If you have any friends that are fans of hot yoga you have almost undoubtedly heard horror stories. Some stories may be more imaginary than reality, but inevitably some are true. For example, the most common story I hear is about a big sweaty guy who flings his sweat onto surrounding people…but there are many more. Some people claim to have seen sweat dripping from the ceiling! I am very aware of bacteria, germs etc. although I do not consider myself to be OCD. For example, I went to sit down on the leather chairs outside of the hot rooms when I noticed sweat stains all over the chair! I was horrified of course and I immediately began to wonder, “When was the last time these things were cleaned?” My night wasn’t over yet.
What do you do when you find yourself taking class from a teacher who seems to hate every student? I swear this teacher wanted us all to feel very stupid and inadequate. It was even more frustrating because this was a yin class! Yin classes take a great deal of focus, patience and mental discipline, but how can you focus when your teacher wants you to read her mind! She actually turned the lights out and told us to “take the cotton out of our ears.” The problem was the class didn’t seem to think she was as good at verbalizing her thoughts as she apparently did.
There are downsides to just about everything. Despite rude teachers, sweaty men and gross chairs I am still planning on continuing hot yoga. I wont sit on the chairs, I will avoid rude people and honestly I probably sweat as much as any guy in class (I agree it is gross). What are you going to do? You burn more calories, challenge yourself further and release more toxins in hot yoga than warm yoga. Maybe hot yoga isn’t that bad!
