Awaken Yoga offers a variety of yoga styles to accommodate everyone from the raw beginner all the way through to the advanced student.

• We offer a traditional Hot Yoga class

• Hot Flow classes that string together the poses

• Hot Vinyasa that strings the poses together with sun salutations and a challenging, well choreographed sequence

• Warm and Gentle class for the beginner and for students that want a more relaxing, restorative class.

What Is Hot Yoga?

Hot Yoga is practicing yoga in a heated room. Originally it was done to simulate the atmospheric conditions in Calcutta, India where this lineage of yoga began. Today, we realize that the benefits of the heat during practice are great, here are a few to mention:

• Your body burns fat more effectively.

• The heat produces a fluid-like stretch which allows for a greater range of movement in joints, muscles, ligaments and other supporting structures of the body.

• Capillaries will dilate in the heat which aids in effectively oxygenating the tissues, muscles, glands and organs to aid in the removal of toxins.

• Your metabolism speeds up the breakdown of glucose and fatty acids

• Your muscles and connective tissue become more elastic which allows for greater flexibility with less chance of injury during exercise.

• The skin, the body’s largest organ dextoxifies through sweating

The room similates the body during fever when fighting infection; the body temperature rises then
T-cell’s from the lymphatic system are called to action; this improves our immune system. Yoga helps to be the “heart” of the lymphatic system moving lymphatic fluids throughout the body to fight infection, fungus, removal of cancerous cells; this is especiallly true during inversions

Yoga Studio Etiquette

Whether you are new to Awaken Yoga or are a longtime student, it is always helpful to review “Yoga Studio Etiquette” so that you and others may enjoy an optimal environment for your practice

Help us promote harmony in the yoga studio by following these simple guidelines…

• Please turn your cell phone off or on silent with vibration before entering the classroom. It’s disturbing to other students to hear your phone ring.

• If you need to leave early, please leave quietly and prior to the start of Final Shavasana so you do not disturb the relaxation and meditation of other students.

• Please wipe down prior to leaving the yoga room so you do not slip and fall or cause others to fall.

• Please do not wear fragrance to class as fellow students may be sensitive or allergic to scents.

• Always advise your instructor of any injuries (past or present).

Is yoga a religion?

Yoga is not a religion. It is a philosophy that began in India an estimated 5,000 years ago. The father of classical ashtanga yoga (the eight-limbed path, not to be confused with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois’ Ashtanga yoga) is said to be Patanjali, who wrote the Yoga Sutra. These scriptures provide a framework for spiritual growth and mastery over the physical and mental body.

Yoga sometimes interweaves other philosophies such as Hinduism or Buddhism, but it is not necessary to study those paths in order to practice or study yoga.  It is also not necessary to surrender your own religious beliefs to practice yoga.

Namaste