Colorado Athletic Club. 1821 30th St., Boulder, 303-501-1700, wellbridge.com/colorado-athletic-club/boulder

Instructor: Ani Jackson, of Boulder, began her yoga practice in 1995 and began teaching yoga in 2005. She's been teaching hot yoga for about a year and a half and started teaching the Silent Hot Yoga class at the Colorado Athletic Club seven months ago.

"For people who practice regularly, the silent class allows them to go deeper into their postures. It's more meditative," Jackson says.

The fact that Jackson practices along with the class allows her to use her own movements and breath to help set the mood for the class, something she says she finds particularly enjoyable about teaching this class.

What is the workout? The workout is basically the Bikram model of hot yoga in which the same 26 postures are done in the same sequence every time in a hot room. The 26 postures have been chosen and sequenced provide benefit to the whole body, inside and out, while working together synergistically.

What's different? What's different about this class is that it's conducted almost entirely in silence. I say almost, because Jackson does cue each posture by stating its name and the duration the posture will be held. But she doesn't give other verbal clues about the posture such as how to move into it, to check your alignment, to check your breath and so on.

I've taken many yoga classes over the years and this was the first time there wasn't almost constant chatter from the instructor and definitely the first time that the instructor practiced along with us instead of moving around and correcting postures.

Cost: The class is free to members of the Colorado Athletic Club. Non-members can pay a $15 fee to use the club in it's entirety for the day, which is pretty great considering they have some nice amenities.

Level: I would put this class at a six on a 10 point scale. I've done other yoga classes that were harder physically, but not as challenging mentally.

During class, I realized how much of a distraction the talking is in normal yoga classes. In the silence, I found my mind wandering quite and bit, and it was a challenge to stay mentally focused and in the present moment. That proved to be harder for me than the physical challenge of the postures. However, yoga is about challenging yourself in every capacity and I have no doubt that, over time, I would find this class extremely meditative.

Continued here:
Workout of the week: Silent Hot Yoga