Introduction: The number of individuals practicing hot yoga across the United States has increased over the past decade, though the risks of hot yoga practice are not yet fully understood. The American population in general has a high prevalence of a number of chronic health conditions including heart disease, asthma, and diabetes. However, the risks for individuals with these pre-existing health conditions have not yet been identified. Methods: A large cross-sectional study (n=700) was conducted via online survey. Results: A Chi-squared analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between various pre-existing health conditions and the incidence of an adverse outcome related to participation in hot yoga practice. Discussion: Every pre-existing health condition recorded in this study was a risk factor for at least one adverse outcome resulting from hot yoga practice. Further study is required to verify populations most at risk and preventing injury or illness resulting from hot yoga participation. Conclusion: Little is known about the risks of hot yoga practice for those with various health conditions. This paper outlines the associations between hot yoga injuries and adverse outcomes and pre-existing health conditions. Keywords: Hot Yoga, Risks, Injuries, Pre-existing Conditions, Safety

Introduction: Mass media advertisements have claimed health benefits of body inversion for relaxation and cardiovascular conditioning. We conducted a preliminary study to evaluate real time physiological changes and responses to mediation, Hatha yoga, and specifically inversion and standing postures to determine the O2 consumption recorded by a wearable metabolic device and cardiovascular measures. Methods: Healthy study volunteers executed a sequence of yoga postures that included inversions of whole body while wearing a Cosmed K5 portable metabolic backpack. We obtained brachial blood pressure during the last 30 seconds of each posture. Each trial began seated, followed by a warm-up consisting of gentle flow yoga and ending with relaxation. Results: Twelve experienced yoga practitioners (mean age 44 years, 58% female) participated in 17 trials. Over all trials, mean VO2 for Sirsasana as compared with the supported inversion posture decreased from 8.4 to 4.9 (ml/kg/min). Conclusions: Conflicting findings exist in the literature concerning inversion physiology. Cardiac output response to inversion is not consistent in scientific reports. Participants responded differently under a variety of circumstances in previous studies, making comparisons to this and existing research challenging. We find sufficient cause for further research and suggest that some forms of inversion may be beneficial to heart failure patients. Keywords: yoga, inversion, cardiopulmonary, heart failure, physiology

Abstract Introduction: Over the past few decades yoga participation has been enjoyed by a wide range of individuals, including athletes looking for new and effective ways to improve performance. With little evidence to suggest the positive impact that yoga may have on athletic endeavors, such participation is met with varied success. Methods: For this qualitative inquiry 19 male college athletes (baseball and soccer players) participated in a weekly yoga program for 8 weeks which included a 60 minute class with both asanas and pranayama; and they were interviewed by researchers upon the completion of the 8-week program using semi-structured interview questions. Results: In an effort to identify best approaches this study looked at perceptions of athlete’s (N=19) reflection in taking part in 8-weeks of yoga. Findings from this inquiry suggest that overall, athletes saw yoga as being as beneficial for joint flexibility and range of motion, improved body awareness, improved ability to concentrate, sense of relaxation, and a sense of support from the coaching staff. Interestingly, soccer players (n=9) believed they were more energized while baseball pitchers (n=10) believed they gained a greater comradery with teammates. When considering reflection themes overall, athletes reported benefits in stress management and physical ability, however, they were less likely to report gains in athletic performance and social interactions. Conclusions: As the Yoga Sutra denotes how the practice of yoga enhances connections between mind, body and spirit, it would seem that the opportunities for the benefits in yoga in athletics is at best being underutilized. Practitioners wanting to more readily assist athletes may want to consider the demands of a specific sport and proactively assist athletes to integrate holistic gains to performance. Keywords: yoga, sport, athlete, mind-body, performance