Step into a hot yoga room and it gets real — real quick.
You realize no matter how fit you are, you’re no match for the 105-degree heat and 40 percent humidity.
Hot yoga is so real, in fact, Westfield resident Daviette Tettey didn’t consider yoga a workout until she tried her first hot yoga class.
“I walked in, and the first workout, it was so good,” said the 40-plus-year-old Tettey. “It was hard.”
While the heat and humidity make formidable foes, you learn it’s better to work with the two than against them.
“Just breathe,” yoga instructor Preciss Stone said. “Just know your breath is going to fuel your postures, and it’s going to be your best ally. You just breathe as slow as you can and slow it down a little more on the exhale.”
Stone teaches several times a week at Hot Room Indianapolis. Already a Zumba instructor, Stone attended her first hot yoga class four years ago, and several months later she traveled to Mexico for instructor training.
“I actually went into the studio for the first-year anniversary and just decided that I was going to stay,” Stone said. “I never left. I love the way it made me feel — even after that first, initial visit. I came back the next day and the next day, and I never left even though I thought I was going to die.”
Stone loves dispelling myths about yoga as much as she loves teaching. Yoga isn’t just for skinny, affluent white women. Anyone — regardless of size can do yoga. And while yoga poses look easy, yoga is hard work. You find out how strong you are — mentally and physically — on the mat. You gain flexibility, muscle strength and muscle tone by using your body weight.
“It’s really accessible to anyone,” Stone said. “As long as you can be in the room and you can breathe you can do the yoga … As long as you’re breathing, you’re doing yoga.”
When Vicki Brown, 49, Indianapolis, walked into her first hot yoga class three years ago, she wasn’t a fan.
“At first I didn’t like it at all,” Brown said. “It was hot. I thought what in the world did I get myself into, but it was a challenge. I like challenges so I said I’m going to come back and do it again. So, I did, and then I started noticing how my skin was just glistening, just how I felt. It just made me feel good. How my confidence level just began to rise.”
Stone teaches original hot yoga, which covers the same 26 asanas (postures) in every class. Don’t let the repetitive nature of the class be a deterrent. Every day is different. Some days your body is tighter than others, Stone said.
“The heat allows the body to stretch,” Stone said. “It allows you to get a little deeper into stretching the muscles so you can take your body to different levels. You’re, like, wringing your body out like a rag.”
Stone suggests hydrating well before class, not eating at least three to four hours beforehand and wearing clothes that wick away sweat.
“Cotton is going to make you feel 10 pounds heavier,” she added.
Contact Editor Oseye Boyd at 317-762-7850. Follow her on Twitter @oseye_boyd.
Try hot yoga
Preciss Stone teaches original hot yoga 4:30-5:30 p.m. Thursdays at Hot Room Indianapolis’ uptown location, 3855 E. 96th St. and noon-1 p.m. Fridays at Hot Room Indianapolis’ downtown location, 305 E. New York St.
To see a complete schedule, class listing and cost, visit indyhotroom.com.
