Why Humidity Is Key To Bikram Yoga

The idea behind the unique style of hot yoga is to imitate the conditions in Calcutta, Indian, where it was first launched more than 40 years ago by renowned yoga master, Bikram Choudhury.

Bikram Choudhury

The difference between a room that just feels a little warm or a room that feels sweltering is the level of humidity. The more humidity there is in a space the more difficult it is for a person to remove heat from their body simply from evaporatively sweating.

A hot yoga room is kept at 40˚C and at a minimum of 40% humidity. This helps students to start sweating right away, sweating out the toxins in their body and stimulating their organs, glands and nerves. The hot, humid temperatures are also key in helping to relax the muscles so students can stretch without worrying about injuries. Without humidity the room can be very unpleasant. Your eyes and your skin can experience dryness and you don’t sweat in the same way. 

When supplying equipment for a hot yoga studio we recommend infrared heating, humidity, and airflow as these three combined offer a more comfortable environment rather than just a hot environment. 

If you're standing in a light breeze, even in a hot humid room, you can let your body cool itself naturally through sweating, through evaporation. The higher the humidity level, the less evaporative cooling you will feel because once the air becomes saturated with moisture it doesn't evaporate sweat from your body as quickly.

Usually the most uncomfortable experience in a hot yoga room is when you sweat, drip then cool. If you're sweating just to drip then cool, its can often leads to symptoms of heat stroke. You need to be very careful if you're going to heat a room and humidify it, if you find that students are not getting through class and they're laying down or getting the chills, then you need more airflow in the system. This can be achieved as simply as installing a few cross flow ventilation fans and should give relief straight away.