Providing the perfect hot yoga experience is heavily reliant on maintaining the

required temperature and humidity. John Barker of Humidity Solutions explains

The right conditions for hot yoga

O

ne of the key elements of hot yoga is to create

an environment with a combination of heat and

humidity that encourages sweating and detoxing

more effectively than would be the case with

dry heat.

The typical temperature for a hot yoga studio is around 40°C

with a relative humidity (RH) of at least 40%. In this respect, the

humidity is important because perspiration will not evaporate as

quickly at 40% RH as it would in drier air, so the body is not cooled

as quickly by evaporation, thereby encouraging healthy sweating.

Keeping the body warm also enables better stretching, so that

students attain maximum benefits from their exercises.

Humidity and temperature

There isn’t space here to fully explain the relationship between

temperature and humidity but suffice it to say that when from the

outside air is heated its relative humidity falls. This means that if

fresh air entering a hot yoga studio is heated to the required 40°C,

additional moisture will have to be introduced to achieve an RH

of 40%.

Given the necessity to raise the RH considerably, a lot of water will

need to be evaporated, which means that hot yoga studios require

a good commercial or industrial humidifier – domestic humidifiers

haven’t the capacity to deliver sufficient moisture to the air.

Solutions

Appropriate humidification solutions range from humidifiers that

use heat to generate steam, through to high pressure nozzle

systems that spray cold water into the air as a fine mist so that it

evaporates instantly. Similarly, there are many heating options, the

most common in hot yoga studios being gas or electric warm air

heaters, or infra-red radiant panels.

The important thing is that the chosen solution suits the size

of the studio, the nature of the building and its utilities, variation

in occupancy and the space available for the humidification

equipment.

Very often the simplest and most cost-effective solution will be

to use an all-in-one unit, specially designed for hot yoga studios,

that combines heating, humidification and air filtration, with

optional heat recovery.