Sweating during hot yoga and that 'detox' feeling

When I first started hot yoga, I wasn’t a health coach yet and my knowledge around health was very limited. Yet, sometimes the knowledge comes after the experience, and even though I couldn’t explain it, after each session I experienced this rejuvenating and peaceful feeling of pure emptiness and purity. As if my body got rid of everything it didn’t need and got a reboot.

This feeling, although I couldn’t explain it back then, was so addictive and got me hooked to hot yoga very quickly. I also experienced other benefits, like improved cardiovascular health, more energy, reduced stress, or the endorphins release of pushing your body, but what really got me since the beginning, is this detox feeling, which it turns out, was not just a feeling.

Detox has become kind of this buzzword the last years and has been misused to sell you all kinds of pills and potions you don’t need. But detox in itself is not a myth, it is a natural and vital process happening in your body to make sure it flushes the toxins out of your body. The subject of detoxification is probably the one that made me enter my health coaching program after I read an article stating that women were putting on average more than 500 synthetic chemicals on their skin every single day. This was the light bulb moment for me when I was like: How can I be so cautious about what I feed my body with, yet so careless about what I put on my skin? Not only with skincare, but imagine how many chemicals we are exposed to every day in the air we breathe, the water we consume, our home environment, our cleaning products etc. And the number of toxins our body needs to deal with is just getting bigger every year, yet it was never made to process that much.

Your skin is actually the largest detoxification organ in your body, and methods of promoting detoxification have been around since the dawn of time, from the Finnish saunas to the ayurvedic therapy called panchakarma to fasting.

Hot Yoga has been a new vehicle in our modern era to support your body with its natural detoxification properties and the initial feeling of “cleanliness” that I was experiencing was exactly that. I was helping my body to detox in a more optimal way through sweat, which helps your body to function with more health, strength and efficiency.

So if the health benefits of hot yoga spark your interest and you are willing to experience them first hand, here are a couple of tips to bear in mind when joining a class:

• Stay safe: the heat can be quite challenging at first, so if you feel like you can’t handle it, it’s totally okay to rest or to leave the class altogether, it is your practice, and self awareness is key
• Overstretching can happen easily in a hot yoga class, so always stay mindful of your own boundaries and limitations
• Don’t forget to make sure you stay hydrated, because you actually don’t want to drink too much before and during, just after
• Remember the principle of bio-individuality: one person foods can be another person’s poison, so just try it out for yourself, see how you feel and listen to what your body needs, regardless of what others (including myself) tell you
• Last but not least: HAVE FUN! My mantra in life is: “Make it fun and make it count, or don’t do it at all.”

We take life way too seriously already, so if the health benefits don’t resonate with you, maybe just give it a try for the sheer purpose of trying something new for the first time, experiencing the joy of being a beginner again, and having the time of your life.

To you, and your practice.

 Celine.

To learn more about Celine and her coaching services, retreats and more visit her website at: https://www.celineferrenbach.com