Bikram Yoga, Tempe, Arizona- USA

Not long after opening the doors to their newly remodelled yoga studio in 2009, owners Elaina and Dr. Ben Zorensky knew they needed a better solution to balancing the heat and humidity levels in their 2,800-square-foot space in Tempe, Arizona.

According to Elaina, who has been teaching Bikram Yoga for nine years, the idea behind this unique style of hot yoga is to mimic the temperatures in Calcutta, India – where it was first launched more than 40 years ago by renowned yoga master, Bikram Choudhury. The room is kept at 105 degrees and at a minimum of 40% humidity. This helps students to start sweating right away – sweating out the toxins in their body and stimulating their organs, glands and nerves. The hot, humid temperatures are also key in helping to relax the muscles so students can stretch without worrying about injuries.

“A hot room with no humidity is very uncomfortable,” says Elaina. “Your eyes and your skin feel very dry and you don’t sweat in the same way. With the old humidifiers, we could never get the humidity higher than 25% and I had to refund several classes because people complained they weren’t sweating enough. The truth is that having the right balance of heat and humidity is very important to the success of our business.”

A local Condair agent, advised the Zorenskys to go with a Condair RS system and replaced the studio’s old four floor units with one Condair RS resistive element humidifier – tucked away in the studio’s utility closet to save valuable floor space. The steam produced from the humidifier is blown evenly it into the space through a remote blower pack mounted in the studio. The humidifier is designed for precise humidity, which is ideal for changing environments like yoga where every student’s body generates heat and moisture. The Condair system responds quickly to these changes while maintaining the relative humidity set point. Bottom line: the Condair system works – creating an optimal environment for the 40 classes that are delivered each week.