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Whether you need more "zen" in your life, or just feel kinda lazy... joining a Zoom class can be the motivation you need to keep doing the yoga you need!
Don't take our word for it though, here are HHY yogis Judy and Alex on why they have kept up their Bikram Yoga practice during a pandemic: Why Judy & Alex do yoga at Home (online!)
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Starting September 1, Zoom classes will only be available with an HHY To Go subscription.A couple changes start in September:
Check out this video we made on how to access Zoom classes (and a sneak peek at all the goody in case you haven't signed up yet!) How to access Zoom classes:If you haven't already signed up for HHY To Go, check out this blog post about all the details and why you should totally go for it! Questions? Read our FAQ about HHYTG here.
Booking online is now required for all in-studio classes. Check out these quick tutorials we made on how to do it: Booking online "101"How to book from your computer:
How to book/ cancel using the Mindbody app:If you can't make it to a class you have booked/ waitlisted?
A 12 hour minimum notice is required for all cancellations to avoid being charged a fee. (This policy doesn't apply to Virtual Yoga classes, only in-studio ones!) Late Cancels will be charged a $15 fee, and No Shows will be charged a $20 fee. Check out the details of our policy here. If you have trouble booking online and this post didn't help you, feel free to reach out at (503)505-9805 or email us and we'll do our best to assist. See you at Home!! No level of experience, strength or flexibility are required to safely attempt a Bikram yoga class! However, online classes are a bit of a tricky way to start, especially if you are a visual learner, mostly because it's difficult to see the other students. Our friends at Wellness Hot Yoga made this video to help new yogis have a better understanding of the postures, so you can feel better during and after your class! Thanks, WHY!! We hope this tutorial was helpful for you.
For more tutorials about specific poses, search the blog post archives for the name of the pose and click! Here are a few we especially recommend for beginners: The sit-up. It's not officially a yoga pose, but more of a transition move to get you from savasana to your next posture. Official yoga pose or not, correct sit-up technique can make a big difference, especially if you have back pain (or if you want to have amazingly strong abs!) From savasana:
Try it in class today. Book your next class!What duds you sport in the hot room can really make a difference. Watch this video to learn the science behind shorty shorts, then read on for 4 tips to consider when choosing what to wear to your next class... 1. Bare skin is part of your body's cooling strategy.Your body cools itself by way of the evaporation of sweat off your skin's surface. Therefore, the more of your skin exposed to the air, the cooler you will feel, even in a hot environment. For the same reason you probably wear tank tops and shorts in the summer, clothes that leave (at least) your arms and legs uncovered are the healthiest choice for hot yoga. 2. Loose clothing traps body heat. Ever tried sleeping in a hammock? You'll get COLD at night because the hammock's fabric sits snug against your skin. There's no space to trap your body heat in there. Similarly, when you wear tight-fitting clothing in hot yoga, your body heat escapes, which means you will feel cooler. 3. Downsize your yoga clothes to super-size body positivity. Look, we get it. Your whole life you have been sent the message (from the media, peers who are not your real friends, possibly even your parents) that your body is somehow flawed or not good enough. Too many of us have accepted that messaging to the point that we try to hide our "imperfect" bodies-- even from ourselves! You may have discovered by now: there is no hiding under the bright lights of the yoga room. You also may have noticed: you are the only one in class who bats an eye about the size of your thighs or a little hanging skin around your middle from those babies you brought into the world! So, who are you hiding from? Revealing your body to yourself in the mirror for 90 minutes at a time will cause you to appreciate your body more-- not only for its physical beauty (and yes it has that!) but also for the amazing things it does for you every day as it carries you through your life. 4. Don't miss out on the gift of a teacher. Your certified Bikram yoga teachers are highly trained and constantly honing our craft with continuing education. Of the gifts your teacher offers you are personalized verbal corrections. We have had hundreds of hours of education (and thousands of hours of experience) in this yoga system, and you get to borrow our eyes! However, we can only let you know to make an adjustment in a posture IF we can see your alignment! Baggy clothes get in the way of us helping you use correct technique. You are the most important person in your life.In the end, of course, this is all up to you. We understand there may be many reasons for every choice of attire.
Just like when we give instructions in class: our role here is to offer the information we know to be useful for practicing Bikram yoga, and you get to choose what you do with that. Your Bikram yoga teacher will love you unconditionally, no matter what you wear to class! Diane Ducharme Gardner recently visited BYSJ and graced us with her wisdom, expertise and insight. Among the top "a ha" moments that students have been sharing they experienced at the workshop is this one: how to get into Camel pose! How do you know it's right? It works. For any body! Check out the video for the full demonstration of correct technique: The key you'll want to remember is: when you hear the instructor say "go back halfway and stop in the middle," that does not mean bend back.It means lean back halfway, using your strong thigh muscles, thereby decreasing the distance between your hand and the heel. If you approach the pose this way, almost anyone can grab the heels! Once you have the grip on the heels (and don't lose it) you can push everything forward toward the mirror, causing the back muscles to engage and bend your spine evenly, creating 360 degree angle backward bending. It feels so good when you do it right.Even better, Camel pose boasts numerous benefits for your life outside of the yoga room, including:
Depth in any posture is a result of correct technique and time.So it never matters how much you do, as long as you practice with consistent correct technique.
The beautiful thing about the instructions you hear in class is that they work for any body- stiff, flexible, injured, whatevs. But don't take our word for it. Now that you have seen a stellar example in the video, try following word by word with the correct technique in your next class! Have you been trying to get your "palms together like glue" but it just ain't happening? Lots of people try to bring their arms back too far in Bikram yoga's "arms over the head" position. If this is you, you'll have trouble getting your palms together. Because of anatomy, everyone has a certain point where, when the shoulders are pushed back too far, the arms will not be able to fully extend at the elbow. Pushing or forcing the arms too far back and then trying to straighten them puts a lot of strain on the shoulders. Bikram yoga is hard enough! Take it easy on your shoulders, please.If your shoulders are feeling strained when you stretch your arms up in this position, try bringing the arms slightly forward, then bringing the elbows toward each other to straighten out the arms. This will help you keep your palms together, which will help you stretch your shoulders, create length in your spine and... Feel better during and after your class.Check out these related posts on how to work smarter, not necessarily harder in yoga:
This is an issue I help a lot of students with, often because they have told me their shoulder(s) hurt. As Emmy Cleaves says, pain is a gift. That shoulder, bless it, is trying to tell you something! It's the first thing I look for when the student takes my class: are you overusing your poor shoulder? Bikram yoga is so, so great for healing shoulder injuries because we don't do any weight-bearing on the arms. If your shoulder was bugging you when you started but you are not experiencing improvement after a few weeks in the hot room, it could be because you are overusing the shoulder in class and thereby preventing it from healing. Once you learn how not to overdo it and start practicing that way, any chronic pain or stiffness in the shoulder should improve relatively quickly. Bikram yoga is hard enough.Work smarter, not necessarily harder, in class and you will notice the difference in how you feel after.
So how do you work smarter, in this case? Whenever you are not going to bring your palms together for the pose, there is no need to bring your palms together in the set-up of the pose. This means Eagle pose, Standing Separate Leg Stretching, and Triangle pose. Simply bring your arms over your head sideways with shoulders fairly relaxed, the way you would do if a cop (hopefully this never happens to you, but it's just the best example I can think of!) told you to put your hands in the air. You wouldn't stop to think about stretching or looking pretty, would you? Just bring your arms over your head. Check out the video above for a demonstration, and check out these related posts for more tips on how to stop overdoing it in yoga:
Don't miss attending our Posture Clinic with Josh on Saturday, October 13! Free for BYSJ members, $20 everyone else.
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AuthorStudio leader, yoga-doer and life-lover, Kay D. 
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