Sweat Much? Why Sweating During Yoga is Perfectly Healthy

It’s summer. And these July and August months are the hottest of the whole year. But it doesn’t have to be a hot yoga class for you to sweat during yoga!

While MyYogaTeacher doesn’t offer hot yoga classes, I wanted to talk about a common misconception that many new yogis have. 

That is the idea that “I shouldn’t be sweating. It’s only yoga.” But the truth is you actually should be sweating! At least to some extent. We’re not saying you should have to wring out your shirt after that hatha yoga class in your air conditioned home. But there should be at least some moisture leaving your body.

You see, yoga is a detoxifying form of exercise. Any type of yoga is.

With the various series of folds, twists, balances and stretches that occur during a yoga practice, your organs release toxins. One of the ways those toxins escape is through sweat!

So let’s uncover why sweating during any type of yoga class is not only normal but healthy! 

If you haven’t checked out the classes with MyYogaTeacher yet, I invite you to grab your free 2-week trial here! You’ll gain access to 35+ different classes taught by expert yoga instructors from the birthplace of yoga, India!!

1. Boost your immunity

When your body warms up and begins to sweat, it reacts internally similar to when you have a fever. Like it’s trying to fight off an illness.

Your body’s response to that is the creation of more white blood cells, the immunity boosting cells that battle any illness or disease that gets into your system!

When that process is combined with your body’s release of toxins from your organs, it means sweating is literally making you healthier!

2. Improves your heart health

If you’re sweating during yoga, it’s because your body is working. Whether you’re out of breath or not, your heart is pumping harder. When your internal temperature rises, your body needs to cool off. And one of the ways it does that is through sweating! The heart rate increases to increase circulation of fluid needed to escape through your pores and cool down your body!

It’s an amazing thing.

Your heart is a muscle and gets stronger when it gets exercise too! Similarly to your other muscles. So whether it’s pumping harder because you need more oxygen (like during a rigorous yin yoga flow) or it’s pumping harder to force out toxins, or cool the body down, sweating means that heart muscle is getting stronger.

This leads me to…

3. Improves skin health

If you don’t know already, a regular yoga practice is a surefire way to ease a whole host of skin problems. If you have hormonal acne, eczema, or psoriasis, yoga can help.

Also, yoga is scientifically proven to reduce stress and decrease inflammation, two major culprits of skin problems.

Outside of all of that though, sweating eliminates toxins that may also be contributing to skin issues, which comes with a side dish of anti-aging! Who doesn’t want to have younger, healthier looking skin? Raise your hand.

The fact is, sweating also means that more blood is being brought to the surface of your skin. And blood carries fresh oxygen and nutrients that your skin needs to flourish!

4. Boost in brain health

This is fairly new information, but doing enough activity to even break a mild sweat is good for your brain. Especially in older people.

Scientists have discovered that physical activity literally boosts brain health. And since yoga is one of the safest forms of activity that anyone could possibly find, we’re a huge fan of “sweating it out” in your yoga practice!

5. Releases toxins

Here at MyYogaTeacher, we do understand that some topics are a bit touchy and maybe even a little controversial. But scientific research does show that toxins are released through sweat, just like they are through urination.

Besides releasing small amounts of heavy metals, chemicals like BPA (found in plastics) and PCBs (found in plastics, adhesives, electrical equipment and bunches of other common objects) are also released through sweating.

And since yoga literally helps your organs excrete toxins, it makes sense that sweating during yoga, no matter how gentle or easy a practice you may have, is definitely a good thing!

The fact is, we are happy if you’re doing any form of safe exercise that gets your blood pumping, sweat flowing, and makes you happy! But we also understand the multitude of benefits yoga offers that no other form of exercise does.

Yoga is unique in that way. MyYogaTeacher has created an online studio complete with dozens of different live yoga classes that you can do anywhere at any time. And all of our yoga instructors come packing a ton of experience, education, and expertise. They truly care about the success of their students!

We’d really love to see you on the mat! So if you haven’t signed up yet, here’s the link to grab your 2-week free trial of MYT. So you can see (and sweat it out) for yourself!