Andrea.*F.

Hello Adeline,

I am a graduate from Gabrielle’s Teacher Training.

Welcome to the Forum and Hot Yoga! I’s natural that you have all these questions. Good news is, that we all ask pretty much the same things when we first start to practise. I have included some links to other threads on this forum, where I trust you’ll find what you are looking for 😉

Craving and appetite:
One of the great things about practsing yoga is that it can teach you to respect, know and love your own body. The human body is brilliant and it will always find a way to send you signals if it needs something that it’s not getting at the moment. So my first suggestion would be is to have a look at your cravings differently and don’t think they are ‘horrible’. They are just signals your body is sending you. What do you feel like eating after class and what are the types of food you are avoiding at the moment?

Nobody should claim that you will lose your appetite when practising yoga. It will help to bring your appetite to an optimal level. To some that may mean eating less, to some of us though it means an increase in appetite, depending on your diet. Sometimes, I am starving after a yoga class and that’s just normal! Your energy level is high, your metabolism is high and your blood sugar is low. You NEED to eat and feed your body if you want it to work hard for you! Have a fruit smoothie or vegetable juice (and of course drink plenty of water) and your body will thank you for it.

Sea salt:
Here is a really good thread, where Gabrielle answers all your questions about SALT. Celebrities may be skinny and many of them look unhappy and rather unhealthy too, if you ask me. Besides, we know that what’s seen on TV is rarely true or right. 😉

Toning up the body:
The answer to that question is: yes yes and Yes! 🙂 With a regular practise you will see incredible changes physically and mentally. You can read more about that HERE!

Diet and 30 Day Challenge:
There are many different conversations going on about these popular subjects. You can read more about them here:
Food and Yoga practice 30 Day Challenge

I hope you’ll find the answers to your questions. Have fun discovering the Forum.

Enjoy your practice!

Namaste,

Andrea

Hello JLee and Sue,

I am a teacher from Gabrielle’s Teacher Training.

As Sue suggested above, I too think the question to ask is: how much salt do you have in your diet JLee? Potassium is important for sure but when practising yoga, replenishing the electrolytes is the main priority besides hydrating with water. It sounds to me that what you are experiencing is electrolyte deficiency. That can lead to tiredness, cramps, aches and many other things.

How often do you practise?

My understanding is that potassium works with sodium to maintain the body’s water balance. IMHO, increasing potassium level in your body won’t help in your case, as increased potassium may increase the amount of sodium excreted from the body. Though what your body needs IS electrolytes, sodium…salt!

Gabrielle suggests the best thing to do, is to have about half a tea spoon of sea/celtic/himalayan rock salt a day. Spread out evenly, a pinch on your food, a pinch in your ‘yoga water’…. Make sure it is some kind of natural salt though, NEVER table salt (which has lots of chemicals in it and zero minerals). Keep adding that suggested amount of salt to your diet for about 4 weeks and observe your body. Almost every fruit and vegetable has the necessary amount of potassium in it, so I don’t think you need to take potassium supplement on the side.

I hope you’ll find that useful! 😉 I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Namaste,

Andrea

Hello Beng,

I am a teacher from Gabrielle’s Teacher Training!

Feeling dizzy is usual at the beginning of one’s Hot Yoga Journey. It takes a few classes until your body gets used to the heat. You can help your body adept to the extreme conditions of Hot Yoga by drinking more water then you normally do and making sure that you replenish your electrolytes. These are essential for optimal health!

As to the suffocating sensation, I think you would find Gabrielle’s Video On Deep Breathing very useful! Breath is such a natural and unconscious reflex that sometimes we don’t realize when it gets shallow. Watch the video and try to apply Gabrielle’s tips in your next class.

I’d like to hear about your experience, so definitely come back and tell Us how things unfold 🙂

I hope that helps!

Namaste,

Andrea

Hi Kelsey,

I am a teacher from Gabrielle’s Teacher Training!

Welcome to Hot Yoga and The Forum! 😉

Many find Fixed Firm Pose Challenging indeed! I’d like you to answer a few questions!

– Have you ever had any knee injuries in the past?
– Can you please explain that ‘bad’ movement? In what position were you in, when you did that?

If other poses don’t cause pain, visiting classes shouldn’t be a problem. However as soon as you feel sharp pain in your knee, you need to stop and by no means should you push through that sensation! I personally think that quitting a few classes wouldn’t hurt either, you can go back to practicing anytime. Your knees are precious so make sure you take care of them (and your body in general!)

I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Namaste,

Andrea

Hi Olga,

I just saw that you posted your question here as well!

I responded to the other one. You can view it HERE. 🙂

Namaste,

Andrea

You are welcome Joyce! 🙂

It’s great to hear from you! I hope it’ll help you in the long run. Do keep us posted!

All the best,

Andrea

Hello Joyce,

How have you been?

Have you had any success with setting up a meal plan for your night shifts?

This is a very interesting subject and it effects so many people…

I’d love to hear about your experience 🙂

Namaste,

Andrea

Hi Cher!

Thanks for your questions!

Fixed firm pose is a tough one indeed and many of us find it very challenging. Everybody for a different reason. What you are experiencing is quite common. Before any specific suggestions are made, can you answer me a few questions please?
– Is it a sharp pain you feel in your ankles or more of an intense stretching sensation?
– Do you feel discomfort in the tops of your feet too or is it all in your ankles and Achilles?
– When you are in this pose, do you make sure that your toes are pointing backward and your feet are not resting on the arches?

It’s very important that you are patient and allow your body to open up. Sitting down fully sometimes takes months, so just take your time!When practising this pose, you might find it helpful to place your hands behind or beside you and hold yourself up that way. Leaning your body weight into your hands will help you control the distance between your bottom and the mat. Also, that way you can take some pressure off your ankles.

As to the carpet cleanliness, the best thing to do is to enquire about it at the studio you practise. This comes down to their decision! I understand your concern though, this is a very important question. Given that you practise with so many other people around you, it is natural that you’d like to be assured about the studio’s good hygiene! So feel free to go up to the staff members. There is no harm in asking! 😉

I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Namaste,

Andrea

Hi Darla,

I am graduate from Gabrielle’s Teacher Training!

Hmm…I see this situation is upsetting you, I hope we can come up with something that you’ll find helpful! 😉 So what exactly makes you think that you are overweight if you love the way you look and feel great in your own body? Is it merely the numbers or you actually FEEL the need of losing weight?

You mentioned that you have been working out for a while…you didn’t describe what kind of work out that was but if it makes you gain muscles it explains why you weigh more than you ‘should’. Muscles weigh 3 times more than fat, this is why I don’t believe that merely by stepping on a scale one can measure well being and health! The more you exercise the heavier you might be from muscle gain.

A more hot yoga related question: Do you keep well hydrated? Are you making sure that after sweating the minerals out in a hot yoga class, you replenish electrolytes? These are very important aspects to maintain ideal body weight too.

Given that you live a physically active lifestyle (but even if you didn’t) starvation is a big No No! If you would like to loose more weight, then perhaps you would like to tell me about what and when you eat. There might be some changes to your diet you would consider making!

I think that’s enough questions for now 🙂

I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Namaste,

Andrea

Hi Dana,

I am a graduate from Gabrielle’s Teacher Training!

It’s great that you found Hot Yoga! 🙂 I hope we can help you feel much better so you can continue your practice!

Let me ask you a few questions:
– How much water do you drink?
– Do you eat on the days you practise?
– Do you supplement? If yes, what do you take? How do you replenish your electrolytes?
– Do you happen to know what the temperature is in your studio?

Please get back to me on these, as soon as you can!

Also, Allison is right, guilt is not the kind of motivation that should get you to yoga classes. You have no reason for feeling guilty. Enjoy your practice instead, listen to your body! If it’s resting what it needs, let it be! Rest, eat well and drink plenty of water!

I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Namaste,

Andrea

Hello Joyce!

I am graduate from Gabrielle’s Teacher Training!

I used to work 12 hours at night and I feared whatever I ate was wrong, merely because of the timing! I know it seems to be difficult to maintain a healthy diet under these circumstances and I am happy to say that there is hope! 🙂

Calories and food are the same day and night! The reason we are advised not to eat after 7pm is because of the assumption, that you won’t be physically active enough between dinner and going to sleep to make use of a big meal. If you fuel your body with a lot of food but you don’t actually make use of it, then it gets stored as fat.

A great way to prevent weight gain is eating smaller portions, more frequently rather than big, hearty meals 2 or 3 times a day. In my opinion, it’d be best for you to eat mainly raw fruits and vegetables, some dried fruits and maybe even some nuts during your late night working hours. Fresh fruits and veggies are easy do digest and are high water content food. You would have to eat a bit more often of course (maybe every 2-3 hours) but they would definitely keep you running despite the late hours! Digestion requires an incredible amount of energy, especially when it comes to cooked meals! Cooked food might keep you ‘satisfied’ for a longer period of time but you will feel tired and will be robbed from energy!

If you get really hungry, you can always have something ‘heavier’ such as bananas, dried fruits and occasionally nuts. Even something light as crackers or a piece of toast is fine! It all comes down to a personal preference of course! If I were you, I would definitely opt for light, more frequent meals. You can eat as much fresh fruits and veggies as you like, you’ll have more energy and your body will thank you for it! 😉 Eat mainly raw, light and drink plenty of water! (I wish I had this information when I did late night shifts! Ha! 🙂 )

I hope that’s helpful! I look froward to hear from you!

Best wishes,

Andrea

Hello Blue,

Thanks for your detailed response!

In my opinion you need to drink more water and take more (celtic,sea,himalayan) salt to replenish your electrolytes! Even though you mentioned that you have ‘some’ in your diet I am getting the sense that your body needs more of it. Can you tell me what exactly you mean when you say: you don’t over drink? Practising in extreme heat is a really big challenge for the body and if it is not properly hydrated, it goes into an ‘alarm mode’. One of the body’s way of dealing with dehydration and lack of electrolytes is bloating.

I understand that you didn’t state everything (or I hope you didn’t) on that list when explaining what your diet consists of. Though it seems to me that you don’t eat a lot of raw fruits and vegetables but you do eat a lot of grains, nuts and oat which are a bit more difficult to dygest. Out all the food we eat, fruits and vegetables have the highest water content! Especially if you find it difficult to drink a lot of water, eating more raw fruits and veggies could greatly benefit you and help you to get more water into your system!

I think it’s great that you are so conscious of what you eat, however I noticed that when talking about a clean diet you stressed out that you eat no sugar. Are you trying to avoid fat too (apart from what you get from eating grains and nuts)? As far as I understand, fat, sugar ad carbs are essential parts of a healthy diet, for as long as you know ‘where to get them from’. It may very well be that if you follow such a strict diet, that has an effect on how you feel in your yoga class.

I love to drink coconut water!! 🙂 I am a coconut addict in fact. However, I must point out that as beneficial and healthy as it is, it does not replenish electrolytes you lose by sweating! Hey, if you enjoy coconut water, I think you should try coconut oil! Try taking it in little amounts (less than a tea spoon per day), every day. You can put it on your salad, in your smoothie or just take it as it is. I’d do that, as I said, I have an addiction… 🙂

I do think you should give your body a break from practising in the heat. My suggestion is to experiment with drinking more water, taking more salt (1 tea spoon a day for 4 weeks, as I mentioned in the prev. post) and eating more raw fruits and veggies too. See how you feel after a few days!

I honestly hope you will you’ll find the above useful and that it may be something that can help you!

Share your thoughts with me. I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Namaste,

Andrea