Yoga has many proven benefits: improved flexibility and balance, joint support, back pain relief, better sleep, stress reduction, and enhanced mindfulness, to name a few. But if you’re like me and associate a good workout with a good sweat, you might try a hot yoga class.
“The heat allows me to get a little bit deeper into the poses, and that flexibility, of course, transfers into helping my mobility,” says Jennifer Watson of Vero Beach after a recent Hot Power class at Level Yoga. “I try to focus on strength training, but this has improved everything from my strength training to my overall sleep.”
The best part of hot yoga, she confides, is the after-feeling. “I call it the afterglow. I feel like I’m on this euphoric cloud for the rest of my day, just because of how hot yoga makes me feel. It wrings the sweat and toxins out of me, and I feel like this brand-new human.”
I must agree. The 60-minute Hot Power class features a dynamic sequence of vinyasa flow poses, coupled with cardio-inspired moves and light resistance, in a studio heated to 90 degrees Fahrenheit by six infrared heaters. With a focus on strength, stamina, and intensity, it challenged me in ways beyond a traditional yoga session and left me as drenched as if I had just completed a spin class. After an hour of moving and sweating, the refreshing lavender-scented towel was a welcome treat while resting in shavasana. A sweet-smelling afterglow, indeed!
“I believe people are drawn to hot yoga because they want that instant warm-up,” observes Amanda Steadman, a certified yoga instructor who founded Level Yoga 11 years ago and now offers a variety of classes with more than 20 instructors at studios on Royal Palm Pointe and Cardinal Drive. “The heat helps them open up quicker and has a way of challenging them mentally.
“Yoga is considered moving meditation. We move with our breath, so when you’re in a room that is heated, you must focus a bit more. And, as with other yoga classes, it builds a sense of community in that we all survived it together.”
Steadman, a Vero Beach native, began studying yoga while a student at Flagler College and immersed herself in the training shortly after becoming a new mother. “Teaching yoga changed my life. It’s really helped me believe in myself and know that I can do whatever I put my mind to.”
Kay Nezwek, a certified yoga instructor who recently moved to Vero Beach, credits hot yoga with relieving excruciating arthritic back pain she suffered from playing tennis. “I used to do hot yoga, but then I got addicted to tennis and it took over my life. I was in so much pain on the tennis court, I could barely walk.”
After consulting an orthopedic surgeon as well as a chiropractor, Nezwek decided against the recommended injections for her back pain and instead returned to hot yoga classes twice a week. “Now I’m walking. I barely have pain. It’s helped my strength, flexibility, and hip and spinal mobility. They say you’re only as healthy as your spine, and when I could barely walk, that was an eye-opener.” After faithfully attending hot yoga classes at Level Yoga for several months, Nezwek is back on the tennis court several times a week, pain free.
“I had a serious health challenge last year, and yoga has been really helpful in putting my body and mind back together, and I’m just so grateful for it,” says Beth Pikulski, who complements multiple Level Yoga sessions per week with Pilates and Orange Theory. A hot yoga devotee for more than a decade, Pikulski remarks, “you build strength in hot yoga that you don’t even realize, because you’re able to get deeper into the poses.”
If you’re considering turning up the heat in your yoga practice, it’s important to understand that not all hot yoga classes are created equal. While some might include an ever-changing variety of poses set to music in a studio heated above normal room temperature, others are more rigidly choreographed at a specific heat and humidity level.
Bikram yoga, developed in the mid-1970s by Bikram Choudhury, is practiced in a room heated to 104 degrees Fahrenheit and set to 40 percent humidity. The Bikram method is centered around 26 postures (13 standing and 13 floor), targeting specific areas of the body, and two breathing exercises performed in the exact same order during each 90-minute class.
Pat Murray, a certified Bikram yoga instructor who recently relocated to Vero Beach after operating a studio in Fort Pierce, started practicing Bikram yoga in 2010 while living and working in California’s Bay area. “I worked in a high-pressure office situation, was raising kids, and I needed to do something, so I took classes at night and on weekends,” she explains. An asthma sufferer most of her life, she found that the breathing technique helped open her lungs and the movements improved her posture and relieved stress after a long workday. In 2014, with her job winding down and the children out of the house, Murray traveled to Thailand to train with Choudhury.
“You can take a Bikram class anywhere in the world and it will always be the same sequence,” observes the South Florida native. Yet, she points out, every day is different, depending on how you ate or slept. With most of her students over the age of 45, Murray contends that some may not be able to fully do all the postures, but they do what they can to get the maximum benefit. “I think all forms of yoga are good, but I like Bikram because I like the heat and the longer time we take getting into a posture.”
Frank Martinelli, a retired Navy pilot from Vero Beach, tried Bikram yoga after a semiannual physical with his doctor left him feeling as if the best years of his life were over. His physician told him that the next time he came in, he would put him on a fifth medication that he would be taking for the rest of his life. “I had been an athlete,” he says. “I boxed, I played football, but Bikram yoga was the hardest thing I ever did in my life!” He swore he would never go back, but the instructor handed him a sheet of paper with an assurance that if he did it 30 days in a row, it would change his life. It did.
One year later and 30 pounds lighter, Martinelli no longer needed any medications, and the neck pain he had developed as a pilot was significantly relieved. “The best thing about Bikram is you do the best you can, and you can still receive all the benefits. After 22 years, I’m one of the least confident participants in class. My poses aren’t great, but I’ve derived so much benefit from the practice itself, I’ll never stop doing it.”
A 2025 comprehensive review of 43 studies involving 942 people showed that regular participation in hot yoga (Bikram, general hot, hatha, and vinyasa) is associated with improvements in cardiovascular and metabolic health (vascular function, lipid profiles, and body composition), functional capacity (flexibility, bone mineral density, and balance), strength, and mental health (reduced stress and improved mood and cognitive function).
Want to torch more calories? Studies show that the average person burns 330 to 460 calories per 90 minutes of a Bikram or heated vinyasa session and 300 to 500 calories during a 60-minute heated flow class, compared to 150 to 300 calories during a 60-minute non-heated yoga session. A 2014 study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise revealed that a single Bikram session was the equivalent of a brisk 3.5 mph walk.
Rhonda Patrick, a researcher with a PhD in biomedical science, has been documenting the effects of hypothermic conditioning—or exercising in the heat—for many years. She suggests that hyperthermic conditioning improves the production of human growth hormones and heat shock proteins, both of which enhance muscle growth and healing. Heat stress on the body, she argues, activates pathways that slow aging, promote cellular repair, reduce inflammation, improve immune system function, safeguard against DNA damage, and promote longevity.
Hot yoga diehards like Frank Martinelli would agree: “Early explorers came to
Florida searching for the Fountain of Youth. I found it on a yoga mat!”
The Benefits of Hot Yoga
- Improves flexibility and strength
- Helps build bone density
- Relieves chronic pain and tension
- Reduces stress
- Burns calories
- Supports cardiovascular and metabolic health
- Nourishes skin
- Reduces blood glucose levels
- Eases depressive symptoms
Before You Sweat
- Hydrate before, during, and after class
- Avoid a big meal at least 2 hours before class
- Wear light, breathable clothing or workout tights/shorts
- Avoid wearing strong fragrances
- Bring a towel and yoga mat
- Arrive 15 minutes before class
- Silence your phone
- Follow the instructor’s cues
- Ease your way into the poses
- Stop if you feel dizzy, lightheaded, or nauseated
- Consult your doctor if you are pregnant or have low blood pressure, low blood sugar, or pre-existing health conditions that make you prone to heat intolerance
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