So. Much. Sweat. More sweat 

than I’d sweated at Disney 
World, late afternoon in mid-
July, waiting in an hour-long 
line for the teacup ride. More 
sweat 
than 
I’d 

sweated 
in my first 
college 
cross 
country 
meet, 
a 

2 
p.m. 

race 
in 

95-degree 
heat, after 
which my 
teammate had to be driven to 
the hospital for heat exhaustion.

If you’ve ever practiced hot 

yoga, like the Hot Vinyasa class 
at Center For Yoga, you know 
exactly about the sweat I’m 
talking about.

At first, you welcome the heat 

— the 100-degree yoga studio 
is dimly lit, a deliciously warm 
haven for your frozen body. You 
stretch happily on your mat, 
feeling your toes thaw out. You 
bend into Child’s Pose, sinking 
into the floor like a puddle, 
letting stressful thoughts slip 
away.

Thirty minutes later, you’re 

the one slipping away, because 
a yoga mat is no match for 
the obscene amount of sweat 
pouring out of you. In the 
classroom, things aren’t so zen 
anymore — “Radioactive” by 
Imagine Dragons is pumping 
through the walls, the guy 
next to you has his backside in 
your face doing Star Pose, and 
you’re kicking yourself for not 
bringing a towel to class. As 
you hold a never-ending plank 
position, adjusting your sweaty 
hands, you can’t remember why 
you liked the heat in the first 
place, or why you thought yoga 
was meditative.

You might even wonder, is 

hot yoga worth the hype? 

Though 
hot 
yoga 
was 

introduced to the U.S. relatively 
recently, popularized by Bikram 
Choudhury (founder of “Bikram 
Yoga”) in San Francisco in 1972, 
its roots stretch much farther in 
history. For centuries, yoga has 
been performed in heat out of 
necessity. India, the birthplace 
of yoga, is notoriously hot — 
temperatures average around 
100 degrees in the summer 
— and with infrequent air 
conditioning, heated yoga is a 
given. So when Choudhury and 
other yoga masters moved to 

cooler climates, they noticed 
they 
were 
shivering 
while 

holding 
their 
poses. 
They 

soon brought space heaters to 
studios, believing that a heated 
room allows muscles to loosen, 
blood capillaries to dilate and 
toxins to be released.

Today, you can practice yoga 

in an 100-plus degree room 
almost anywhere in the U.S. 
— even if you live in an arctic 
climate like Ann Arbor. But as 
much as hot yoga enthusiasts 
promote the benefits of heat, 
there’s reason to be wary of the 
practice. In a recent study sent 
out by the American Council 
on Exercise, researchers were 
shocked to find that yoga 
participants’ heart rates and 
core body temperatures had 
skyrocketed after a 90-minute 
Bikram Yoga class, with one 
man reporting a temperature of 
104 degrees and a heart rate in 
the 92 percentile of maximum 
heart rate.

“The dramatic increases in 

heart rate and core temperature 
are 
alarming 
when 
you 

consider that there is very little 
movement, and therefore little 
cardiovascular training, going 
on during class,” said Emily 
Quandt, the leader of the study, 
in a press release.

Physicians agree that body 

temperatures 
above 
100 

degrees can be classified as 
a fever, while a temperature 
exceeding 
104 
degrees, 
or 

hyperthermia, is considered 
life-threatening and requires 
immediate medical attention. 
The cure for hyperthermia 
is intuitive: get to a cooler 
place. But in an hour-long or 
90-minute continuous class, 
with the room temperature set 
at 105 degrees, there is really no 
reprieve from heat. And though 
our bodies fight to keep cool — 
hence the buckets of sweat — 
our natural tendency is to wipe 
the sweat from our face and 
hands, which dangerously traps 
in even more heat to our bodies.

“I tell my students to never 

wipe their faces,” said Bryan 
Bennett, a lead instructor at 
the Center For Yoga, who met 
me for coffee at Elixir Vitae. He 
explained that the heat opens 
up our pores, allowing not only 
cooling sweat but impurities 
to be released. When we close 
these pores by wiping our 
faces, we absorb both the heat 
and unhealthy toxins, which 
can cause blackheads and skin 
irritation.

Bennett cites the heat of hot 

yoga for more than just glowing 
skin. During his 200 hours of 
training, he was taught the 
core reason for heated yoga: 
like metal, the human body can 
bend into any form if enough 
heat is applied. The heat of the 
room, coupled by the heat built 
up in our bodies during an hour-
long class, allows us to stretch 
further and breathe deeper 
— both keys to a better yoga 
practice. Still, Bennett believes 
that heat isn’t necessary for 
yoga; besides loosening the 
body, heat mainly functions as 
a distraction.

“In yoga, you’re taught to 

resist all reactions,” Bennett 
said. “The highest form of 
yoga, meditation, is complete 
stillness of the body and mind. 
When you’re in a hot room, 
there’s a new obstacle to hurdle 
— you have to accept the sweat, 
let it fall, then find your breath 
again.”

What 
about 
the 
risks 

of 
hot 
yoga? 
“There 
have 

definitely been people who 
are 
ill-prepared,” 
Bennett 

said. “If you’re hungover and 
dehydrated, or have a heart 
condition, hot yoga is not for 
you. Pregnant women shouldn’t 
practice either, unless their 
bodies are accustomed to the 
heat.”

Bennett said with proper 

hydration, 
patience, 
and 

practice, hot yoga has the power 
to improve muscle strength, 
flexibility, physical immunity, 
mood 
and 
mindfulness, 

which are all essential to busy 
college students. After all, he 
explained, yoga poses were 
established as a way to loosen 
the stiff joints and weary 
minds of monks who had been 
meditating all day — not too 
different from a long night of 
homework in the Stacks.

As I listened, I remembered 

my own hot yoga experience: 
the heat, the sweat, the wishing 
it would be over already. I 
certainly didn’t feel meditative 
during the class, but for the 
entire hour, I was focused on 
one thing: finishing. For the 
first time in days, no thoughts 
of school, to-do lists, or dinner 
plans had crossed my mind. 
Maybe zen comes in sweaty 
packages after all.

Middlebrook is sweating more 

than Nelly. To send her towels, 

email hailharp@umich.edu. 

HEALTH COLUMN

Is hot yoga worth it?

HAILEY 

MIDDLEBROOK

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Wednesday, February 17, 2016 — 5A

‘Murder’ flounders 
with cliched premiere

By DANIELLE YACOBSON

Daily Arts Writer

ABC’s “How To Get Away 

With Murder” is one psychotic 
break away from not getting 
away 
with 

murder at all. 
Wrapped 
up 

in 
a 
tangled 

mess of lies, the 
characters 
of 

Shondaland’s 
latest hit return 
for the second 
mid-season 
premiere, 
and are more 
twisted 
than 
ever. 

While Viola Davis puts on a 
performance well-deserving of 
another Emmy, the rest of the 
mid-season premiere falls victim 
to a haunted past that casts a 
shadow on the show’s future.

The second season opened 

with a shock as Annalise Keating 
(Viola Davis, “The Help”) lays 
screaming for help in a pool 
of her own blood. Loyal fans 
took to the #WhoShotAnnalise 
hashtag, tweeting predictions 
and reactions each week for the 
highly 
anticipated 
Thursday 

night 
Shonda 
extravaganza. 

November’s mid-season finale 
finally provided some answers, 
but in true Shonda Rhimes 
fashion, the answers were not 
nearly as satisfying as one would 

have hoped. Providing little 
clarity, Thursday night’s episode 
spans six agonizing weeks of 
Annalise’s recovery, resurrecting 
old demons uncovered at the 
shooting as she attempts to save 
herself and the Keating team 
from murder’s consequences yet 
again.

After an electrifying first 

season, “How To Get Away With 
Murder” is falling into the all-
too-familiar structure of most 
murder/crime shows: someone 
does something really stupid 
(usually murder), and, instead of 
coming clean, tries to cover it up. 
Eventually, the consequences of 
the first really stupid thing don’t 
seem that bad compared to the 
mess of blood, lies and betrayal 
that have accumulated as a 
result of the cover-ups (usually 
more murders), and an initially 
captivating show becomes too 
convoluted for its own good. 
Slowly, rooting for the characters 
who were initially at the wrong 
place at the wrong time becomes 
harder as “victims of unfortunate 
circumstance” 
are 
stripped 

down to “empty villains.” Such 
is the fate that plagues Wes 
(Alfred Enoch, “Harry Potter”), 
one of the Keating Five and the 
undeniable center of all the 
murderous fallout. One wrong 
decision after another, Wes, 
the doe-eyed underdog at the 
beginning, 
has 
steadily 
lost 

relatability with viewers, and 

the psychological trauma he is 
unable to shake off in the second 
mid-season 
premiere 
further 

alienates him. However, Wes is 
not only the center of his own 
destruction, but of Annalise’s 
as well. A complicated back-
story between the two begins 
to unfold at the expense of the 
rest of the characters, stealing 
time from Laurel (Karla Souza, 
“Instructions 
Not 
Included”) 

and Frank’s (Charlie Weber, 
“90210”) budding relationship 
and 
Bonnie’s 
(Liza 
Weil, 

“Gilmore Girls”) turn to the 
dark side, as flashback-driven 
storylines compete for screen 
time with those unfolding in 
real-time.

Despite 
the 
decline 
in 

character and plot development, 
“How 
To 
Get 
Away 
With 

Murder” still shines with a 
groundbreaking 
performance 

from leading lady Viola Davis. 
High on painkillers and bleeding 
through her raw stitches, Davis is 
mesmerizingly disturbed in the 
best way. Drug-laced strawberry 
ice cream spills down her chin 
as she slips into a hallucinogenic 
frenzy, and yet she is still able 
to pull her shit together to 
outsmart everyone in court. Her 
pain, however haunting, is what 
keeps the ruthless lawyer in the 
realm of humanity, allowing the 
complexity of her character to 
color a show overwhelmed in 
unrelatable darkness. 

TV REVIEW

B-

How to Get 
Away with 
Murder

Thursdays 
10 p.m.

ABC

ARTIFICIAL EYE

Yeah, I just did it on ‘em.

FILM REVIEW

Unfiltered love in ‘45’

By ANA LUCENA

Daily Arts Writer

In the movie industry, having 

the love life of an older couple as 
the focus of a film is a welcom-
ing change — a breath of fresh 
air from the 
slew 
of 
fun 

but short-lived 
flings between 
young 
adults 

that flood the 
market. Since 
unhappy mar-
riages are the 
cinematic 
norm, 
the 

authentic portrayal of the suc-
cessful relationship between the 
two in “45 Years” made the film 
even more endearing.

The film is about Kate (Char-

lotte Rampling, “The Forbid-
den Room”) and Geoff Mercer 
(Tom Courtenay, “Dad’s Army”), 
an elderly couple planning a 
party for their 45th wedding 
anniversary. The festivities are 
to compensate for their 40th 
anniversary 
celebration 
that 

was cancelled due to Geoff’s 
unanticipated bypass surgery. 
The speed with which the back-
story is introduced through dia-
logue 
without 
compromising 

the linear narrative is remark-
able. Six days before the party, 
Geoff receives a letter inform-
ing him that the body of his ex-

lover Katya, from the 1960’s, was 
finally discovered in a glacier in 
Switzerland, where he last saw 
her before she was trapped in a 
crevasse. This memory from his 
past causes him to lament the 
loss of his carefree youth. The 
way Kate supports him through 
this identity crisis, from encour-
aging him to pick up the German 
he lost from his time abroad to 
comforting him when he has 
difficulties in bed, is touching. 
Her sweet nature makes the 
intimacy 
and 
understanding 

of the relationship a beautiful 
promise to root for. The couple 
divides the household chores 
around each of their strengths 
and sleeping schedules, dem-
onstrating their compassion for 
each other as individuals. It’s no 
surprise they are still together 
after so many years, as the two 
have learned how to skillfully 
meet each other’s needs.

However, 
Kate 
becomes 

increasingly 
upset 
as 
Geoff 

becomes 
preoccupied 
with 

Katya. He goes so far as to show 
interest in going back to Switzer-
land and seeing her one last time 
before she is buried. The blatant 
disregard Geoff has towards the 
big celebration of their anniver-
sary illustrates the drama of the 
film — Kate restrains Geoff’s 
individuality, wanting the two 
of them to equally contribute to 
their achievements as a couple. 

The opposing yet reasonable 
desires of both characters solidi-
fies the conflict.

There is not much plot to “45 

Years,” but the film paints the 
entire world of elderly couples 
with excellent care. The per-
formances by Rampling and 
Courtenay 
are 
outstanding, 

bringing to life the nuances of 
their respective conflicted char-
acters. The use of intertitles to 
divide the plot into six distinct 
days keeps the plot continually 
developing without ever letting 
the pacing or structure of the 
film feel predictable. It manages 
to highlight the film’s realism 
without ever breaking its focus 
on the fate of the Mercers’ rela-
tionship, which is no easy feat 
considering the vivid characters 
that populate the protagonists’ 
lives.

In an age where over 30 per-

cent of marriages end in divorce, 
it is heartening to see such a 
tender portrayal of enduring 
attachment. Not the happy end-
ings of fairy tales, but the actual 
commitment of two people who 
care for each other and want to 
fight the world by each other’s 
side in spite of their differences. 
Even though it is but one puri-
fying drop in the sea of sleazy 
romance films, “45 Years” is 
testament to the fact that we 
are still capable of entertaining 
the elusive concept of true love, 

A

45 Years

Michigan 
Theater

Artificial Eye

‘Triplets’ come to A2

By KELLY MARTINEK

Daily Arts Writer

On Friday, the University 

of Michigan’s Musical Society 
will present “The Triplets of 
Belleville,” 
an event that 
combines cin-
ema and live 
music into one 
unique expe-
rience.

“The Trip-

lets 
of 
Bel-

leville” is an 
animated 
film, 
written 

and 
directed 

by 
Sylvain 

Chomet. 
The film was 
released 
in 

2003. It tells the story of an old 
woman, Madame Souza, who 
goes on a journey to rescue her 
grandson, a Tour de France 
cyclist named Champion, from 
the French mafia.

Mark Johnson, UMS senior 

programming coordinator, was 
a part of the team that brought 
this production to the Univer-
sity.

“It’s a film that I saw in its 

original release at the Michigan 
Theater and I fell in love with,” 
Johnson said. “It’s so joyous and 
remarkable and artistic. It’s a 
universally admired piece of 
art.”

Friday’s event is a part of 

UMS’s Jazz Series. Audiences 
will get to see the film’s unique 
animation, 
accompanied 
by 

“Le Terrible Orchestre de Bel-
leville,” an on-stage eight-piece 
orchestra performing the film’s 
jazz music and sound effects 
live. The band is led by Benoit 
Charest, the film’s composer.

“It’s really an incredibly spe-

cial opportunity to host the 
composer of the film score, 
Benoit Charest, in Ann Arbor,” 
Johnson said. “It’s exciting, 
there’s a certain level of impro-
visation in the music they’re 
making. It’s performed in the 

style of ‘Le Jazz Hot,’ which is 
a style that was popularized in 
1920s Paris. It’s period music.”

Charest was nominated for a 

2003 Academy Award for Best 
Original Song for “Belleville 
Rendezvous,” a song from the 
film. In a press release, he said 
his music has been influenced by 
jazz, French singers of the ’50s 
and’60s and Frank Zappa.

“There’s two really incredible 

features in this presentation,” 
said Mallory Schirr, UMS mar-
keting and media relations coor-
dinator. “The animation is just 
beautiful, it’s a heartwarming 
story, it’s an incredible film. But 
I think one of the most unique 
experiences 
that 
you 
could 

have is being able to watch the 
film with the live score. There’s 
going to be nothing like having 
a live jazz performance right in 

front of you as you’re watching 
the film.”

Schirr also said she thinks 

this unique performance has 
many facets that will appeal to 
a variety of audience members. 

“Even if you’re not into music, 

if you’re into movies, if you’re 
into film or animation, I think 
it’s something that will resonate 
really well with people across 
the entire University,” she said.

Johnson agreed that the com-

bination of the film and the live 
music make this event a unique 
experience. 

“All of the musicians will be 

onstage, performing, visible to 
the audience, directly under-
neath the screen,” he said. “It’s 
the live film score from the cre-
ator and composer himself, with 
hand-picked musicians to play 
the parts.”

The Trip-
lets of 
Belleville

Fri. February 
19, 8 p.m. 
Michigan 
Theater

$30-$58, $12 

or $22 with 

Student ID

COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW

