- You’ll take your practice deeper. Keeping up your practice is the key to maintaining all the headway you made during the winter. It’d be a shame to lose all that range of motion you worked so hard for! In fact, your muscles, joints and ligaments will already be lovely and warm when you enter the studio, so you will likely find you’re more flexible and can go deeper into the postures during the summer. Take advantage of the summer months to increase your joint flexibility, core strength and spinal mobility and make gains in your emotional and mental practice.
- You’ll encourage good habits. Practising in the hot room encourages you to stay well hydrated and to replenish your electrolytes regularly. This can be a great benefit during the hot summer months. Warmer weather often means you have a lighter appetite, which can take your practice to a new level by relieving you of that ‘full’ feeling and letting you go much deeper into the postures to help with digestive health.
- You’ll be in better shape for summer recreation. By adjusting to the heat in the yoga room, you’ll be in top-notch shape for any summer sports or outdoors activities you like to do. If you make time for your yoga practice, you may notice that you don’t mind the heat and have more endurance when you’re running, biking, pushing the stroller, playing tennis or playing other sports outdoors. Bikram Yoga will increase your strength, stamina, balance and coordination too
- You’ll energize your body and mind. Often the summer months can leave us feeling a bit “fried,” both mentally and physically. We’ve all had days when the heat makes us feel super-sleepy and we can’t be bothered exercising. Yet we know that yoga energizes the body and mind and provides us with so many health benefits. Committing to a strong summer practice will keep you from that sluggish summer feeling and give you quality time spent focused on your Self.
- You’ll manage the silly season better Sydney in summer is party time. There’s more barbeques, parties, drinks after work. from Melbourne Cup through to Australia Day. It’s great fun! Your body will thank you though if you continue to detox and cleanse by maintaining a regular practice. You may take it a little easier in the room, but you are still getting benefits. Putting less pressure on yourself can have surprising results (see reason #7)
- You’ll acclimatise to the heat outside. Practicing yoga during the summer months helps acclimatise you to the season’s heat and humidity. Your body learns to cool itself more efficiently and effectively through sweat. If you practice often enough, you may notice that outside weather doesn’t feel as hot as it used to, that you don’t need your air conditioning as much, and that you don’t mind being outside as much when it’s sweltering.
- You’ll surprise yourself. That relaxed ‘can’t-be-bothered’ attitude can transform into a relaxed and therefore enhanced practice. We all remember a class where we came in expecting very little and walked out feeling amazing? Same sort of thing applies here.
- You will tone up for the summer. Burning 500 – 800 calories per class will get you buff in all the right places. You will look great and feel more comfortable and confident all summer long!
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