Hot yoga teacher loses her job after telling influencer not to drink water the dangers of being dehydrated

One hot yoga instructor recently found herself in hot water.Given that most people go to yoga to de-stress, the last thing anyone would ever want is to have to stomp out of a class after feeling bullied by the teacher.

But that’s precisely what happened to Roma Abdesselam, a 29-year-old influencer who said she was scolded by her instructor for trying to take a sip of water too early in the practice.It all began on an evening in January, when Abdesselam was taking a hot yoga — also known as Bikram yoga — class at Bode studio in NYC.In this style of yoga, practitioners complete a sequence in which they hold 26 postures in a room that’s between 80 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit — resulting in a lot of calorie-burning and sweating.

Practitioners are discouraged from drinking water until the get to “eagle pose” — approximately 30 minutes in — but Abdesselam disobeyed this soft rule, and her teacher was not happy about it.“Is this normal?” Abdesselam — who describes herself as a pro “stay-at-home daughter” — asked her 660,000 followers in a TikTok video after leaving the class.“I was in the class and I went to go get a sip of my water from my mat and the instructor bullies me, calls me out in front of everyone and is like, ‘It’s not time to drink water,’ ‘I’ll let you know when it’s time to drink water,’ ‘You drink water when I want you to drink water.'”Disciples of traditional hot yoga discourage drinking water less than half an hour into class because it disrupts internal heat and lowers body temperature — which they say results in less flexibility and potential discomfort or nausea — and breaks concentration during the flow.But — to some — this rule may seem arbitrary, outdated and overly controlling.“I got so upset,” a clearly frustrated Abdesselam continued.

“I didn’t get the memo she was paying my bills or she paid for me to be in that class — like, it’s a hot yoga class, of course I’m going to d...