Is yoga turning up the heat to infrared?
When yoga studios first gained popularity, the style practiced was generally Hatha Yoga. Hatha is a traditional yoga practice that focuses on the combination of yoga poses (asanas) with slow breathing. As yoga has spread to all corners of the globe, however, Hatha is no longer the only type of yoga practiced. In fact, it might be starting to be the lesser of many! Instead, yoga is beginning to branch out into all sorts of different practices. You might have heard of Bikram yoga, where yogis practice at 103 degrees Fahrenheit (38–40 degrees Celsius). Now, there’s also infrared yoga where yogis practice in a similarly hot room — but instead of the room giving off a warm heat, the heat in this room is dry.
Why practice infrared hot yoga?
Infrared hot yoga might sound confusing. After all, why would you want to be warmer than you already are when practicing? Some research, however, suggests that practicing yoga in this environment may boost your metabolism, your immune system and even be good for your skin. Of course, hot yoga isn’t the only new kind of yoga in town. There’s nude yoga, beer yoga and even goat yoga!
What else is there?
Beer yoga primarily originates from Berlin, Germany — where locals wanted to drink beer and practice yoga at the same time. In the city that’s constantly trying something new, Berlin yogis rose to the challenge and created beer yoga. Traditional yoga poses are combined with drinking or balancing a glass of beer on your hand or even your head!
If you’ve been active on Facebook, you might have noticed the dearth of yoga classes combined with cute animals. One fan favorite is goat yoga, where yogis practice while little baby goats run amok throughout the class. There’s yoga with cats, puppies and any number of other animals. Imagine bringing the joy of spending time with cute animals with your yoga practice.
By now, AcroYoga is nothing new to the yogi community — but it’s still a great new way of practicing yoga outside of the traditional Hatha. The practice itself is much more partner driven. You might have seen some of the beautiful photos of two yogis balancing effortlessly off of each other in a picture-perfect location on Instagram. However, it’s not so easy! AcroYoga brings together gymnastics, yoga, balance and mindfulness in a new and exciting way.
In short, there are so many different ways to practice yoga, whether you want to branch out and try something crazy, stick with something traditional or turn up the heat on your own practice. That’s the great part about yoga. There’s no limitation to what you can try, it’s an ever expanding and exciting practice that grows and innovates with every new teacher, student and idea that comes into someone’s head. So, really the question yogis should be asking is: What’s next?
