Hot Yoga for Children

[lotus4]

#1677

Is there an age that is appropriate for children to practice hot yoga? My son is 8 and I am thinking he is too young to practice it with the additional heat but maybe it might be okay without the heat. He expresses an interest in yoga. If it is fine for him, would he complete the two sets or only one set? Thanks for any advice!

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#6271

Hi Sandra

If the child has interest then that is a good place to start. I think that the environment has to be considered. If your studio is heated to body temperature and not more (in other words you have a controlled environment where nose-bleed temperatures are not the norm) then it is OK!

Take a look at other considerations that we discussed in these other threads:

>> Yoga For Kids

>> How Old Do You Need To Be To Start?

>> Would Hot Yoga Be Good For A 10 Year Old Child With Diabetes Type I?

I hope that helps you!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

[browntoes]

#6301

Hello,

I came to the site today looking for information on children and hot yoga. My question is to do with sweat gland development (I did not see that topic addressed specifically).

My understanding is that most children are developing their sweat glands around the age of 12. I read somewhere that it is best to wait, for girls, until after their first period and for boys, until their first growth spurt.

Could you please comment on this?

Thanks!

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#6359

Hi Kira

It was always my understanding that everyone (well almost) has sweat glands. All kids sweat. It is just that at puberty they develop the type of sweat glands that secrete directly into the hair follicle. This is the type of sweat gland that produces the distinctive smell!!!

I am almost positive that there is nothing but anecdotal evidence and opinion rather than any definitive rule about kids doing the yoga. If your child does gymnastics or runs, or swims or plays football or just runs around, they are sweating.

May I ask you what exactly you have been told and perhaps any fears you have because of it? It would certainly be interesting to know.

I personally can’t see a reason – based on sweat gland development – why a child would have to be excluded. Of course common sense prevails and you would not challenge them (or anyone) with ridiculously high temperatures. I am as ever, happy to hear what others have to say to introduce me to other reasons and be convinced otherwise.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

[browntoes]

#6389

Thank you for the reply.

Full disclosure:

I am a teacher of hot yoga. I raised the question as I was doing some research on my own about children and heat. Thank you for clarifying that children sweat. Yes, they sure do, even in kids yoga classes but I wondered if they could effectively cool down at such high temperatures without the development of the “puberty glands”.

I have recently had a mother dropping off (!!!) her 11 year old and a friend, also aged 11, for hot yoga class. I personally feel it is too young. I suppose my fear is based on the North American litigious society. 😉 I have images of them passing out and conking their heads on the floor. I don’t know that they are properly hydrating. My language is anatomically based and I doubt they understand a lot of the terms or directions. I also feel that to keep them safe in the class I must devote a great deal of time and attention to them, which takes away from the other students in the class.

I have dealt with the problem by speaking to the studio director about setting guidelines for the Guest Services department with regards to children in both hot and power classes (my power classes are heated too).

I cannot find any evidence to support the idea that they can’t do hot yoga but honestly I don’t think they should be there. There are plenty of kids classes and kid friendly classes. At the very least, a parent should be present.

Your thoughts?

[bonmar]

#6392

Scandalous!! Ridiculous!! I totally think the parent should be present.

[Robert Scanlon (Webmaster)]

#6396

I think the parent should be present until the child is capable of practicing with minimal supervision. After that I don’t really have any issue with “being dropped off” – this happens all over the world for gymnastics; swimming and various other sports, so as long as professionals are on hand and are CPR trained etc I don’t see why not.

I think you are spot on browntoes about hydration and that would be worth making a condition of attendance/practice.

We found that 10 was about the earliest a young student could really manage the stamina and balance, as well as heat acclimatization – but in our view, they have to WANT to do it.

If it is a case of the mother/father/guardian insisting they do it because they somehow think “it would be good for them” (ie “to calm you down”), then I’d refuse unless they practice alongside them. Simply dropping them off if the potential student has no real interest is possibly more emotionally damaging than anything – especially if the parent doesn’t practice or has no interest!

I like the idea that they experiment first with a child-targeted class – somewhat less “in your face” and a heck of a lot easier for the instructor to manage.

[mjok]

#7651

Has the Hot Yoga Doctor spoken to an actual doctor to come up with her observations about children practicing yoga in a hot room?

this article is from Yoga Journal and it has a quotation from a pediatrician…

http://blogs.yogajournal.com/yogabuzz/2010/07/hot-yoga-for-kids.html

Dr. Alanna Levine says
“I do not recommend that young children participate in Bikram yoga. Children handle high temperatures differently than adults. They have a higher surface-area-to-mass ratio, which means they absorb heat more than adults do. They also have a smaller blood volume, which makes it harder for them to dissipate the heat. Lastly, they have a slower rate of sweat production than adults, and sweating is a mechanism to cool us off. Children are not ‘mini adults’ — and should not be treated as such.”

now doesn’t that make more sense than a bunch of mumbo jumbo about sweat glands and “everybody sweats”. Doing yoga in a room with added heat and humidity is VERY different from playing soccer or doing gymnastics…

don’t get me wrong i love the hot yoga practice and i teach yoga in my community but it has to be understood that it is a very intense practice and is not for everyone.

we each of us have a responsibility to keep our community safe and functional… do your research and check your sources… don’t listen to someone just cos their username has the word “doctor” in it.

[Robert Scanlon (Webmaster)]

#7652

Nor should you believe random posts in any forum – do your homework and your research. Personally I am skeptical of any “expert opinion” having seen science hijacked in the name of pseudo-science on many occasions. For almost all scientific points of view you’ll find an expert proffering their dissent – certainly when it comes to hot yoga.

When it comes to a hot room, anyone needs to take due care and attention, especially teachers who love to deliberately run a room intensely hot because in my opinion it is not advisable to allow the heat index to rise too high (and you can do you homework on what you believe too high is!).

As we’ve indicated, below 10 is probably not a good idea – so when anyone reads the quote:

I do not recommend that young children participate in Bikram yoga.

Please note that the age is not specified in that quote and that the article refers to someone bringing their 4-year-old to class.

Please refrain from attacking people because of a story you are telling yourself about their username.

Gabrielle practiced as a dentist for many years, partly why we chose the “Hot Yoga Doctor” name.

[Anonymous]

#7658

Ok, I just HAVE to put my two cents worth in…

Browntoes, it seems to me that Bikrams studios have clients fill out a medical history form. This form will limit the liability of the studio itself. If a client fills it out and states that he/she and/or their child is fit to do so and has seen a physician prior to starting, then the studio’s liability is limited. And the physician has given clearance to do this form of exercise. Although if something untoward were to happen, it WOULD be a mess to sort out, that’s for sure. And I too would be worried about lawsuits — this day and age, that seems to be sensible given the number of dodgy lawsuits that are routinely initiated.,

Mjok, you will never ever convince me that children involved in competitive gymnastics, who live away from home and train for hours, “don’t sweat” or don’t exert themselves. Same goes for children at, say, the live-in Royal Ballet school from the age of 10 as full-time dance students. Same goes for kids who are in rep Hockey, all in their gear and doing skating drills for two or three hours a day. These kids are treated as athletes. Their bodies respond just fine. In fact, I’m pretty sure that they are training waaaay more intensely and frequently than the average adult Bikram’s student. It is also interesting to me that you would slam Dr. Gabrielle (who is a doctor in a health science field – just google her for her amazing CV) by quoting an alleged pediatrician from an online source! That was particularly rich!!!! There are equal odds that this pediatrician hasn’t heard of Bikram’s Yoga, doesn’t DO Bikram’s Yoga, or has a skewed vision of what Bikram’s Yoga is. And there is a 100 percent chance that if this same doctor was asked “Is it safe for my child to attend the Royal School of Ballet as a fulltime student?” the answer would be a resounding “OK COURSE” (if indeed this expert is actually a pediatrician).You don’t really know the bias or the background of the pediatrician in question. In fact, you don’t know the bias of the Yoga journal in question, either. A journalist could ask any 10 yoginis from other yoga disciplines about Bikram’s Yoga and he/she’d get an earful of negativity from at least 8 of them, which would be duly recorded without presenting a true or balanced viewpoint of the issue at hand. So info in a Yoga journal doesn’t really mean a whole lot to me as I’m not convinced about the objectivity/bias of the individual writing the article, the editor involved, or the actual publication. This is no different than saying “Gee, I read in “UFO Weekly” that Dr. Jones of The New UFO Research Group states that 9 out of 10 adults have been abducted by aliens and are suppressing the memories…hmmm…this MUST be true. I read it in a UFO journal and a Dr. said it…here’s the online source to prove it!

My personal opinion is that if the studio accepts a student of this age as a “drop off” student, there isn’t much else one can do about it other than find another studio to teach at or join as a student it makes one uncomfortable. The only other comparison is if a child is dropped off at supervised swim lessons — often the parents don’t stay either as it is a taught and supervised class. The same goes for Hockey Camp, or soccer practice, or for football. Gyms don’t accept kids as drop-off clients when the equipment or activity is unsupervised, such as free swim time at the pool — children under the age of 16 need a guardian, for example. This is a different case.

However, having a child in class would really does put a bigger burden on a teacher as there is clearly an increased sense of watchfulness and alertness that has to be focused on a youngster. I suspect that if the others find this distracting, then they will vote with their feet and find another studio (or another class time at the very least). I also suspect that the teachers will vote with their feet if they find that the studio policy of kids in Hot Yoga class is hindering their ability to teach. Other than that, there isn’t much more that can be done. I know that I personally would find my practice hindered as I would be focusing on making sure that the child in question is not in distress, and I would elect to take a different class. I don’t what I would do as a teacher, and I don’t envy a teacher in this position.

As for the parent of the 8 year old, there are a whole number of yoga-for-kids programs out there. It might be a great place to start. At these classes, they will be able to develop a sense of the discipline of yoga and be able to interact like children with other like-minded children. It would be hard for most 8 year olds to do ANYTHING in silence for 30 minutes, let alone an hour, let alone an hour and a half! And it would be hard to find an 8 year old who would be happy lying in silence in savasana for any length of time if he/she could not continue the poses or had to go to the bathroom RIGHT NOW (not that adults don’t do this but seriously, have you ever been on a road trip with an eight year old and NOT stopped at every single roadside rest area to use the bathroom? or said “keep it quiet! don’t make me come BACK there!!!!” at some point during the trip?) And it would be unfair to the other practitioners to bring in a child who either could not abide by the silent practice concept or who elects to leave and reenter the room by virtue of his/her age. The Bikram’s experience may just not be suitable for a child of this age in an adult-oriented class. Bikram’s yoga isn’t going anywheres, and your child will be able to approach it with a disciplined mind and an understanding of the fundamentals of yoga in just a few years.

Freia

[browntoes]

#7726

Thanks again for all the replies. Just to keep everyone informed – I personally do not want to teach children hot yoga and all of the studios I work at have since implemented a minimum age of 15 for hot classes. I do not teach Bikram style hot yoga and I cannot comment on what they do there. For me, it is less about liability and more about keeping my students safe, regardless of their age.

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