So what is it about hot yoga/asanas

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

that makes it good to do for stress and anxiety vs. other good workouts?

I started doing hot yoga at a studio a month ago because I have been struggling with stress and anxiety and it was recommended to me by a few people. I had always done a bit of yoga (once per week for the last 10 years or so) but it was always mild and gentle. I signed up for the hot yoga because I thought I need frequent classes and this was the only studio that had a schedule I could work with. And everyone there says it is so good for stress and anxiety. But when I ask they tell me it is because of the focus and blood flowing and things that are common to a lot of exercises -e.g. when I did boxing (talk about focus -trying to avoid a mitt to the face!)

#2

Stress and anxiety are symptoms of mind problems. Are you exercising your mind at the studios? Mind needs to deal with the moments of stress differently. Since stress is often written all over the wakeful time solution must be all over too. You need to move from a ‘bit of yoga’ to ‘making yoga your heart-beat’. Then you will forget how to spell stress.

#3

Deed,

You can continue doing the so called “hot yoga” for ages, but as long as one has yet to come to a direct insight into the root causes of one’s sufferings at the level of the mind, it is not going to be of much help. At the most, it may provide a good physical exercise if that is what you are interested in. Perhaps it may even trigger a bit of temporary psychological relief, but it cannot do anything more.

#4

Thanks folks - I do realize I need more than a bit of yoga -so now I’m trying to go 4-5 times a week. And I do have the root sort figured out I think and I see a therapist for my anxieties -she suggested the yoga in fact -she suggested 10 straight days of yoga could help break a cycle I was in. She has a lot of studies that says it works and she herself practices yoga daily -I was just in search of more…maybe even a “how”

#5

DeeD,

If you can manage to practice the methods with a certain discipline and commitment, with the right spirit of attention, then to dissolve something like stress or anxiety should not be too much of a problem. But consistency does not mean going to class a once or twice a week, or just practicing for ten days. The impact that the methods of the yogic sciences have upon one’s system are cumulative - and although different individuals expand at different paces, in general it may require at least six months of commitment to the discipline before you start to witness significant changes that are happening to the way your mind and body are functioning.

#6

“and I see a therapist for my anxieties -she suggested the yoga in fact”

That is fine, but as far as yoga is concerned, I would not consider whatever your therapist has to say about it too seriously, unless she has a certain direct experience with exploring methods of yoga to their very innermost depth.

#7

Well I am committed to a yoga discipline for at least a year - neither my therapist or I are under any illusions that anything less will make a difference. I know I need to do something really different and I’m not looking for a quick fix.

She has been practicing yoga for a while has gone on week long retreats for yoga and is now an instructor.