wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Wednesday afternoon, Sixth Avenue is a boulevard of misery, with heat waves rising off the asphalt. The thermometer reads 106 degrees.

Funny thing is, one flight up from the street, there’s a room full of men and women who have paid to work out in these exact climatic conditions.

Bikram is all about training the mind, according to the founder of this studio, Raffael Pacitti.

“You are not really a slave to your body. So that any kind of discomfort that comes your way, you’re able to manage it,” Pacitti says.

Inside the classroom, eight women and two men stretch and strain, extending arms, lengthening legs, always keeping their balance. And perspiring. A lot.

A steady stream of sweat drips from one man’s shorts.

“It’s kind of in a puddle,” Pacitti says, “and that’s great. Sweat away! The more the better.”

Just before the end of class, everyone sits on their feet and undulates their glistening tummies with some vigorous breathing.

And then the door opens, letting out a gust of hot bikram air. It smells like a men’s locker room after a hockey match.

“You come out and you feel cool as a cucumber,” says student Suzanne Dance. “I think the past few days have been quite hot but they don’t feel that hot to me.”

Dance says at home she now tends to turn off the air conditioning because she no longer needs it.

In fact, cold has become a real nuisance, like on the trading floor at the bank where she works.

“It’s probably somewhere between 60 and 70 degrees," she says. "One has to wear a snowsuit to the office in the summer.”

Physicians say there’s not much danger in sudden drastic temperature changes, like when you step from the hot platform onto a cold subway car. But if you want to get better at dealing with the heat, there are ways. Dr. George Lubers, a physician with the Centers for Disease Control, says athletes and yoga practitioners can improve their ability to function in with extreme heat by practicing in extreme heat.

Exposure to heat, he says, “trains our bodies to develop better and larger sweat glands, to reduce body fat content, which also helps dissipation of heat, [and improve] aerobic capacity.”

There’s just one thing. If you’re going to do bikram, or any other strenuous activity, Dr. Lubers advises to check first with your physician, and be sure to drink lots of water.