Week 3 Hot Yoga Challenge Recap

I cannot believe I'm already in week 3 of the Bucks Happening Hot Yoga Challenge at Riverflow Yoga– 15 classes gone by! This week has been the most mentally challenging yet, but also the most rewarding. My body is stretching into positions I never would have thought possible just a few weeks back, and I am already feeling fairly confident about my upcoming beach vacation.

I can honestly say that this month has been one of the busiest of my life so finding 90 minutes to spare, five days a week has been just as challenging as making it through the class! Still, I am fairly certain that Hot Yoga has been the primary reason I haven't had some sort of stress-related breakdown yet. Though most nights I am not getting full nights of sleep, practicing hot yoga has kept me alert and energized.

With such a busy schedule, I am always looking for ways to multi-task, and I am quickly learning that Hot Yoga can be so much more than a work-out. Check out some great tips I've come across to get even more out of the program:

1. Silence is golden: Sometimes you just need some peace and quiet. Once you enter the hot yoga room, silence is the mantra. A few minutes of lying on my yoga mat before class restores sanity!

2. Conditioning at the roots: While you are certainly conditioning your body throughout class, you can also get some deep-conditioning for your hair. Mix a few squirts of your favorite hair conditioner in a spray bottle with clean water, and spritz liberally over your hair before coming to hot yoga. Spray the ends of the hair more than the scalp to avoid the greasies. Let the hot yoga heat condition your hair while you condition your body. After class, don't wash with shampoo; just rub more conditioner into your scalp, massage vigorously, and rinse in the shower, letting your conditioner do the cleaning and conditioning. The result: soft, shiny, deeply conditioned hair with every hot yoga class.

3. Steam Facial: You're in the heat, you're sweating, your pores are open…hot yoga is an impromptu facial. After hot yoga, wash your face with your favorite products. Riverflow Yoga recommends Icelandic Mineral Mist, from a unique line of skincare products from Hannesdottir. After a 90 minute hot yoga class, Mineral Mist floats an ocean of sea minerals into those newly-opened pores, leaving your face glowing.

4. Make Friends! Over the past few weeks, I've had the chance to meet some amazing people practicing hot yoga. It's difficult to explain but there is a sense of camaraderie shared among a hot yoga class; with everyone pushing themselves to their limits, you cannot help but feel a sense of support & togetherness. People who have been practicing a long time still remember how a first class feels and tend to offer words of encouragement to the newbies, and the teachers really go out of their way to get to know their students.

While next week is the final week of the official Bucks Happening Challenge, I have a feeling I'll be sticking around…

Follow Riverflow Yoga on Facebook & Twitter for more information on hot yoga and check back on Bucks Happening throughout June for more updates on our challenge.

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