There are almost thirty of us, arms length, in an abandoned meat packing plant. The young woman next to me is overcome with pain that spills over with an anguished cry and beads of sweat pouring down her forehead. No, we aren't about to get murdered; we're doing cool yoga! It's the hottest yoga trend taking the country by storm (snow storm that is).
"Yoga is supposed to be an immersive experience." explains Whisper Roti, yogi of Ice Crystal Yoga, "And 'Hot Yoga' was the first yoga to incorporate the elements into a student's yoga environment." Since then, he explained, there's been a number of elemental types of yoga; Really Hot Yoga, Hotter Yoga, Heat Stroke Yoga, and of course Molten Yoga. The latter involves practicing the art on a lava flow and / or with the aid of lava.
"These heat related yoga's have been really good at exercising the toxins out of our bodies. There's also great relaxation benefits. But people going for a quick lunch session became too relaxed, often falling asleep at work." He says while correcting my pose. Shivering, my left arm flails moving erratically in and out of position. But this is actually what provides Cool Yoga's greatest benefit. "The shivering burns many more calories than you could ever do with Hot Yoga. And trying to maintain pose while shivering builds a lot of yoga discipline."
It doesn't take long to understand why it has so many proponents. Soon after my first session, I noticed my skin became taught with goosebumps and a cool to the touch feeling. Molten Yoga had a tendency to singe off eyebrows as a result of the hot lava. This was an added benefit when the no-eyebrow look was the fashion. But now that eyebrows are back in vogue, Cool Yoga means they're left intact and ready to go. With all that it has to offer, it's easy to see why this hot trend shows no signs of cooling down.