Waikiki Hot Yoga, Honolulu

Before he made his way to Waikiki Hot Yoga, John Anderson taught 500 budding yogis the ancient art at Absolute Sanctuary—a yoga-teacher-training school in Koh Samui, Thailand. He studied the anatomy of the human body, and he spent hours leading groups through silent meditation. It’s all part of his Absolute Hot Yoga training program, which he started in Bangkok in 2003, and has spread across Asia. And it might not exist if Anderson hadn’t hurt his knee.

As a marathon runner, Anderson was laid him low and left anxious for physical activity by his knee injury. He attended a hot-yoga class in San Francisco on a whim, and it astounded him. “I couldn’t believe the sweat," he says. "I got my butt kicked."

Over the years, he began to develop his own sequence of 50 yoga poses. The flow adheres to the Hatha tradition of sinking deeply into poses, and focuses on core strength and spine twists.

Now, at the Miramar at Waikiki hotel, Anderson leads practitioners of all ages and levels in those 50 poses. “I think there’s something valuable in consistency,” he says of the repetitive sequence. “It’s always the same foundation, and if you’re willing to look and see inside, you learn things about yourself every day.”

Even Waikiki Hot Yoga's studio reflects Anderson's researched meticulousness. The practice room boasts brand-new bamboo floors and infrared heating panels that heat bodies from within to help eradicate toxins and encourage deeper stretches. Ionized light blasts impurities in the room to freshen the air. After class, students are welcome to hit the showers or take dips in the adjacent swimming pool.