How Hot Yoga Can Help Reduce Stress and Lower Cortisol

Feeling overwhelmed or stressed out? Hot yoga might be the perfect remedy. Not only does it provide a challenging workout, but it also helps regulate cortisol—the body’s primary stress hormone—through a combination of physical, mental, and environmental factors. Here’s how:

1. Physical Activity and Endorphin Release

Exercise is a well-known stress reliever, and hot yoga is no exception. The intense physical activity stimulates the release of endorphins, the body’s natural “feel-good” chemicals, which can counteract cortisol and help you feel more relaxed.

2. Mind-Body Connection and Breath Control

Hot yoga emphasizes controlled breathing and mindfulness, which activates the parasympathetic nervous system—the “rest and digest” system. This shift helps reduce the sympathetic nervous system’s “fight or flight” response, effectively lowering cortisol levels.

3. Heat Exposure and Hormonal Adaptation

The heated environment in hot yoga can act as a mild, positive stressor. Over time, the body adapts by becoming more resilient to stress, blunting the cortisol response and making you better equipped to handle future challenges.

4. Improved Sleep Quality

Consistent hot yoga practice, especially earlier in the day, can improve sleep quality. Since poor sleep can elevate cortisol, better rest naturally helps to regulate this stress hormone.

5. Mood Regulation and Anxiety Reduction

Yoga has been shown to reduce anxiety and depression—both of which are linked to elevated cortisol levels. The calming, meditative aspects of hot yoga help shift the body into a more relaxed state, promoting overall emotional balance.

The Bottom Line

Hot yoga isn’t just about the sweat—it’s a comprehensive approach to managing stress, regulating hormones, and boosting your mood. By combining physical exertion, mindful breathing, heat exposure, and relaxation techniques, it offers a powerful way to keep cortisol in check and foster overall well-being.

Ready to give it a try? Join us on the mat and experience the calming, cortisol-lowering effects of hot yoga for yourself.

Heat Heals: how hot classes affect your body and mind

The power of heat goes beyond just a great sweat—it transforms you from the inside out.

🔥 Feel Good – That post-class glow isn’t just in your head. Heat boosts circulation, releases endorphins, and melts away stress, leaving you feeling energized, refreshed, and ready to take on the day.

🔥 Stay Healthy – Practicing in the heat strengthens the immune system, improves flexibility, and speeds up recovery. Sweating helps detoxify the body, flushing out toxins and supporting overall wellness.

🔥 Regulate Body Temperature – Training in the heat helps your body adapt, making it more efficient at cooling itself. Over time, this enhances endurance, resilience, and your ability to stay comfortable in extreme conditions.

🔥 Promote Muscle Growth – Heat increases blood flow to the muscles, improving oxygen delivery and reducing the risk of injury. It also enhances mobility and strength, allowing you to push further in your practice and build lean, powerful muscles.

🔥 Fuel Mind & Body – The heat isn’t just physical—it sharpens mental focus, improves clarity, and deepens your connection to breath and movement. Stepping into a heated room challenges both body and mind, helping you build resilience inside and out.

Feel the heat. Embrace the benefits. Keep showing up!

5 Reasons Why Practicing in the Heat is GOOD for You!

Come get hot with us!

Top 5 Reasons why practicing in the heat is good for you:

1. Rid your body of toxins

2. Creates a stronger immune system

3. Regulates your body temperature

4. Promotes muscle growth

5. Increase the growth of new brain cells

Benefits of Group Yoga & Fitness Classes

Have you been missing the hot room? Come sweat with us! Practicing yoga or working out with a group of people has so many amazing benefits.

Get Pumped Up and Inspired

While you might not hold standing bow for the full minute or finish that last round in the tabata while working out solo, you’ll find that the strength you needed was there all along when you have friends cheering you on! The group energy is strong and supportive at The Foundry!

Improve Your Form

Our teachers are always here to help you with your postures and exercises to make sure you are getting the most out of your class. You get the motivation of getting healthy & fit with a group of supportive people, as well as the focused attention of a fitness professional.

Fill Up Your Tank

One thing we know for sure, it takes energy to make things happen. Enjoying time each day to unplug from the outside world and plug into yourself on the mat. Recharge your soul. Fill up your tank with us so you can go out in the world and be your best self!

Engage With Our Community (#foundryfam)

There’s something special about being a part of a community of people who are all working towards the same goals — better health, better fitness, and better lifestyles. When you’re part of The Foundry Fam, there will always be somebody who has your back.

Mutual Accountability

When you exercise or do yoga as part of a group, your presence is valued — and your absence is noticed. When you develop an expectation with your classmates to persevere with your goals, we believe you’ll find it easier and easier to make the choice to show up and join your Foundry Fam for class!

Ready to take class with us?!?
Download The Foundry AZ app on Apple or Android to sign up for class today!

Bikram Yoga Az's Rev-Up Workshop: Let Nothing Steal Your Peace Away

By Nicole Deacon

My favorite season is the fall. I love when the leaves turn colors (sometimes have to travel to see it) and the weather starts to get the way I like it! It becomes perfect for nights on the patio, afternoon bike rides, and hiking. Summer ends…fall begins… and then we do it again the next year. We accept that there are seasons in the weather…but there are also seasons in our life. Everything has an ebb and a flow. In some ways both are similar to transitioning from one yoga pose to another. We all have moments of joy and clarity and moments of sorrow and fear.   We have new love come into our lives and loved ones we cherish leave our lives. This is life…seasons.

Bikram Yoga helps us to stay calm, peaceful, and joyful no matter what season of life we are in. It is easy to be peaceful in a happy situation… yoga practice teaches us to remain calm among the storms of our life as one stays composed during a yoga pose. We start to accept things as they are, instead of as we wish them to be.   We learn to control and direct our minds to create the experiences we want. Consistent yoga practice disciplines us to balance how things are and how we want them to be. We do not always have control over the events that happen to us (the weather, parents passing, wars, traffic, etc) but we do have control over how we experience them. We can train our mind to find the value, and to appreciate each moment that comes to us for what it is.  If we can remember Rollo May:

“Human freedom involves our capacity to pause between the stimulus and response and, in that pause, to choose the one response toward which we wish to throw our weight. The capacity to create ourselves, based upon this freedom, is inseparable from consciousness or self-awareness. “

Yoga class is ultimately about self-awareness and self-realization. Bikram yoga helps us to be conscious of our breathing and more aware of ourselves. Yoga poses challenge us… in a hot, stinky, difficult position… can you breathe? can you find peace… and can you find joy?

It is through continued yoga practice; putting ourselves in a challenging environment that we get better and better at finding peace no matter what is happening around us. Through yoga, we eventually reach that point of bliss where nothing…no one… can steal our peace away.