Top 5 Tips: Hot Yoga Studio Design

Whether you are looking to build a brand new, purpose built hot yoga studio, or add heating to an existing yoga centre to provide an additional offering to your customers / clients / yogis, there are 5 things to consider:

Euro Controls UK Ltd have produced a 5 Step article on the fundamentals to designing your very own hot yoga studio.  Read Article

Infra Red Saunas - Risky Business?

The Benefits vs The Risks Of Using Infra Red Saunas

The Infra Red Sauna Effect have written a couple of juicy articles on the effects of using infra red technology for use in a sauna.

Picture: Celestial Health Centre

 It is worth a read if you are thinking of installing an infra red sauna at home: http://www.the-infrared-sauna-effect.com/dangers-of-the-infrared-sauna.html

Secondly, have a look through the benefits of using infra heating for a home sauna:  http://www.the-infrared-sauna-effect.com/benefits-of-the-infrared-sauna.html



 So, do check with your doctor before installing an infrared sauna in to your home, and be clear on the potential health risks.

Once you get the all clear, enjoy the detoxing, cleansing feeling of stepping into a beautifully made sauna for you and the family.

Infra Red Hot Yoga: Air Temperature vs How You Feel

Thinking Of Using Infra Red Heating For Hot Yoga?

I guess this is a gentle reminder to those using infra red heating, or thinking of using infra red heating for their yoga studio - there is an important point to make about how we use the desired air temperature of the room to determine how much power is needed from the panel heaters.

Heats Like The Sun

The type of heat emitted from the heaters is the same as the type of heat we experience from standing in the sun on a hot day.  Yes, the air temperature has increased because of the infra red waves from the sun, but that is due to the sun heating the earth's surface, the buildings, the trees and anything else in the way of the infra red waves.  This is the way that infra red heating panels work - they simply heat like the sun.

Standing on the mountain

Picture: Beliefnet.com

We have to use a standard air room thermostat to turn the heating on in the room, and to give the heaters a target to aim for - however, what you experience on your skin from the infra red heaters and what the room temperature is, will be different.  It goes back to the example of how radiant heating works in the winter months - stand on a mountain side (if you are in a fortunate enough position to do so!), where temperatures are in the minus but with a clear blue sky, and you will feel heat from the sun even though the air is cold - this is how radiant heating works - it is the direct heat transfer from one object to another and not how high the air temperature of the room is.  So, we use a room thermostat to turn the heaters on to maximum power and then use the thermostat to turn them off when the air temperature of say 40⁰C is reached - and, if you practice long enough in a room where you have X number of heaters pumping out non harmful infra red waves you will experience the heat, that's for sure.


If you need people to feel warmth as soon as they walk in to the room, simply use a fan heater (see pic), booster heater or fan coil to warm the air up.

FRICO Fan Heater - Perfect For Pre  Heating

The fan heater can be plugged in to the mains power supply in between classes to raise the temperature of the air to a level that will feel very warm upon entering, all the while the infra red heaters will get to work heating the surfaces and eventually the yogis as they begin their practice.

The fan heaters we supply are manufactured to an industrial standard by  FRICO, Sweden (and they sure know a lot about chilly climates!

Hope that helps!

If you would any more information on how we go about selecting the right number of heaters, give us a call - we look at the following:

• Maximum number of people in the room
• The maximum air temperature required
• Size of the room
• The mounting height of the heaters
• Humidity control
• Ventilation

The Benefits Of Hot Yoga

We stick to what we do best - that is supplying infra red heaters!

So let us tell what the professionals think about infra red heating for hot yoga......
 

 Here's why Infrared Yoga, in Vancouver love providing hot yoga:

Infrared Yoga - Vancouver - Sarah Webster

At Infrared Yoga, we have married the ancient science of yoga, with all of it’s miraculous benefits, with the modern technology of far infrared heat.

Unlike regular hot yoga studios, far infrared heat actually has numerous therapeutic benefits. The room is not oppressively hot when you enter, as far infrared heat works by using your body’s own energy to heat the room as you move through your practice. The room only gets hot when you do.

Far infrared heat removes toxins that are stored in the body, improves flexibility & joint mobility, promotes healing, reduces muscle stiffness and pain, decreases soreness & inflammation, increases circulation, improves skin tone (it will even heal sunburn), promotes weight loss, enhances heart function, lowers blood pressure, reduces stress, and speeds cancer recovery.

And here is what the team at Hot Yoga Experience have to say:

Detox  with  Far  Infrared

When you are in a traditional Hot Yoga studio or Sauna, you are in a room with very hot air. In our studio and saunas, the Far Infrared heaters warm your body primarily and not the air. The warming effect on your body stimulates your cardiovascular system, your immune system, and your lymphatic system. The body responds by sweating. In addition to the Infrared heat triggering a profuse sweat, the water in our bodies also resonates with Far Infrared heat and this also helps with the detoxification process.

Benefits  of  Far  Infrared

• Burns hundreds of calories in 20-30 minutes
• Reduces stress and fatigue
• Strengthens the cardiovascular system
• Heals injuries faster and more efficiently
• Relieves pain and migraine headaches
• Ease joint pain and stiffness 
• Relaxes muscles and increases flexibility
• Deep cleanse skin naturally
• Remove toxins and mineral waste
• Improves the immune system

 

Here is what the LIVESTRONG website says about the benefits of using infra red heating:

 
The invisible waves of heat energy provided by infrared rays have the ability to permeate all layers of the body, penetrating into tissues, muscles and bone. When used as a part of medical treatment, far infrared therapy elevates the surface temperature of the body, which is believed to enhance body functioning on multiple levels. Far infrared heat lamps are often used in saunas and in hot yoga studios.

An Ancient Tradition

In 1922, a Japanese Buddhist Monk named Mikao Usui developed a technique called palm healing or reiki, as a form of complementary oriental medicine. Reiki practitioners believe that they can use internal infrared heat to transfer healing energy from one person to another. However, in 2008, a systematic review of randomized clinical trials failed to come up with sufficient evidence to prove claims of benefit from Reiki for conditions such as depression, pain or anxiety.

Melting Away Chronic Illness

Modern day use of infrared heat includes the use of far infrared heat lamps. These lamps provide all the healing components of natural infrared light without any of the negative effects of sun exposure. The subtle heating of far infrared rays has been shown to offer support to the immune system by increasing white blood cells and killer T-cells. Penetrating into the body, these healing rays have been shown to provide optimal conditioning to the cardiovascular system and provide an energy boost to the metabolic system. Boosting metabolism breaks down fat, cellulite, waste and other toxic substances. One hour of far infrared therapy has been shown to burn up to 900 metabolic calories while the sweating induced from its heat is believed to help the excretion of modern pollution levels in the body. "The Journal of the American College of Cardiology" has done studies that indicate that infrared sauna therapy improves blood vessel functioning significantly in high-cholesterol, smoking and diabetes patients because of lowered blood pressure, increased circulation, reduced blood sugars and weight loss.

Benefits to the Blood

Through expansion of capillaries that carry life giving blood, far infrared therapy increases oxygenation and regeneration of blood for improved functioning of the body's major organs. This deep detoxification may allow hidden toxins in the body's tissues to be immobilized or dissolved; heavy metals, poisons and carcinogenic material is thereby believed to be released from the body to enable optimal health.

Theories and Benefits for Mental Health

 

The availability of far infrared heat in saunas, clubs and hot yoga studios allows people to access the benefits of infrared heat easily. Along with the physical and physiological benefits of infrared heat are claims that far infrared heat may reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. Advocates believe that the reduction in mental health symptoms may be related to increased vitamin D production caused by regular exposure to far infrared heat which is beneficial in elevating and stabilizing the emotions, limbic and nervous system.

Considerations

Though infrared heat is being shown to have documented health benefits for many, caution should always be exercised when exposing the body to excessive heat during pregnancy, infancy, childhood and in the senior years to avoid dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and heat stroke. Contact your health care provider before beginning a regime of infrared exposure to assess if it is right for you.

 

And from one of our very own clients, The House of Yoga, Putney:

 

Some Benefits to practicing in the infrared environment:

·         Helps to improve your health from the inside out

·         Warming effect on your body that stimulates your immune, cardiovascular and lymphatic system

·         Effective healing towards old and existing injuries

·         Helps to flush toxins from the body, a cleanse from the inside out

·         Loosens muscles and stiff joints

·         Invigorates your mind and body and develops strength, focus, flexibility and balance

·         Boost levels of serotonin, the happy hormone

Hot Yoga At Home - Easy!

Picture this:  you flick off your shoes, slip in to your exercise gear, swtich on your hot yoga room at home and within minutes you are practicing hot yoga in complete privacy, in your own home......bliss!

Picture: Common Health

Hot yoga at home is about to sweep the yoga world, and we have created the amazing, new
"YOGA HOT BOX" - the first ever hot yoga studio that is custom made for the home, built to your liking, and would fit in a disused room, in the garage or at the back of the house in the garden.

Hot Yoga At Home: Use The Space!

The housing can be produced to blend in with the surroundings of your home, and depending on your preference, will look a little like a log cabin fitted with infrared heaters that are used in hot yoga studios.

Added Extras:  You will have the option of adding a scented humidifier to keep the relative humidty in the room nice and steady between, 55 and 65% rH, and provide a wonderful aroma to practice in.

In addition to this, we will install a state of the art plasma screen TV with DVD so that you can plug in your yoga DVD and have your very own class, enjoying freedom, happiness and complete privacy.


Mood lighting can be installed to create a calm environment to practice yoga moves, and to relax the mind.

Mood Lighting For Hot Yoga At Home

Despite the obvious theraperutic benefits of using a hot room (increased sweating, warmer muscles for longer stretches and greater wellbeing ), it can form a great addition to the home along side the home gym.  Imagine doing hot yoga in your own home during the cold harsh winter months, coming out feeling refreshed and invigorated afterwards!  Wonderful!


Hot yoga, practiced in the comfort of your own home providing health and wellbeing for you and the family!

We are taking orders, and will be exhibiting THE HOT BOX concept at The Yoga Show, London Olympia, October 26 - 28th October, 2012. 
 
Euro Controls UK Ltd - Heating & Cooling The Nation!
0870 7701500 / 01865 400 900 

https://twitter.com/eurocontrols

Infra Red Saunas - Imagine Having One Of These At Home!

Hot yoga is becoming increasingly popular among the yogi community, and it is always useful to know what other applications infra heating fits into - I'm taking a look at infra red saunas....

Red Saunas use infra red heating for saunas - what a fantastic concept. We are not affiliated in any way to Red Saunas, but I was browsing through other keywords for where / how to house infra red or radiant heating systems and came across these guys.

I'd seen infra red heated saunas advertised on the internet a while ago, but I can remember using one of those conventional saunas years ago at the local health club, and thinking - how on earth is that going to be better than having a normal sauna, and is it going to be as effective in getting the temperature up to 40 - 60⁰C?

Mind you, I haven't actually tried using an infra red sauna as yet, but knowing how hot the panels get in the office I can see it working (and I would guess Red Saunas wouldn't have much of a business if it didn't!).

Red Saunas

• No having to throw water over hot coals
• No having to wait ages for the sauna to heat up
• No hot spots
• Cost effective (much cheaper than a standard sauna)
• Clean
• Quick to set up
• Space saving......

You get total heating within the sauna to sweat those toxins out leaving you feeling refreshed and cleansed.

So along with infra red heating for the ceiling, underfloor heating, outdoor heating for the patio using infra red heating - you can now have your very own infra red sauna in the house / shed / garage / office???

Seriously, check this website out for more information: Red Saunas

Infra Heating Will Stop You Sneezing!

 If you are having problems with sneezing in the house - check out the heating system.  A conventional hot air system will be kicking up all sorts of dust and other allergens that get up your nose and cause the sneezing to start!

Here is a useful article explaining why.....


http://top100opinions.com/2011/01/infrared-heaters-home-heat/comment-page-1/#comment-3805

Picture: PLOS Blogs

Interview With Phil Alcock, MD, FRICO UK - Infra Red Heating

In the previous article, we spoke about the types of application (from the weird and wonderful to bog standard installation), the logeivity of such a system and how to calculate the energy savings derived from using infra heating technology.  In this, the last portion of the interview with Phil Alcock, MD of FRICO UK , we discuss the affects of infra red waves on the skin, what sort of sun tan (!) you can expect and we take a brief look at the future of infra red heating....

With regard to the infra red rays won’t it harm the body?

Interesting question actually because apart from you I don’t think I’ve been asked that before.  The facts are that radiant heating is part of the electromagnetic spectrum and it’s infrared and that is not to be confused with ultraviolet which is on the electromagnetic spectrum, but it is a completely different part of the wave length and also it is not to be confused with X-rays and micro waves which are obviously very dangerous.

Picture: Health Veda

Infrared is entirely benign and in fact as humans we are designed to feel comfortable with infrared energy and as mentioned previously, any warm surface gives off infrared energy which is perfectly safe.  It is not ultraviolet which is the harmful component of being in the sunshine which is also on a completely different end of the spectrum, in fact conversely infrared is widely known for its health benefits some of which can be overstated, and it’s not a cure all, but the fact that the body is designed to feel comfortable in the infrared energy will indicate that infrared heating is very beneficial.

Most people know that if you sit in an environment you need the air to feel quite warm to feel comfortable.  The humidity has an affect if you are sitting in a damp room the damp has an effect that’s also unhealthy.  You don’t get this problem with radiant heating, as it will heat the structures and prevent the condensation build up.

Plus, there is another health benefit to using infrared energy - there is no air movement. If you have a convection system there is always air movement because you set up a convection pattern – as warm air rises cold air falls to the ground, and that means that dust moves around the room along with anything else unpleasant in the air.  With an infrared system there is no air movement and it is very clean and that is why it is very popular in hospitals – they use a lot of radiant heating because they are concealed, meaning there are zero kinds of radiators to collect the dirt or pipe work to clean or nooks and crannies making it a very healthy system. 

So I won’t get a suntan from it then?

I’m afraid not – you might get a warm glow but not a tan!

What is the future for infrared heating?

Our experience is that it is growing all the time, particularly the electric infrared heating systems in the UK, it’s been a gas and radiators market and that is down to tradition more than science. Most people know that fuel costs are rising and gas is rising faster than electricity, and no fuel is cheap nowadays, but well insulated building are favouring systems (if you look at the running costs of a system) that requires no maintenance and is very cheap and easy to install, such as infrared heating.

So in domestic situations there is a move towards this sort of heating - we are also finding more and more use in commercial situations and sports environments, and that is a fast growing market because as you know there is more interest in health and leisure activities right now.

Picture: Getty Images

So we find that the uses and applications are growing all the time and we are always going to need heating, certainly in this country, but what we also find is that we can use less heating – the typical house heating load is a fraction of what it was a few decades ago.  Because the products are very flexible and able to fit into many different types of applications, it means infrared heaters can be used absolutely anywhere.

So would you agree because of the advancement of building design and construction that has encouraged this growth in using infrared technology?

Yes absolutely - no system is perfect and there are things to be considered when designing radiant heating systems.  One of the things to consider particularly in a residential and office situation is that you still need enough heat in the building to cover the heat loss, and if the heat loss is very high i.e. in a badly built leaky building, that would mean using a lot of radiant heating.  The problem can then be that it can appear too hot because our bodies can directly absorb the infrared heat coming from a large number of power infrared heaters -  and that was the problem in the past with heating these old badly put together buildings such as warehouses and large halls.

That’s all changed and now building regulations have changed and radiant heating comes in to its own.  One of the things that we bring to the market is having the expertise in how to apply the product to design a radiant heating system.  We have found that you have to be careful not to oversize it rather than undersize it, it is more often the case the system has been oversized and getting too warm than not warm enough. 

So it is important as part of the whole heating package that there is a controls system to make sure the system doesn’t get too hot, and again you need a bit of expertise and experience to design the system and to design it correctly so that it is working as perfectly as a heating system can. 

Thanks for your time Phil.