A man who has spent decades repairing damaged spines is about to become his own experiment…
…Meet Dr. Yoshihiro Katsuura
When Dr. Yoshi Katsuura walked into Hot Yoga Republic on June 26, 2026, we had absolutely no idea who he was. He looked like the nicest guy in the room…quiet, humble, easy smile. Then someone casually mentioned, "You know he's one of Northern California's leading spine surgeons, right?"
Wait...what?
As it turns out, Dr. Katsuura has spent his career doing something very few people on Earth ever get to do: study the human body at its absolute limits. He's repaired thousands of spines, pioneered minimally invasive surgical techniques, taught at Hospital for Special Surgery and Weill Cornell, and built a career around understanding exactly how and why the body works.
Which led us to a question we couldn't stop talking about.
What happens when someone with that level of medical knowledge commits to hot yoga for an entire year?
Not because his body is different than yours or mine. It isn't. If hot yoga changes people—and millions of practitioners would tell you it does—he should experience many of the same things the rest of us do. The difference is that when something changes, he has the training to recognize it, question it, measure it, and explain it in a way the rest of us simply can't.
So we asked him if he'd be willing to become the experiment?
Not a spokesperson. Not a yoga evangelist. Not someone who arrives with an agenda.
Just a physician willing to experience the practice exactly as the rest of us do, while documenting what he notices, what surprises him, what doesn't change, and what questions it raises along the way.
None of us knows where this story is going.
Maybe he'll confirm things Hot Yoga Republic members have been saying for decades. Maybe he'll debunk a few of them. Maybe he'll discover changes that are far more interesting than flexibility or touching your toes.
Or maybe the biggest surprise won't have anything to do with muscles, joints, or even the spine.
That's the part none of us can predict.
Over the next year, you'll follow along as one of Northern California's leading spine surgeons turns the microscope on the only patient he's never really studied: himself.
And if what happened during his first few weeks is any indication, this story is already heading somewhere neither of us expected.
The first blog drops in August and you’ll start to see posts on our socials.
About Dr. Yoshihiro Katsuura
Dr. Yoshihiro Katsuura is a board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon specializing in complex adult and pediatric spine care for patients age 10 and older. His philosophy is refreshingly simple: surgery should be the last option, not the first. Whenever possible, he emphasizes conservative care and minimally invasive techniques to help patients recover with less pain and faster healing.
A former faculty member at Hospital for Special Surgery and Weill Cornell Medical College, Dr. Katsuura is an Active Fellow of the internationally respected Scoliosis Research Society and has completed advanced fellowship training in both spine surgery and adult joint reconstruction. Today, he serves patients throughout Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, San Francisco, and the surrounding Bay Area through his private practice.
Beyond the operating room, Dr. Katsuura is a writer, illustrator, pianist, and the author of The Spine Encyclopedia, a comprehensive guide designed to help people better understand and care for their backs and necks. At home, he's married to a pediatrician and is the proud father of two children he affectionately describes as his "future space explorers."
But what impressed us most wasn't his résumé.
It was his willingness to admit that even after a career spent restoring other people's lives...
he's still curious about how to better care for his own.
And that's a journey we can't wait to follow.