, but once I got the hang of it, I felt unstoppable. I would rate it a 10/10 class!”

Attendees in a yoga pose.

Many of my fellow classmates have also started participating in hot yoga, including Maytal Zasler (‘25), who found it an amazing workout: “Although really difficult the first time, I love hot yoga because it gets my day off to a great start. I even think this productivity early [in the] morning helps me to get more work done during the day. I’ll definitely go back, and I’m excited to try more styles of classes!” Annie Reed (‘25) said, “I think it’s a good mix of relaxing and difficult.”

Although not for everyone, I enjoyed my experience at Midtown Yoga and the workout that hot yoga provided. 

All pictures courtesy of Midtown Yoga Studies.