How To Do Hot Yoga At Home

Five tips for recreating the benefits of a hot yoga flow, anytime and anywhere.

Attending a hot yoga class at your favorite studio is not as easy as it once was. But you don’t need a 105-degree room to reap the benefits of heat and sweat. As discussed in our previous post—Bikram vs. Hot Yoga—it’s not about the temperature in the room, it’s simply about achieving the effects of heat on your muscles and joints. Read through that entry, if you haven’t yet, then follow these tips for a safe and effective at-home yoga practice. 

 1. Don't touch the dials

Cranking up the thermostat, bringing in a space heater, or evenrunning a hot shower(yes, it’s been done) to introduce heat and humidity in your home gym, studio, or bathroom are not advisable. These drastic measures can take hours to have any effect, they’re hard to control, extremely costly, and inefficient. They can also be dangerous. There’s a reason we pay to attend hot yoga classes in person: their heating systems are highly advanced and extremely specialized. So let’s leave it to the pros. 

2. Hydrate

More of a general rule than a hot yoga tip, this one can’t be overstated. Many of us don’t hydrate properly during the course of a typical day, and it’s especially necessary during a workout designed to make you sweat. Drink plenty of water before, during, and after your hot yoga flow. Consider trying hot water or hot tea to help raise your core temp.

 3. Focus on your breathing

Ujjayi breathing is designed to build heat in your body while helping you to achieve mental calm and focus. For aninterview with Popsugar, CorePower Yoga instructor Adrianne Du’Sauzay says: “Seal your lips, bring a slight contraction to the back of your throat, and evenly inhale and exhale out of your nose. Enjoy the texture and quality of your focused, heated breath, and notice your body will heat up from the inside out!"

 4. Plan your flow thoughtfully

Lyndsay Alameda, a certified yoga teacher and Physician Assistant from Portland Oregon, has this advice: “Choose your favoriteVinyasa flow, matching your in-breath with your out-breath—one breath per movement. The fast movements and rapid transitions of Vinyasa will help to increase your heart rate and core temperature naturally. A quick sequence is great for muscle lengthening and stretching, but to get all the benefits you should have a full warm up and cool down and you want to maintain a comfortably elevated heart rate for about 40 to 60 minutes.” Lyndsay also warns against overdoing it. “If you start to feel lightheaded, or feel your heart racing at any point, take a child’s pose or pause for a sip of water. There’s no ego in yoga!” You may also consider addingpower yoga to your flow to increase your heart rate and burn more calories.

 5. Embrace the science of heat

All of these tips can help you enjoy some of the benefits of hot yoga at home, but there’s simply no substitute for the real thing: sweat-inducing heat. That’s where Pommello comes in. Our patent-pending HeatReflect™ technology provides a two-step approach that captures your own natural body heat and redirects it back to your muscles and joints. The result is a deep, intense feeling of heat that helps you warm up quicker and stay warm throughout your entire flow, enjoying all the benefits of hot yoga while breathing cool, fresh, ambient air. As lifelong yogi Harper Botorowicz discussed in ourathlete interview, “I’ve put a space heater in my apartment and turned it on but, honestly, I think Pommello is one of the better ways. I’ve found it really useful putting it on at home. There aren’t many things that replace being in a hot studio like this product.”