Issue No.9 - March 2009

From now until April 15th you can save $150 on 6 Months of Unlimited Yoga. See the studio for all the details and get yourself ready for what the summer has to bring! Monthly plans are available with post-dated cheques or Credit Card.

Practicing yoga in a hot room not only transforms your mind and body...it transforms your yoga mat, too! From a shiny, new, dry one to a soggy, stinky, wet one. Here are some Do's and Don'ts to keep your mat healthy and prolong its lifespan.

DON'T:

• Saturate your mat with water. It will get water-logged and will never dry
• Use liquid soap. You may think all the soap is gone but you'll have suds squishing between your toes for weeks
• Use any spray or cleaning product that is not labelled non-toxic or 100% natural. You do not want to be breathing that stuff into your strong, healthy lungs, especially in a heated environment

DO:

• Clean your mat regularly, preferably after each class
• Lightly spray your entire mat, front and back, and hang to dry. Hang over your shower rod or on the balcony

At the studio, we use Nezza Naturals mat spray to clean the rental mats. It's made on Galiano Island and is safe, effective and smells great. Nezza Mat Spray is available for sale at the studio in 100ml bottles. Once you've used up your spray, we will refill it for you for only $5.25 (tax included).

PRIVATE CLASSES give the student an opportunity to go deeper into their practice. Spend one on one time with the instructor of your choice but please come prepared with an idea of what you would like to get from your private lesson. Cost is $50 per session, sessions are 1 hour. Please call the studio or see the front desk to book your class.

For the die-hards, you just know. For those who need convincing, or fear the heat may not be such a good idea, read on.

Practicing yoga in a heated environment is nothing new; they do it in India all the time (call me crazy but it's a lot hotter in India than it is in some room in Duncan)! Think about it, what we're trying to do in the Bikram Yoga room is mimic the temperature and humidity of a tropical environment. There is nothing controversial or remotely unhealthy about practicing yoga in the heat.

The heat means we can get into postures more deeply and effectively - plus the benefits of the postures come quickly. Like thousands before you, you will find that practicing yoga in the warm room creates a satisfying and almost addictive feeling of achievement.

The benefits are many and here are just a few:

• Your body burns fat more effectively; fat may be redistributed and burned as energy during the class. It is common to lose centimetres of shape in a very short time
• The heat produces a fluid-like stretch allowing for greater range of movement in joints, muscles, ligaments and other supporting structures of the body
• Capillaries dilate in the heat; more effectively oxygenating the tissues, muscles, glands and organs and helping in the removal of waste products
• Your peripheral circulation improves due to enhanced perfusion of your extremities
• Your metabolism speeds up the breakdown of glucose and fatty acids
• You benefit from a strengthening of willpower, self control, concentration and determination in this challenging environment
• Your cardiovascular system gets a thorough workout
• Your muscles and connective tissue become more elastic and allow for greater flexibility with less chance of injury and improved resolution of injury
• Sweating promotes detoxification and elimination through the skin - which is the body's largest eliminating organ
• Just as when your body raises its temperature to fight infection, the raised temperature in the room will assist in improving T-cell function and the proper functioning of your immune system
• Your nervous system function is greatly improved and messages are carried more efficiently to and from your brain
• Metabolism improves in your digestive system and in the body's cells (that is food in the gut and nutrients in the cells)