6 Reasons Behind The Magic of Hot Yoga

Traditional Hot Yoga is a practice in which you go through 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises, at 105ºF (40.5ºC), absolutely drenched in sweat for 90 minutes. A lot of people read that description, cringe, and immediately think WHY?! Why would someone put their body through that?

The answer is actually quite simple: because it feels incredibly good! Like, NEXT LEVEL good, not just physically, but mentally, & spiritually. So much so, that we had a sit down with a very experienced yoga instructor to learn about the reasons behind these magical effects.

Frani Assaf has been a hot yoga teacher at the Sweatbox Studio in Capitol Hill, Seattle for over fifteen years. In her past life, she worked as a PR consultant, and amidst deadlines and vast amounts of pressure, longed for some peace and well-being. She happened to find so much of it in hot yoga, that she decided to become a full-time teacher and “share with other people the thing that changed her life.”

Happily, she agreed to share her light with us, and after an insightful conversation, we discovered 6 reasons behind the magic of hot yoga*:

1. IT’S A LESSON IN SELF-COMPASSION

During the first few hot yoga classes, “you need to accept that you have no idea what you’re doing.”