Do You Sweat Too Much in Yoga?
While a true yoga practice incorporates more than just rigorous asana, there is no doubt that a heart-pumping Ashtanga Vinyasa or Power Yoga class is great for burning calories and shedding pounds. There are even more reasons to sweat when you do yoga, though, and the following are three good ones!
The skin is the largest detoxing organ
It isn’t the liver, bladder or intestines, surprisingly. We live in an environment that is unfortunately filled with toxic chemicals. We take them in via the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the water we bathe in and drink. While you can do a lot to detox the body by eating a healthy diet and drinking pure, distilled water, the skin is actually one of the best ways to rid the body of years of toxic overload. Sweating is actually so good for you, doctors recommend sitting in a hot sauna once a week. If you can get a good sweat while practicing yoga, though, you get the benefits of skin detox while also detoxing the internal organs, strengthening and stretching the muscles and ligaments, and changing your subtle energy by opening the nadis in the body, which are subtle energy current-points just like acupuncture meridians.
Losing fat calories
While you will lose primarily water weight if you sweat profusely in some yoga classes, you also help the body lose actual fat calories by allowing the organs to run more efficiently through detoxification. There have been many studies that have shown, just detoxing the liver, for example, will help you lose excess weight, and that is just one important organ. Imagine if your excretory system, respiratory and cardiovascular system were all in tip-top shape. You will naturally maintain a more healthy weight and lose excess fat.
Feel the sense of empowerment from a ‘good sweat’
While you don’t necessarily have to do a sweaty, arduous yoga class to receive the benefits of yoga (in fact, a good restorative class is essential now and then) there is something wonderful about knowing you just challenged yourself to become a better, more ‘glowing’ version of you. Just make sure to drink lots of pure water, or even coconut water, which has shown to replenish important electrolytes and essential amino acids in the body post a sweaty workout. Staying hydrated is just as important as sweating out all the junk.
Do you have specific reasons why you love to sweat in a yoga class? We would love to hear you by commenting below.
