Hot Yoga Studio Raises Temperature to 140 Degrees, Students Describe It as 'Finally Warm Enough'

Ember Flow Hot Yoga in Scottsdale, Arizona has raised its studio temperature to 140 degrees Fahrenheit after a vocal contingent of students complained that the standard 105-degree environment was 'insufficiently hot' and 'basically air-conditioned.' The increase, which exceeds OSHA workplace heat guidelines by a margin that the studio's insurance company has described as 'relationship-ending,' was implemented after a student petition gathered 200 signatures. The petition's core argument: 'If we're not questioning our life choices by minute three, it's not hot enough.' 'At 105, I can still think clearly,' said student and petition organizer Rachel Dunn. 'That means the heat isn't doing its job. The whole point of hot yoga is to be so hot that your ego dissolves. My ego was perfectly intact at 105. It's selfish of me to allow my ego to be comfortable.' The 140-degree classes, marketed as 'Inferno Flow,' have attracted a devoted following and the attention of the Scottsdale Fire Department, which has stationed a unit outside the studio during class times. The fire department's official position is that 'what's happening in there is technically not a fire, but it's adjacent.' Studio owner Blaze Morrison (legal name: Brian Morrison) has embraced the extreme. 'Other studios are afraid to push the envelope,' he said, standing in the studio lobby wearing shorts and sweating through his third shirt of the morning. 'We respect the heat. The heat respects us. It's a relationship built on mutual suffering.' Two students have reported losing consciousness during class, which Morrison categorizes as 'deep savasana.' The studio's waiver, which is now eleven pages long, includes a clause acknowledging that 'the student understands that 140 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which certain proteins begin to denature and accepts this as part of their practice.' A rival studio in Phoenix has announced plans to offer classes at 160 degrees, which Morrison has called 'reckless.' 'There's a line between transformative heat and a convection oven,' he said. 'We found the line. They're crossing it.'