TheHotYogaDoctor

I am still a yoga novice. Took my first class(s) this past August while visiting my son in Winnipeg. It is devine. Pain that I have carried as long as my memory has been eliminated! Since there is no Bikram near my home I converted a bedroom into a “studio”. Keeping the heat over 101 is easy in the summer here, but winter has been impossible. Positions without the heat
cause pain and injury. I have exhausted local resources trying to find a heater that doesn’t auto turn off and isn’t $2500.00 dollars. Do you have any idea where I can find such a heater. I have a contruction heater that I plug into 220 right now.
Posted by penny on 01/22 at 07:48 PM

Thanks for your message. I have just zipped off an email to a friend of mine that is a heating consultant specializing in Hot Yoga studios.

Stay tuned and I will get back to you as soon as I hear something.

That is very dedicated to do your own thing at home. I found that the thing that made the biggest difference (besides having carpet and a good heater) was super-insulating the room.

I will get back…
Gabrielle

Hello Penny

I got in touch with my friend and he recommends a radiant heater. He said that you can try getting in touch with him yourself if you need any help.

His website is http://www.hotyogastudiodesign.com. I hope Chad can advise you on something affordable.

Namaste
Gabrielle

PS he said contact him directly on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Posted by Kayzee

Penny—

I’ve gotten a couple of heaters at local thrift stores and/or on Craig’s list.  Always cheaper than buying new!

Absolutely, anything that can help you can save money gets my vote.

Just remember that when selecting a heater, you want to find one that doesn’t have a built-in thermostat that cuts the heater out at about 90 degrees. It can be very annoying when you can’t raise the temp enough to get your muscles really warm (and get the sweat too of course).

The other big thing is insulation or confining the space to be heated.

Happy hunting!
Gabrielle

Hi,

I am looking into building a small room in my basement in order to do my yoga.  A friend at yoga class told me she is using an infrared heater to heat her home studio.  What do you think of using this type of heater? 

Thanks,

Patty

Hello Patty

I really don’t know how it happens but sometimes these questions get overlooked. So sorry to have let this one slip…

I have never practiced at home with an infrared heater. But I have heard great things. Infrared heating is supposed to be very easy to use even in open spaces. Make sure you don’t set any heating system up in a draft. These heaters are quite specific in how they heat which makes them quite efficient.

Usually your main considerations are insulation and minimizing drafts and the hard surfaces around the place so that the heat is contained and the room reaches the desired temperature.

Not all heaters will get you to temperature though. I am more than happy to continue this discussion (and share what we do at our home studio). If you have already found heaters it would be REALLY GREAT to tell us what type, what rating, even the brand. Tell us how you managed to get your room heated, what you did for insulation and what temperature you managed to reach. Others will definitely want to know.

Namaste
Gabrielle

I’ve been in touch with Chad and he’s actually developing a personal yoga room heater.  He doesn’t have many details just yet.

I’ve been doing some research and came across this heater that I thought might work well:

http://www.comfortzoneinfraredheaters.com/?gclid=CMvyqvnguJcCFQOeFQodlSAhTA

They cost a few hundred dollars, but seem like they would be well worth it.  Even has an auto on feature so you can get your room heated ahead of time.

Would love any feedback if anyone has experience with these.  Thanks!

Hi Stacie

I like your avatar

I’ve also heard/read about those heaters but I’m skeptical of the infrared heat.  I bought an infrared heater and the glow that came off of it was disturbing.  Felt like I was looking directly at the sun.  It also heated the floor directly in front of the heater itself to a very high temp. that made me a little nervous.

Here’s some info on how I heat my home studio.  It’s not perfect, but it works for my husband and I when we can’t get to a “real” class.

The room is located in our 3rd floor attic.  It’s a finished room that measures 13 ft. x 14 ft. with a ceiling height of 7ft. 9in..  The room also has 2 skylights which give wonderful light, plus privacy and some sun warmth, but never direct sunlight on us.  It also has hardwood floor, no carpet.  We keep two mats in a T shape to prevent slippage once the sweating starts.

We use a Kenwood and a Holmes electric, oil filled heaters.  Both are 1500watts and both state a high limit of 95 degrees on the thermostats.  We also use a Bionaire hot air humidifier cranked up as high as it can go.  I keep the heat units at separate ends of the room so they don’t heat each other and cut the heat too soon.

With both the heat and the humidity combined, we can get a reading of between 100 and 105 on the thermometer that we have hanging in the room.  When planning a session, I turn everything on about 1 hour before I’m ready.  It’s usually up to at least 90 in the beginning and by the time I’m finished it’s over 100.  In the summertime we keep a fan on very low, just to circulate the air.

Since the room small, the electric is all on a single circuit breaker and we couldn’t run both heaters on the same circuit.  To solve that problem, we connect one of the heaters to a HEAVY DUTY extension cord and run it down the stairs to a separate circuit.

There is no door on the room, so we closed it off with a heavy drapery curtain from ceiling to floor.  We also placed some of those weighted draft blockers (long beanbag type things) on the bottoms of the curtains to prevent any drafts.

I hope this information helps.  If you have any other questions, please ask!  I tried to cover everything.

Barb

Hi Barb!  Thanks for your reply!

That’s good to know about the infrared heater.  I’ll more than likely have to practice in the basement, which is finished.  The room is about 600 or 700 square feet so I have a substantial area to heat.

I’m trying to figure out a way to do this in one of our spare bedrooms which has yet to be furnished with a bed.  If I can use that then we are talking about an 11 x 11 room which equates to 121 square feet—much smaller and easier to heat.  Chad from the yoga design studio that Gabrielle posted above emailed me back and said that I might be able to do radiant ceiling panels.  Not sure how costly that is. I can’t imagine I would need many due to the size of the room.

Thanks again!!