This winter has marked one of Blacksburg’s coldest in recent memory. Still, in a small building on 401 S. Main St., a fitness studio has managed to keep its customers cozy with a balmy average temperature of 104 degrees — and that’s just part of the normal workout.
Opened in 2009, In Touch Yoga is Blacksburg’s newest yoga studio, best known for featuring hot yoga.
Owner Becky Crigger, who has been practicing yoga for 12 years, first became interested in yoga as a means to meditate. “I used it to center myself,” Crigger said. “Yoga helps me to make decisions, focus, concentrate.”
As a student at University of Virginia at the time, practicing yoga helped give her a sense of balance, so it became an integral part of her lifestyle.
After graduating in Nashville with a master’s degree in secondary education, Crigger moved with her husband to Virginia Beach. Having given birth to two children within a few years, the family decided to move to a smaller town, relocating in Williamsburg, Va. Despite all of the moving and changes, Crigger found a constant in her yoga.
“Yoga helped me feel grounded,” she said.
Recognizing a need in Williamsburg for a place where individuals could practice together, Crigger and a friend opened up a yoga studio. Although the business was successful, Crigger eventually opted to sell her part of the studio and move back to her hometown of Blacksburg because she yearned for a smaller town.
With yoga still very much a part of her life, Crigger made plans and finally opened In Balance Yoga, and it is the New River Valley’s first and only studio to offer hot yoga.
Though Crigger received her primary training in hot yoga, she also chose to offer this practice in her studio because of both its appeal to beginners and the ultimate benefits of this style.
“For beginners, the heat opens you up so it’s much safer,” Crigger said. “Overall it helps you get a lot more out of the postures.”
Hot Yoga is a Vinyasa series of 27 different postures, and each session lasts 90 minutes. Courtney Burton, a student at the Blue Ridge School of Massage and Yoga and instructor at In Balance, said that the heat makes each position easier on a participant’s muscles.
“It helps soften your muscles so they lengthen easier,” Burton said. “You are able to be more open and stretch deeper.”
This ease helps participants concentrate on each position. “You are able to focus on where you are in posture, and better feel the calming, soothing effect,” Burton said. Courtney Cross, a senior apparel, housing and resource management major, first heard about hot yoga from her friends.
“They wouldn’t stop raving about it,” Cross said.
As a beginner, Cross remembers feeling apprehensive at first. “It was nice because when they do harder moves they always give you options,” Cross said. “It’s more challenging than regular yoga, and you feel phenomenal after.”
Katya Horoszko, a senior apparel and business major, signed up for a week pass. “It’s such a different kind of workout,” Horoszko said. “It’s relaxing, but you sweat so you know you’ve done something.”
She recommends trying the week pass, which costs $20, for students who want to relax while getting a good workout.
“You leave feeling like a new person,” she said.
While both the workout and relaxation benefits are a plus, Crigger credits yoga with helping her overcome her own anxiety, something that had become a major obstacle in her life.
“I used to get panic attacks often,” Crigger said. But after two weeks of yoga, she said she felt herself becoming the calm, centered individual she is today.
“Yoga teaches you to let go,” she said, “and to know that every obstacle in life is there for a reason.”