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Namaste! Welcome to my Yoga Ashram, I’m Gina, your yoga instructor. I’m qualified, I suppose, since I started my own Hot Tub Yoga program 8 weeks ago, in preparation for this blog post!
I have always been a fan of Bikram yoga, a very physical type of yoga, practiced in rooms near 100 degrees – so it was a natural transition for me to try yoga in hot water.
Yoga in a spa or hot tub is, to be honest – a bit easier than yoga on land. The buoyancy of the water, and the water’s resistance, definitely make it easier to hold the poses!
When I began my personal Hot Tub Yoga Studio, I started out by doing the poses that I was most familiar with What evolved was my own brand of Sivananda Yoga – (a series of linked asanas and pranayamas), or sets of poses and breathing exercises.
My spa isn’t big enough to do some fully stretched out poses, and of course, seated poses and many inverted positions are difficult to do underwater. So, after much trial and error, here are some tried and true yoga sequences that can be done in your hot tub.
Breathe
My yoga warm-up is more of a relaxation exercise, to prepare the body and mind for the sequences to follow. I sit cross-legged on the lounge seat of the spa, very straight and tall, in the Lotus position. Hands facing up, I begin rhythmic breathing, deep into my belly first. As the breathing becomes deeper, I fill my mid-chest and eventually my upper chest during each breath. Exhaling slowly and fully, this is known as the full Yogi breath. 8-10 full, slow breaths and I open my eyes and unfold my legs.
Hot Tub Yoga Warm-Up
Next – with the bathtub mat I bought placed on the spa floor, I kneel on the floor of my spa, in the Vajrasana or Rock pose. The water level forces me to sit nice and straight, with my toes bent under and my rump resting on my heels. After a few relaxing breaths, I push my hands up straight while inhaling, up toward the sky. Leaning and reaching back to full extension, I exhale as I bring my hands back into the prayer-like Namaste pose.
Spa Yoga Routines
Breath: Standing up in the center of the spa, I begin a series of repeated movements. The first set is part of a Sun Salutation, and is similar to the kneeling warm-up routine. As I stretch toward the sky, it’s helpful to imagine a rope around my wrists, pulling me up straight and tall. Repeating the set 5 times, very slowly and precisely, focusing on my breathing. Inhale as I open up tall, exhale as my head goes under water.
Balance:Â Up until now, at the half point of my yoga workout, it’s been relaxing, with a focus on the breath, and clearing my mind with the clutter of the day. Now I turn to my balance routine. You can mix it up with different poses that seem to work best for you.
Yoga, for me, has a goal of perfection – unattainable perfection perhaps, but nonetheless, and as I hold a pose, I try to be perfectly straight and balanced – with a clear mind, breathing deeply, in and out of each position.
Brawn: Time to kick it up a notch. Now that I am fully limber, and beginning to break a sweat, it’s time for some strength conditioning. The next set of poses that I link together use muscles that I hadn’t used in years – but after a few weeks, they stopped complaining after workouts. Some of these strength yoga poses involve the benches in the hot tub, as support.
These poses during the “Brawn” phase of the workout, are held for a longer time than the previous sets. Once you gain balance, focus the breath, and hold the pose for as long as you comfortably can.
I’ve added some Pilates moves to my hot tub workout. One new favorite is using a Pilates ball, and with straight arms and locked elbows, push the ball partially under water for 3 or 4 breaths. After several rounds, I move the ball to my toes and hold it under water with feet (harder than it sounds!) while floating on my back (planking!), supported by my hands on the spa bench. Breathe.
Hot tub yoga – this has been a fun experiment. I have to say – after 2 months of doing spa yoga, my hot tub and I have reconnected, and I am toned in areas that just aren’t touched with other forms of exercise. As an added benefit, the meditative breathing really takes the stress off, and gives me such an energy boost.
I hope you’ll try hot tub yoga soon – if you have, and have some tips to share, please comment below!
XOXO;
Gina Galvin
Hot Tub Works
Testing your spa water regularly is the best way to really understand your water chemistry. It’s always changing, your water chemistry – and usually very rapidly, when 3 or 4 adults jump into 500 gallons of water.
The Hot Tub or Spa is the perfect place for a soothing massage, after all, hydrotherapy is a form of massage. In the warm waters of your hot tub, tired muscles relax and yield to the softest touch.
Ozone is one of the world’s strongest sanitizers. It eliminates 99.9% of bacteria and other pathogens in your spa water. It also attacks oils, dirt and nearly all contaminants. And, the only byproduct of Ozone (O3) is Oxygen (O2).
A Hot Tub is a paradise – soothing, relaxing and as social as you want it to be. If you want your spa to ROCK, however, jazz it up by adding some tunes to your spa experience, or go all out and set up an outdoor TV or monitor!
Wall mounted outdoor televisions are another option. You can mount directly to the wall, of the house or your hot tub gazebo. With this option, you can go as big as you want, and mount a full home theater style screen. However, I don’t think that I could watch an entire movie in the spa. Or at least a long movie; I tend to use the spa for less than 30 minutes at a time. For 
them off”, especially if you have a large crowd of other people that may want to use the hot tub. But mainly for safety – so after 30 mins, I’ll find a way to suggest a “spa break”. Also, I like to encourage all ages and both sexes to use the spa, and if I notice that the spa seems “unbalanced”, I’ll suggest an open seat to others.
