As the temperature rises, so does yoga's popularity

TORONTO (CUP) -- As I stood in front of the massive wooden door, I felt a wave of uneasiness. A gust of hot air hit me in the face as the door slowly opened and people silently slipped by me and began entering the room. I closed my eyes and frantically tried to recall why I was about to begin a 90-minute workout in a room heated to 100-115 degrees Fahrenheit when frankly, I could barely stay in a sauna for 15 minutes. Seeing my face, an elderly women touched my arm and asked, "honey, did you bring a water-bottle?" I shook my head no. "Well, grab one and let's go!"

Enter the world of Moksha Yoga. A world where people of all ages and abilities are flocking in great numbers to heated studios across North America. A world where high-energy dance moves are replaced with serene balanced poses and instructors who do not yell at you to keep pumping away - instead, they calmly motivate you to achieve balance and tranquillity.

Moksha yoga

The word "yoga" is a Sanskrit word that is derived from the Sanskrit root "yuj", which means to connect, join or balance. Moksha yoga is just one type of yoga. A Moksha yoga class can range from 60-90 minutes and is comprised of a series of positions and breathing exercises that is done in a heated studio. The focus is just as much on the spiritual and mental aspect of the workout, as it is on the physical. However, do not mistake heat yoga as the trendy, new workout that will soon falter into non-existence., Moksha yoga is here to stay.

As I began the class, I was surprised by how calm I felt. I thought that since I was in such a warm room, I might begin to panic but instead, as I began to warm up doing the movements, I felt strong and confident. The heavy breathing of the people around me lulled me into a "zone" and I began to enjoy the workout. Instead of being bored and listless (which working out at the gym has recently made me) trying to copy the movements around me consumed my thoughts and the minutes raced by.

"Moksha yoga has many benefits for students," says Jessica Robinson, the founding owner and instructor at the Moksha Yoga Danforth in Toronto. Robinson said some of the effects students would begin to notice if they began Moksha would be "reduced stress, weight loss, better focus and increased energy levels."

Moksha Danforth has a corresponding studio in London, where classes are a hit with university students.

"Actually half of our business at that studio comes from students because of Western. They find that they receive lots of benefits and enjoy coming to a welcoming environment."

"In my busy life, taking a class is a chance for me to take 90 minutes and relax and be by myself," says Hilary Wood, a fourth-year sociology student at the University of Western Ontario. "Because university is such a critically changing time in a student's life, Moksha yoga is a nice time to shut away distractions and focus on my mind-body connection."

I must admit that like many of the other critics of yoga, I found it hard to believe that doing these "movements" would end up being a challenging enough workout. I couldn't have been more wrong, or happier to be wrong. I left the class feeling as if I had just run a marathon, sweaty, detoxified and empowered. Suddenly I was a convert, one of those crazy girls on the subway trying to convince total strangers to just "try a class".