What You Need To Know About Cold Yoga
Yoga was created over 5,000 years ago in Northern India (via Google Arts and Culture), but it wasn't introduced to an American audience until the 1920s and 1930s. It received wider spread in the early 1960s when simpler moves were broadcast on television. Subgroups like the hippies helped the growth of yoga. Yoga saw an even bigger popularity boost in the subsequent couple of decades as workout videos became more readily available. This allowed people to practice yoga at home for fitness purposes, which aligned with the rise of the health and fitness industry at this time (via History).
It's now hard to imagine a time where yoga wasn't a major part of many individuals' daily routines and part of the health and fitness conversation. The most popular form of yoga is hot yoga, but the introduction of cold yoga could change the way people work out. In simplest terms, cold yoga is yoga practiced in an environment with temperatures ranging from 40 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit (via Healthline).
Cold yoga has many health benefits
According to Jimmy T. Martin, co-founder of Brrrn, the first cool temperature studio, working out at a temperature set between 40 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit causes "mild cold stress." This condition allows the body to burn more fats and calories. Martin explained to Yoga Journal that because the body believes it isn't working as hard in a cool climate, it takes longer for it to become exhausted and automatically pushes harder to obtain a natural body warmth.
Martin and Brrrn co-founder Johnny Adamic also believe that when working out in hotter temperatures, people misinterpret how hard their body is actually working out. The cool temperatures allow the human body to maintain its peak performance longer. Healthline discussed several studies that prove that the body's metabolism works harder in cooler climates, therefore burning more unhealthy fats.
In the Yoga Journal interview, Martin also discussed his belief that cold yoga allows people to focus more on the exercise as it happens than being too physically exhausted to focus. According to Healthline, an additional health bonus of cold yoga is that in cooler environments, germs are less likely to multiply and spread. Hot yoga can produce a germ-filled environment because of the body liquids, like sweat, that pour out during high-intensity workouts.
Cold yoga and hot yoga have many similarities
Cold yoga and hot yoga both revolve around the same yoga principles and moves. Yoga poses for beginners could be taught at either hot or cold yoga classes. The only major difference could be in how long people can sustain these positions. Cold yoga enthusiasts believe the cooler environments may allow for longer and more beneficial yoga workouts (via Healthline).
Both cold yoga and hot yoga can produce major weight loss. Yoga is one of the healthy ways to lose weight without dieting, and for that reason, many have used it to burn fat or maintain a healthy weight. Whether weight loss happens because of yoga depends less on the temperature in which it is practiced, and more on developing a consistent yoga routine, together with eating healthy and balanced meals and snacks (via Healthline).
Cold yoga has many health benefits that may make it worth giving a try, but overall, both styles of yoga are very useful to practice mindfulness and maintain a healthy lifestyle.