Yoga Heats Up in Wilbraham - abc40

Yoga Heats Up in Wilbraham

WILBRAHAM- Donna Collins’ yoga studio in Wilbraham is the hot place to be. Among the many ways she is helping keep people fit is a form of exercise called “Hot Yoga”

Donna says: “It’s a practice and it’s done in 85 to 90 degree rooms. What it does is induces heat in the body and what they are doing is they are breathing in a specific way”

They breath with their mouths closed, taking in air only through their nose. That creates internal heat that allows the body to more effectively perspire and purify itself. Collins teaches a variety of classes including those called Cupallo

“Cupallo is a sanscrit word and it translates into compassion and so the idea behind Cupallo when you practice on your mat is to have compassion for yourself and for others in the room. So treating yourself kindly as you practice and not trying to do something that you’re not supposed to be doing.”

Betsea Fernandes is a yoga student: “I come to yoga to practice my strength training as well as gain steadiness of mind and ease of mind and to have a more stress free life.”

And the Breathe Yoga studio in Wilbraham emphasizes the important balance between a healthy body and mind.

Donna says: “It’s not just about the physical body. I like to say that,yes, there are great physical benefits to yoga but in the big picture I think that everything that you take from yoga is more beneficial I think to us in the long run”

And to that end, Donna says some of the most beneficial classes are the one that focus on what’s above the shoulders:

“It’s basically a meditation so students come into the studio and they lay on their backs and they get in a real comfortable position and I guide them through a meditation and talk for more than an hour and what it does is bring their body to a very relaxed position”