When the temps start falling and the ugg boots are pulled from the back of the wardrobe, motivation for working out often disappears somewhere under the doona. #NamastayInBed
Let’s be frank; it’s really easy to let sub 20C temperature mess with your fitness regime, but with warm studios and instant sweat sessions, hot yoga is the ultimate winter workout. The next time your alarm goes off when it’s still dark outside and you’re nice and snug in your bed, remember the weather is no longer an excuse to not keep at your 365 bod, so grab a coconut water and get ready to sweat it out and flush away those toxins because we’ve tracked down the best yoga studios to take a hot yoga class in Brisbane.
Zama Yoga
Toowong
Turn up the heat (quite literally) with one of three styles of hot yoga class at Zama Yoga, a light and airy studio in the heart of Toowong. Start low and strong with hot power yoga, get glowing with the cleansing, creative flow of hot vinyasa or opt for the more tradition Hatha yoga, a traditional style that incorporates stretches, balances, heart openers, meditation and inversion.
Fireshaper
Salisbury & Capalaba
Take your pick from Fireshaper’s three heated classes. There’s ‘Blaze’ for lovers of the original hot yoga series, a 90-minute session that aims to work the entire body with the tradition 26 Asanas and two breathing exercises. ‘Fresh’ has been designed for newbies and is slightly less dynamic than our Ignite class while allowing students to work at their own level while ‘Ignite’ is conduced in a 38 degree room and if you want a challenge try ‘Burn’, a fusion of hot yoga and weights to build lean muscle mass and burn fat set to a jamming soundtrack.
Bonfire Yoga
Various locations
Whether you’re an exercise junky or a sedentary sloth, Bonfire Yoga want to help you on your path to wellness and their Bonfire 60 class will take you through a series of 27 yoga Asanas (postures) and two breathing exercises, all performed at the not quite pleasant but totally tolerable 37°C. Yes, it’s hot, but think about how much better you’ll be able to bend and stretch once you’ve warmed up your muscles!
Rebalance Pilates And Yoga
Various Locations
Conducted in a heated room of 30 degrees, Ignite Yoga at Rebalance Pilates And Yoga is designed to relieve stress, balance and strengthen the glandular system, circulation, digestion and nervous system—it also claims to reverse the aging process AND reshape muscles, tendons and posture. Geez. If working out in the warmth gets your blood pumping, also give their Hot Pilates class a try!
Zen Hot Yoga
Sherwood
One thing that differentiates Zen Hot Yoga from similar offerings is that they were the first yoga studio in Australia to use far infrared heat, which purportedly warms up the body rather than the air. Referred to as ‘happy rays’, FIR stimulates all-important endorphins in our brain. If you want a challenge, sign up for their 30-day challenge and prepare to wring every last drop of sweat from your body. This isn’t as intense as some hot yoga classes in Brisbane, but you’ll definitely leave with a healthy glow.
Harlow Hot Yoga & Pilates
Newstead
A yoga studio with a day spa mentality? Sign us up! Harlow Hot Yoga & Pilates ask their clients to dedicate one hour to experiencing more joy, health and peace through their pilates class. Relax in the candlelit studio and inhale the gentle scent of their essential oils. For the ultimate Harlow experience, apply their delicious Moroccan oil hair treatment before your class and not only will you have nourished your body and soul, but you’ll also have soft glossy hair!
Bikram Yoga
East Brisbane and Nundah
Bikram is the original hot yoga: invented by Bikram Choudhury in the 1970s, it is made up of 26 set poses at 40 degrees heat over the course of 90 minutes. And as the almighty hot yoga guru, he’s given his tick of approval to Bikram Yoga The Gabba and Bikram Yoga North Brisbane. Each studio offers a different mix of classes, but at each you’ll find several hot flow classes, as well as a basics class for those who want to perfect their poses.
Flex Hot Yoga
Norman Park
As well as Hot Power Yoga classes—a dynamic and athletic practice of movement to breath in a room mildly heated to 32 degrees—Flex Hot Yoga also offers the beginner-friendly Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series classes which are great for building upper body and core strength and a performed in a room heated to a balmy 29 degrees.
Fusion Hot Yoga
Kangaroo Point
Designed to be an urban oasis where you can escape the hustle and bustle, Fusion Hot Yoga’s range of classes is impressive, focussing heavily on Fusion Power Vinyasa—where movement is matched to the breath, building heat, strength and flexibility. There’s no denying their classes are challenging, but they welcome beginnings and after two to three sessions many people become committed followers.
YogaBox
Carindale and Nundah
The team at YogaBox decribed their Hot Power Vinyasa as 'powerful and playful', so how about starting the day on a natural high with a hot yoga class? Designed to be accessible to everyone—including beginners—the studio is only heated to 28 degrees (hello Autumn!). They also offer Hot Power Yoga where you can free your body of tension and stress in a room heated to a luscious 30 degrees.
Image credit: Daniel Maddock