Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Tired of Gym? Meet Mat...

When I think of yoga the first thing that comes to mind is a group of hippies sitting around meditating. Not anymore! I came across Hot Yoga as an innovative alternative to the traditional workout regimen with a focus on inner tranquility and strength. The practice and stances belong to Bikram yoga, which was intended to correct western culture's propensity for physical and mental stress. Yoga has been around for centuries but you have to admit that Hot Yoga is a creative twist to the classic form of meditation. Not only will you find the 'hippy types' in a class but also people of all ages, sizes, and walks of life. The craze has even spread to professional athletes!

The room in which the yoga is conducted is kept in the range of 100-105 degrees with a humidity of about 60%. From the heat and humidity alone it is easy to distinguish the innovative delivery of the yoga stances. The heat also allows one to focus more on strength and flexibility within the stances and less on muscle strain. When I googled the practice I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the Bikram yoga stances are patented. There have even been some legal battles over copyright protection but that's not completely surprising considering all we know regarding patent infringement, trolls, and overall system abuse.

I challenge you to experience Hot Yoga first hand! If you'd rather pass, check out the link below and think of other ways Hot Yoga has become an innovative practice.

Namaste :)

www.hotyoganashville.com

6 comments:

  1. Being a bit of a yogi myself this post made me think more critically about the practice. At first I debated if hot yoga was innovative since yoga is an ancient practice. After consideration, I agree with Gina Marie that hot yoga is innovative. I think that primarily hot yoga is an innovation in position. As a gentler form of yoga, hot yoga brings yoga to beginners and those who would not normally be able to do yoga due to injury. It also brings yoga to a segment of the exercise market that is focused on physical results and would not typically be interested in doing an exercise that was as much focused on the physical as the mental.

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  2. I don't know much about yoga but I definitely agree that the concept of hot yoga is an innovation in its position of a mainly spiritual excercise to a physical one. What sold me on this is Katie's comment about how hot yoga brings the practice of yoga to those who could not (or did not want to) participate before. I believe any kind of change made in a product or service that makes it more accessible or more appealing for over-shot, under-shot or non-consuming markets, would be considered a significant innovation.

    You may have convinced me to try hot yoga myself sometime :)

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  3. I completely agree with both Katie and Nida's posts. Knowing absolutely nothing about yoga myself, I was drawn to Hot Yoga because of the physical results it boasts. The flyer I read claimed that the average calorie burn per class was between 600-800 calories. I think this factor alone is enough to make people take notice. Those in the market who respond to quick results may not have been drawn by the lasting benefits to one's health and peace of mind. In this way I do think that Hot Yoga is very innovative. It's sucessfully drawn a new younger crowd to the pratice of yoga and it did so with core principles that have been around for many years! That's innovation at it's best!

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