Is it unsanitary to do yoga on shared bathroom floor?

May 15, 2011 12:30 PM

Is it unsanitary to do yoga on the bathroom floor?

I live in a dorm where I share the bathroom with about 15 people. I want to start doing hot yoga and the book i'm using suggests that I use the bathroom with the bathtup filled with hot water. I want to do yoga in the mornings and the housekeeping staff cleans the bathrooms every afternoon. Do I need to worry about germs and etc. getting on my face and body from using a floor that's had about a day's worth of use? If so, would using a yoga mat solve that issue? Thanks.

posted by defmute to health & fitness (29 answers total)

I wouldn't do it.

In addition, is it fair to the other 15 people for you to be using the bathroom floor to do Yoga. Personally, I would find that a bit odd and intrusive.

Find a clean, private spot.
posted by tomswift at 12:33 PM on May 15, 2011 [12 favorites]

That seems like it would be both unsanitary as well as a major inconvenience for your roommates.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:35 PM on May 15, 2011 [18 favorites]

If I had a dollar for every time I've seen a fully formed shit on a dorm bathroom floor...I'd have at least several dollars. This sounds like an awful idea. (And unless they're bleaching the floor every night (unlikely), there's more than a day's worth of use on that floor.
posted by phunniemee at 12:35 PM on May 15, 2011

I'm no germaphobe, but doing hot yoga on a bare bathroom floor sounds disgusting. Both for you and for the people who have to use the bathroom between when you're done and the bathroom is cleaned.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:35 PM on May 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

wouldn't you be running the risk of getting athelete's foot on your face?
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:41 PM on May 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

I wouldn't walk on a dorm bathroom floor... that's what shower shoes are for. Don't really think I'd want to plant my face there.
posted by Marky at 12:43 PM on May 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Do men ever miss the urinal in public bathrooms?
posted by Houstonian at 12:44 PM on May 15, 2011

Gross.

Get a humidifier or a space heater and put them in your bedroom, or find a class.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 12:44 PM on May 15, 2011

That sounds really gross, and extremely impolite to other people who don't want to become drenched in sweat just to go to the bathroom. You're not likely to get the bathroom up to the recommended temperature, you're going to be wasting a lot of water and energy doing it, you're going to be grossed out once someone uses the toilets, plus without the benefit of an instructor correcting your poses, you're also very likely to hurt yourself.
posted by meowzilla at 12:48 PM on May 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

the book you're using is referring to your own bathroom (in which case, go for it), not a public/dorm one. Gross!
You're being rude to the other bathroom users, wasteful with the water and energy needed to heat it, and putting yourself into a danger of infection that greatly outweighs any benefit you'd get from the extra heat&humidity (assuming you'd get the required level of both).
posted by Neekee at 12:54 PM on May 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't do yoga on MY bathroom floor, and my house is very clean.
posted by raisingsand at 12:56 PM on May 15, 2011

I do Bikram yoga and I'm afraid the bath water is not going to heat the space adequately. Unless the bathroom is very small, and you shut out all sources of incoming air, I would use a space heater or find a room without air conditioning in the summertime.

And the bathroom idea is not that gross except that it is used by many people. It is cleaned once a day. With hot yoga you will be using double mats -- a regular yoga mat plus another mat made of toweling. People act like regular floors aren't contaminated. God only knows what is in my Bikram studio -- snot, sweat, blood, tears....

Good luck.
posted by Fairchild at 12:57 PM on May 15, 2011

College kids live like animals. I wouldn't do it, unless I could do poses in a hazmat suit.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:05 PM on May 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

Not in a shared bathroom, no. And if I couldn't get a goddamn shower because someone was using the shared bathroom for yoga practise I would be extremely unhappy with them.
posted by rodgerd at 1:10 PM on May 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Holy crap, this is the worst idea ever unless you enjoy fungal infections and possibly staph. Once a day cleaning is sanitary if you're the only person using the bathroom, not if you're one of fifteen. Doing yoga in the morning and cleaning in the afternoon means you want to do yoga right after it's been visited by a full night of all the vomit-soaked horribleness college students do to dorm bathrooms.
posted by schroedinger at 1:13 PM on May 15, 2011 [4 favorites]

Oh God, I was coming in here to say "Welp, depends on the bathroom!" but a DORM??!? No. No, no no, a thousand times no. Bad for you, bad for your dormmates, bad for America. It would be safer and more considerate to just have an orgy in there.
posted by KathrynT at 1:19 PM on May 15, 2011 [13 favorites]

In your own bathroom, sure go for it. Because you can keep your own bathroom floor clean as a whistle. In a dorm bathroom? HELL NO. It's bad enough just walking on the thing if you don't have flip flops or something. Those places are fungal heaven. Plus all the pee and stuff all over the place.
posted by Justinian at 1:27 PM on May 15, 2011

Have you checked to see if your campus gym offers a yoga class?

Many do.

And many community recreational centers also offer yoga for fairly cheap. And sometimes there are yoga centers where you can pay to join a drop-in class.

I would do all sorts of things before going to doing yoga on the bathroom floor of a dorm........
posted by zizzle at 2:07 PM on May 15, 2011

Not the best idea, even if you have a very high threshold for being grossed out.

Chances are that your campus gym offers yoga, but possibly not hot yoga. Depending on where you live, hot yoga studios in the surrounding area may have student discounts or "beginner passes" that allow you to try their services for a limited period of time. Non-Bikram places often have community/karma classes, offered at PWYC prices. Hot yoga isn't terribly student-budget-friendly, but there are ways to make it work.
posted by thisjax at 2:32 PM on May 15, 2011

I think you should first invest in a black light/uv light and see for yourself. Then make your decision.
posted by Sassyfras at 2:52 PM on May 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

This is a disgusting idea, it's unfair to your dormmates, and it won't do what you want anyway. Being next to a bathtub full of hot tap water will in no way even begin to approximate a hot yoga studio.
posted by moxiedoll at 3:04 PM on May 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

I would be not pleased if I was one of the other 14 people who have to use that bathroom if you went through with this.
posted by QuarterlyProphet at 3:09 PM on May 15, 2011

What everyone else has said - I wouldn't walk on that floor, so putting my body all over it would be completely 100% out of the question.

But hey, your funeral. More importantly, don't do this to your roommates.
posted by you're a kitty! at 3:47 PM on May 15, 2011

Yuck. You couldn't pay me to do yoga in a dorm bathroom. And I'm unemployed.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 4:10 PM on May 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

There's a good chance that, if you did this, at least one of your inconvenienced dormmates would find sneaky and disgusting ways to sabotage your morning practice.

Even if it were sanitary, you'd want a yoga mat. Child's pose on a tile floor sounds painful.

Can you do non-hot yoga in your room instead?
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:30 PM on May 15, 2011

Just a note to all who say "okay if it's your own bathroom": unless you are VERY STRICT about closing the lid on the toilet before flushing, and leaving it down for several minutes -- your bathroom is not as clean as you think it is. And neither are your toothbrushes.

Highly recommend "The Big Necessity" by Rose George. And a hot yoga studio.
posted by kestralwing at 6:49 PM on May 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

I would hate you forever if I had to pee in the morning and you were doing yoga in the damn bathroom.

Based on your questions, you are either in LA or Chicago. Get on Groupon. There are yoga Groupons in both of those places all the time, where you get a month of classes for almost free. Go there and do yoga instead.
posted by rockindata at 9:36 PM on May 15, 2011

I would hate you forever if I had to pee in the morning and you were doing yoga in the damn bathroom.

Or poop.
I'm another person to Just Say No.
posted by wondermouse at 10:06 PM on May 15, 2011

thanks for the feedback, yall. i forgot to mention that there are 6 bathrooms for the 15 of us and each bathroom is for single use only so i wouldn't be inconvenicing my hallmates like many of you think. i'm not actaully at a college but a mental instituion and we can't go out of town for something like going to a yoga studio. so call me crazy for wanting to do yoga in the bathroom (HAHLOL!). anyway, i think getting a yoga mat is my best bet. thanks again, everyone.
posted by defmute at 8:50 AM on May 18, 2011