Category: Hot Yoga Classes

Why Hot Yoga?

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One of the things I really like about Yogafurie Hot Yoga classes is that we often set an intention at the start of class. It’s a few minutes to remember why we showed up, and what we might hope to change in our lives. It puts today’s class into a bigger picture of personal development goals.

We often hit the gym, or the road, every January with good intentions and a fresh determination to see it through this time. But determination gets eroded, and we stop working out or going out for that run. Perhaps that’s because we’re not taking time to remember why we’re going to the trouble.

So why hot yoga?

Hot Yoga offers some surprising benefits to anyone looking to de-stress, lose weight, rehab injuries, or increase suppleness and strength. I want to talk a bit more about all of those, but beforehand, let’s look at the method behind intention-setting in our Yogafurie classes.

why hot yoga

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Hot Yoga for Pain Management – Guest Article from Gina Hopkins M.Sc

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Why now?

For those who know me and for those who don’t, I’m the lady who has Dystonia, this means my posture is pretty unusual in my neck and sometime you may notice in my back. This is what you can see. What you can’t see is the prolapsed disc at L5 causing Sciatica, sometimes in both legs, in addition to back pain. Also, you don’t see the severe neuropathy in my feet, both of them, this is extremely debilitating. You might just notice I’m off balance, take easier options and modify when exercising.

I’m not known for being a ‘Yogi’ or a Yoga fanatic, many people will be surprised I even entertain Yoga. Yoga is known for being very gentle and for those who don’t break a sweat, you’re very
wrong! I am known in Bristol for my Grappling, Wrestling, Strongman and generally being a big advocate of sport for disabled. Yoga is hard! You need to be or will get very strong from doing
Yoga!

pain management

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5 Elements Hot Yin Yoga class

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We’ve spent the last few weeks exploring the acupuncture meridians through Hot Yin Yoga here at Yogafurie. We’ve looked at a different pair of meridians each time, and then at the extraordinary vessels. This blog gives detail about the meridians, and a simple yin yoga sequence you can practice to target them all.

Come along to one of our Hot Yin Tonic classes to learn about the safe application of each posture – or of course speak to a qualified Yin Yoga teacher. That way you can get the best out of this practice without risk of injury.

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HIIT and hot yoga. What does this exciting mix mean?

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What is HIIT

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT for short) requires that you work extremely hard for short periods, usually with simple movements. You take regular breaks to re-group your resources, and prepare for the next movements.

Interestingly, in Yoga classes we often work really quite hard in our postures. This can be true for more gentle practices as well as dynamic classes: depending on our inherent flexibility, even quite simple twists and balances can be very demanding. We’ve all experienced this. The transitions between postures can provide a welcome break from the
efforts required. There are some superficial similarities.

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Fall head over heels in love with inversions…

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Turn your practice upside down!

Or: what’s all this about standing on your head then?

Yogis do some odd things. From chanting OM to getting up at getting up at silly-o-clock to practice, we can be an odd bunch. No more so than when we start standing on our heads in yoga inversions – and it turns out that there are a surprising number of different ways to do that!

But there’s method in our madness. There are serious benefits to Yoga inversions where the head is held below the heart. And there’s also quite a bit of misinformation out there about what they are! Check out our list of benefits and myth-busters.

Yoga Inversions

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Yogafurie – A Family Story

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The Yogafurie Family Story

(p.s. it wasn’t overnight!)

family business

 

Can you remember what you were doing in 2004? I was busy implementing business intelligence systems for HP, and in my spare time I enjoyed practicing Tai Chi. And at the weekend, I would take Sinead and her two oldest brothers – all three of them were teenagers back then – to the climbing centre in St Werburghs. We spent a lot of time there, and all learned to lead climb.

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What Are The Benefits of Hot Yoga?

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What are the benefits of Hot Yoga? Are there any?

A recent newspaper article declared that Hot Yoga is no better for your heart than regular Yoga. The article is flawed however: it focuses on just measures around heart function and in Yoga or Hot Yoga, we always try to breathe full, calm breaths. This breath style activates our parasympathetic (relaxation) response. Instead of getting stressed by the effort, we learn to ease into it – and that’s a useful skill, fully transferable to many other life situations. Naturally, here isn’t a big change in heart measures! We’re calming the heart down all the
time. Looking at heart measures is an ill-informed approach to quantifying the effects of Hot Yoga.

benefits

If no one is claiming that Hot Yoga is a cardio workout, then what are the benefits? I recently blogged about a natural substance called heat shock protein. The interaction between Hot Yoga and heat shock protein hasn’t been explored in a clinical or research setting, so my blog really just discusses what I found out from a literature search. Still, it makes interesting reading! So, is there anything really quantifiable?

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Leadership and Manipura Chakra

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In the lead up to Ed’s Manipura Chakra workshop, Ed discusses this energetic centre

manipura chakra

Evolution began with independent organisms – creatures that saw to their own needs, often reproducing asexually. And life can only go so far like that. Eventually, creatures have to work in groups – then it’s possible to build a better life for all.

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Us Bristolians See it Enough in the City – Flying Pigeon Pose!

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Eka Pada Galavasana or Flying Pigeon Pose is a challenging arm balance!

Read further for preparatory poses and how to practice safely

Flying Pigeon Pose Eka Pada Galavasana

Sometimes Yoga just seems like no laughing matter, and usually that’s when things get tough, or if you land flat on your face. This pose is tough, with a big risk of greeting the floor at a high speed with your dish and a load of body weight behind it. That being said, it’s great to face one’s difficulties and learn that it’s not all that bad after all. Flying Pigeon Pose gives us the chance to get strong, both physically and mentally, to find balance in a strange position, and to become brave in the face of a little uncertainty.

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A close look at Parsva Bakasana – Side Crow

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Take flight and enjoy a twist with the arm balance Parsva Bakasana – Side Crow

As a challenging arm balance, and a step further than Bakasana variation and full Bakasana, Parsva Bakasana or Side Crow helps to further one’s confidence with balance. This helps to strengthen muscles in the belly, the spine and the arms. As great as this pose is, it’s important to prepare the body for such work with some targeted asanas beforehand.

It’s best to avoid this pose if you are currently dealing with wrist or lower back injuries.

Side Crow

Read on for instructions how to safely practice this pose at home!

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