Yoga is about relaxation, even when challenged, and relaxation is about breathing. Radiance Hot Yoga wants to enhance that relaxation.
“Typically people naturally take short, shallow breaths,” owner Leah Johnson said. “It’s so important to fully inhale and recycle the air in the lungs, as a lot of stale air is trapped with shallow breaths.”
Radiance inserts breathing into all of its exercises, including the ones that aren’t entirely focused on yoga. One of the few hot yoga studios in the area to use a coveted mixture of heat, humidity and fresh, filtered air, Radiance teaches how and when to breathe and why it’s so important. One of the most popular techniques is pranayama, the extension of life force or breath control.
By learning how to breathe with certain motions — and learning when to inhale, exhale and how to — people find it much easier to work through those strenuous poses and those extra few seconds of exhaustion.
“As you breathe, you become more mindful of it and how you are intaking the air into your lungs,” Johnson said.
Radiance aims to teach people that if you can breathe through the struggle in the studio, you can breathe through tough situations in life or obstacles you may face. While most people clench and hold their breath when stressed, Radiance encourages people to breathe through it, enhancing clarity and awareness of the situation. In turn, the person is calmer and more likely to make better decisions.
“All of our classes, including the Pilates-based ones and HotHIIT, ultimately center around the breath,” she explained. “As people find the breath, they access more capacity in their lungs. They can do things they thought they couldn’t do otherwise, like holding poses for longer and finding greater range of motion in the exercises.
Radiance offers courses including Bikram, Barkan, Yin, Vinyasa, Barre variations, and Hot HIIT. Radiance promises you will come out of class feeling more energetic, relaxed and happier.