Getting desperate after near-psychedelic experience due to heat: Any links for "scientific" evidence?

Hi everyone,

I’m wondering if anyone has found some good write ups online about heat <-> humidity, so I’ve got something solid to take to one of my teachers.

A bit of background: I’ve done Bikram yoga for about 2.5 years now, about 2-3 times a week, and loving it. I especially love the heat; it was one of the main things that attracted me to it! BUT – my studio has one instructor who overdoes it with the heat to the point that a lot of regulars have to lie down and report nausea etc. I’m one of them, and only in her classes. I love her teaching style (not a dialogue addict, adds lots of excellent extra info) and everything else about her, but am starting to dread her classes because I end up not being able to participate properly and worry about long term effects on my health. In her last class it got so bad that in addition to my ‘normal’ bouts of nausea, dizziness, and extreme weakness/ exhaustion, my eyesight and hearing went completely bonkers. Everything suddenly went very crisp but with no depth, and the volume of her voice was turned down as if I was underwater. This lasted for a few minutes and, frankly, worried me a little.

My studio has no windows, but 4 small vents in the ceiling (2 in, 2 out, fan-assisted), so air circulation is not the best. Most teachers use the vents/fans 3 or 4 times during class; she normally doesn’t or if so, only for a couple of seconds. With 30-45 people in the room, humidity builds up fast. Other teachers seem to understand this and keep the temperature down a bit as a trade off, but she keeps it at 42 degrees (we’ve asked), never mind the humidity. Oh, and the sensor sits on the pedestal at the teacher’s feet, so probably not the most accurate reading.

I’ve read in other threads here that you recommend keeping the temp lower and using the humidity for the rest. This make sense to me, since I assume the higher the humidity, the less sweat will evaporate, so the hotter you get. Is that right? Is there anywhere that explains this in scientific terms, maybe even with some formula like 80% humidity = + 3 degrees? I think that would really help our cause. The teacher just uses the old “everybody comes in with the body & mind they have that day”, saying it’s not about the temperature, but about our mindset. And many of our fellow yogis do to make it through class, so maybe she is right. It just seems too much of a coincidence that it’s always her classes that are such a struggle…

Any input appreciated.

Thanks!
🙂