HOT'auk Yoga Brings The Heat To Montauk

Hamptons Hot Yoga, based in Bridgehampton, has opened a new studio in Montauk — HOT'auk Yoga at 649 Montauk Highway.

 Owner and yoga instructor Lienette Crafoord, who has been practicing yoga in one form or another for over 20 years, first came into her dominant school of practice after feeling its healing benefits first hand.

 Having strained a hip flexor muscle while training for her first marathon, Crafoord attended Bikram yoga session seeking relief. Bikram — a style developed by Yogi Bikram Choudhury in the 1970s — is practiced in over 100-degree heat and 40 percent humidity. Unlike some other styles of yoga that deal with vigorous movement, Bikram is slower and steadier, moving through 26 poses in a 90-minute period. According to Crafoord, the style emphasizes “strength and flexibility, which creates balance.”

 “A body, once balanced, isn’t a distraction any more,” she said. In that first session she experienced immediate relief from her injured muscle and has felt drawn to Bikram yoga, and by extension the less formalized hot yoga ever since.  Both styles are done in extreme heat, but Bikram yoga denotes the specific sequence of poses.

 Though HOT’auk Yoga is the fourth yoga studio to open in Montauk, it is the only place in the hamlet for Hot Yoga and the specific Bikram sequence. Opened for a little under two weeks, Crafoord hopes to offer, “a safe place for people to explore the mind body connection with a little different slant- healing the body from the inside out.”

 HOT’auk Yoga offers classes every day of the week, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and is offering special deals for a limited time. Though once or twice a week is a good start, Crafoord said it takes a committed practice of around three times a week to feel the full healing benefits of yoga practice.

 Montauk is a diverse community with, “a young crowd looking to stay healthy and fit,” Crafoord said, but she stressed that her yoga classes are just as useful for older practitioners. “We want our bodies to continue to work for us even if it tries to drag us down,” she said. “This sort of practice becomes like brushing your teeth when you get older.”