This blog was written for those individuals that have been practicing Bikram yoga for some time and still find the room too HOT! I’ve seen and talked to some of them, dreading the class and waiting until the last possible second to enter the room, clinging to and gulping from their water bottle for some kind of reassurance and looking fearful. They know it’s going to be HOT in there and there isn’t anything THEY can do about it.

Or is there?

Good news overheated ones!! There is much you CAN do to keep your body cool in the hot room and it has to do mostly with the types of food and drinks you consume daily. Unknown to most modern people, foods do much more than energize us and build tissue.

Foods are each unique in thermal nature making you warmer or cooler. They possess a remedial action – meaning some are moistening, others are drying, others are astringent and so forth. Foods also direct their energy in the body to specialized areas, “entering” certain organs and systems. When I say “foods”, I am talking about WHOLE foods. Carrot. Cabbage. Rice. Black beans. Banana. ETC.

If you find the heat too unbearable, before, during and after class you can’t seem to cool down then take some time to contemplate your dietary habits and do a little basic body inventory (see Kalee Mund ~ Ayurvedic councillor for a more in-depth assessment). Take control of your overheated condition!

Some foods that heat the body:

fried foods

poor quality vegetable oils

red meats

chicken

coffee

hot spices (cinnamon, chili peppers, black pepper, mustard)

alcohol

excessive salt

vinegar

citrus peel

plums

tobacco

In cooking, avoid pressure cooked foods, baking and deep frying. Try steaming and simmering. Increase your raw foods. Eat less.

Now if you can’t seem to kick those foods right off, then reach for more cooling foods, especially in the meals leading up to your next class and see if that helps.

Some cooling foods for the body:

(fruits)

apple

pear

banana

watermelon

tomato

all citrus

radish

celery

bok choy

broccoli

sweet corn

spinach

cucumber

cabbage

potato

lettuce

zucchini

soy milk, sprouts and tofu

mung beans

wheat

kelp and all seaweeds

spirulina

chlorophyll rich products like cereal grasses (wheat grass), micro-algae and liquid chlorophyll

kudzu

Herbs and spices: slippery elm, marshmallow root, red raspberry leaf, flax seed, chamomile, peppermint, dandelion greens and root, nettle, lemon balm, cilantro, red clover blossoms

YOU choose your thermal nature by the foods you choose. The freedom is yours.

As you deepen your yoga practice you will revisit the food issues in your life again and again. It is part of the process and effect that yoga has on the body-mind-spirit and our relationship to the Earth. It will become more natural for you to want to put more balanced foods in your body. If in doubt, practice. Practice makes you strong. You are on an endless journey of becoming YOU!

Blessings on your path,

Tannis

Recommended reading:

Healing With Whole Foods ~ Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition

by Paul Pitchford ~ 

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you a special day with Ida Ripley, Saturday, April 28th!

The 3 pm class is cancelled to make room for Ida’s best FAQ session Workshop...more details to come.

Plus, Ume's Kitchen will be open all day providing amazing fresh, energizing foods to supplement your day with the lovely and inspiring yoga champ.

Everyone is welcome!

Please also note that the 3pm and 5 pm classes will be cancelled on Sunday, April 29th for the Hatha yoga competition. Get out there and support your local Winnipeg yogis!

This Bikram yoga posture is exactly half way through the class; every posture up to this point has been preparation to do the Triangle Pose. It’s the only posture in the world which uses 100% of your body: every muscle, joint, organ, and major gland! It's a marriage between your heart and lungs. I like to refer to it as the peak of the mountain!

Health Benefits

• It improves every single bone, muscle, joint, tendon and internal organ, and it revitalizes nerves, veins and tissues.

• Flexing and strengthening the last five vertebrae in this posture can alleviate crooked spines, as well as rheumatism and lower back pain.

• Triangle Pose also benefits the heart and lungs by forcing them to work together.

Alexis' Tips for Rocking this Bikram pose:

• Make sure you take a very big step; you should be clearing your towel and mat.

• Your heels are in exactly the same line, so take advantage of those blue lines!!

• Arms are far back; OPEN YOUR CHEST like a flower petal is blooming.

• The lower you sit, the better. When you move both arms at exactly the same time, the elbow should be EXACTLY in front of the knee. That way you don’t have to move your upper body so much to get your fingertips in between the big toe and second toe. This creates a triangle in between your chest and right thigh.

• It's very important to engage your thigh opposite to the side you’re doing the posture on. Contract your inner thigh muscle and keep your toes on the ground, gripping the carpet, preventing slipping.

For Hot Yoga Beginners and Tight Hippers:

• Don’t worry, you’ll get there : ). This yoga pose takes tremendous patience and never ending determination.  If you imagine it, you’ll do it!

• If you can’t sit so low that your femur bone is not parallel to the floor, that’s ok! Just sit as low as you can go and still move your both arms at the same time. Don’t expect your elbow to be in front of the knee; it will get there eventually in the future when your hips open up! But try not to compensate by moving your body down lower. Keep a triangle, between your chest and the right thigh.

Planning to inject some hot yoga into your Easter weekend? Here are our Holiday Hours:

Good Friday, April 6 – 10am & 12pm only

Easter Saturday, April 7 – Regular Hours

Easter Sunday, April 8 – 12pm & 2pm only

Easter Monday, April 9 – 9:30am, 6pm & 8pm only

Image source: Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Hi everyone! Today we are going to talk about liquid intake. This is an important factor for hydrating oneself appropriately for practicing Bikram (hot!) yoga. It is also a very important factor in the Macrobiotic approach to healing and maintaining healthy kidneys. It would be so easy if both camps were telling us the same thing but this is not always the case, here is why and what to do about it:

When most of us begin to practice Bikram, or any yoga practiced in a heated room, the mind reacts very strongly. The only distraction we are allowed is to drink water. And drink we do. Guzzling here and there as the mind demands, we stop focusing on our selves and our practice. To bring the Mind under conscious control is the goal of yoga. Supple, limber bodies are a sweet bonus.

Some yoga teachers say drink “plenty” of water thirty minutes before class. And drink much more after. In fear of dehydrating or becoming too hot, we guzzle. However, guzzling and drinking too much water or any liquid all at once taxes the kidneys greatly and leads to problems down the line.

Here is the Macrobiotic perspective quoted directly from George Oshawa (the great Japanese teacher who brought Macrobiotics to the West after WW2):

“The drink-as-much-as-you-can system is a simpleminded invention because the originator of such a theory completely ignored the marvelous mechanism of kidney metabolism. He erred in conceiving the kidney to be similar in structure and function to a mechanical sewage system. Large quantities of liquid will flush out and clear a clay or cast iron pipe. The kidney, however, is not a cast iron pipe. It contains tissue that must be flexible and porous so that the process of filtration, diffusion and reabsorption can take place. If liquid is taken in large quantities, the minute openings in the semi-permeable kidney tissue decrease in size (these openings are surrounded by tissue that is sponge-like, that soaks up the liquid and swells) and little or no liquid can pass through! For all practical purposes, the kidneys are blocked. The net result is a complete reversal of what the drink-as-much-as-you-can system intended. Help your tired, overworked kidneys: DRINK LESS.”

The hot room is not the real cause for us wanting to take in so much water. The real problem lies in our diet and our absent thought on the matter. The modern theory which prescribes the drinking of much liquid was born out of necessity. It is important indeed for the meat eater to drink great quantities of liquid in order to wash down that which can pollute the system. If you eat processed food, meat and flour products, you will need to drink the water that would otherwise come in natural form. For example, cooked rice is 60% water. Fruits and vegetables are mostly water. Soups, and other whole grains boiled or pressure cooked are mostly water. The greatest cause for overheating and exaggerated thirst in the hot room is eating meat, drinking coffee and alcohol (all heating in the body) and not eating enough water-rich foods. Small amounts of liquid should be sufficient for those who do not make meat their main food and coffee their main drink. Don’t take my word for it, EXPERIMENT on yourself and discover the Truth for yourself!

Learning to drink less is much more difficult than learning to eat wisely and simply. And in the hot conditions of Bikram yoga it is a subtle, yet profound practice of choosing when and how much to drink. Observe yourself – your mind - honestly. Most of the time, a sip will do, if any water is required at all. The stronger your practice, the less and less water you will need. And if you think George is harsh, I will end with a quote from another great Macrobiotic author, Naboru Muramoto, who says, “The theory of flushing out the body with water is very widely observed, but it leaves man everything but free. His pathological desires run his life and he is forced to submit to their consequences. To summarize, drinking should not be a perfunctory action involving no decision of mind or body. Excess drinking harms the digestive process, prevents one from chewing properly and dulls the thinking. It is advisable to sip liquids rather than gulp them down. That improvement alone will prevent much trouble.”

Blessings on your path,

Tannis