By Charlotte Hope, Lifestyle Editor@TLE_Lifestyle
Yoga is new territory for me. I started a few months ago and have definitely seen my flexibility improve, but my teacher manages to find new and increasingly tangled poses to challenge us with each week. What I love about it is how I’m able to stretch out muscles I tighten in my normal workouts – running and cycling in particular seem to cause tension in my lower back. Not that you asked. Yoga is absolutely helpful in relieving that tension. Another helpful muscle relaxant is the sauna. After a workout last weekend I moseyed along to the sauna, forced myself to breathe damp air, and let my muscles unwind.
So what could possibly be better, then, than yoga in a room heated to almost sauna like temperatures? I’ll tell you what. Yoga in an inflatable room heated to almost sauna temperatures. Enter Hotpod Yoga, stage left. The thinking behind this concept was accessible yoga for everyone – no need to find a suitable room – Hotpod have that covered. I took myself over to the Hackney class one rainy Tuesday evening and found myself on the roof at Netil House. A friend of mine told me that she was almost sick the first and only time she went to a hot yoga class, so I wasn’t really looking forward to it that much. Actually, the last time I went to Netil House, it was to go to Platform bar and I was so drunk I vomited. So if I was anything like her, this might make my Netil House illness record 100%. Only time would tell.
I entered the inflatable room – far more sturdy than the children’s bouncy castle I had imagined – and found a mat at the back. The instructor signed me in on an iPad; technology impresses me so much. It was a steady 38 degrees in the room and we were taken through our Yoga paces with lots of options for different abilities. The instructor was very accomplished and came round to check our postures. It did get extremely hot. At one point, I took my vest top off and was going through the positions in just my leggings and sports bra. Not a care in the world. If I tried to do that in the gym someone would have tried to take my temperature.
At the end of the class I felt so peaceful, lovely, and not at all sick (1-1, Netil House). I would absolutely return but would recommend these classes to any of my office working friends – if you can’t get to the classes, they’ll come to you! Hotpod offer in office classes which can fit around your schedule. What could be better than to use your space to limber up for the Christmas LBD season? I was so calm after that I decided against putting on my glasses, allowing the soft twinkle of the streetlights to blend into each other as I reflected on the experience. Perfect.
For more information visit www.hotpodyoga.com
Photocredit Ed Reeve