Infrared Sauna and Yoga

From trying to treat skin conditions, such as acne, to just simply enjoying for relaxation there are numerous reasons to use infrared saunas. Did you know though, that many people are also using infrared saunas for fitness and yoga? There are many health benefits you can get from using this type of sauna, but you should know more detail about how these saunas can be used for fitness and yoga.

Infrared Saunas for Fitness

It’s not a far stretch to think about using infrared saunas for fitness since there really are so many health benefits from using one already. These saunas are known for their ability to help people detoxify their bodies, burn calories, lose weight and speed up their metabolism, just to name of few of the benefits. Because of the increase in heart rate, sweat output and calorie burning abilities of an infrared sauna, simply using one is like doing certain types of cardiovascular exercise. Studies have shown that a 30-minute session in an infrared sauna can burn up to 600 calories.

Fitness enthusiasts also enjoy using infrared saunas because of their ability to relieve pain and help with the wound healing process. The heat produced by infrared saunas deeply penetrates muscles, tissues and joints, which can help ease and eliminate pain in any of these areas improving the ability to recover from pain or discomfort and participate in sports, fitness or other physically demanding activities.

The radiant heat that infrared saunas produce can also aid in the body’s ability to heal wounds quicker, faster and with less likelihood of scarring. Healed wounds mean you can participate in your favorite fitness related routine that much sooner.

Using an infrared sauna before working out is similar to getting a good stretch and the heat helps loosen the body, especially the muscles which can help you perform better as well as lower the risk of sports related injuries. Using an infrared sauna after a fitness routine helps your body stay limber and ease into a state of relaxation. This also helps reduce the chance of muscle pain, tightness or soreness that can result from strenuous activity especially when not followed by a cool-down.

Infrared Sauna and Yoga

Infrared sauna and yoga may sound like a strange combination, but is actually becoming a trend in the yoga community. That’s because certain types of yoga actually use heated rooms already for their practice. These types of yoga are Bikram Yoga and Hot Yoga.

Bikram yoga has strict guidelines about the poses and alignment, and temperature of the room for the class must be at 105 degrees. Hot yoga is generally any style of yoga practiced in a room of temperatures ranging from 90-100 degrees.

Although Bikram yoga has been around since about the 70s it has begun to gain popularity in the last decade. Hot yoga has literally become a fitness trend in the past few years.

Yogis feel that working with heat for practice can be beneficial for a number of reasons. Heat creates sweat, which helps the body purify itself. Heat also helps the muscles and body become more flexible, making it easier to get into poses that can seem impossible without the heat.

Infrared sauna and yoga work better as a combination than a steam sauna, because the moist air in a regular sauna can cause difficulties breathing. Since deep breathing is an essential part of yoga, the gentle heat from infrared saunas can improve the breathing technique. While infrared saunas may not be large enough for a full-size class, plenty of yogis are using these as part of their own home yoga practice. In fact, for many, this is the ideal and only way to be able to get a small space heated to the desired temperature for a private hot or Bikram yoga class.

Closely related to the yoga class idea is the use of infrared saunas for chakras. There are some infrared saunas that, by using different colored lights, are able to help you give your chakras the attention needed. Blue, for example, works with the throat chakra, which is believed by some to be the one connected to how we express ourselves in the world. Using blue bulbs for blue energy in an infrared sauna means relaxing in calm and soothing light and state of mind to help strengthen the throat chakra. There is also red for the root chakra, green for the heart and purple for the "third eye" chakra.

A Final Word

While you may not be doing your workout in your infrared sauna, you can see there are some fitness benefits from using one. Your infrared sauna and yoga form a great combination. You can carry out your practice in the infrared sauna, and if you haven’t already tried it, you should give it a shot. Infrared saunas already have some great health benefits from simply relaxing in them, but combined with a fitness or yoga routine the amount of benefits increase and your performance improves as well.

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