What is it? Bikram yoga is a challenging yoga series consisting of 26 postures. It is performed in a heated room in order to warm the body. With Bikram yoga, you work deep into the muscles, tendons, ligaments, organs and cells of your body. Bikram yoga is great as a preventive activity and reducer of symptoms of certain ailments or diseases. Continuing to do the poses regularly will keep the symptoms away. You will also learn how to focus your mind and breath and to come to know the meaning of yoga as a union of the body, mind, and soul.
Performing Bikram Yoga
If you go to a studio to perform Bikram yoga, make sure you have a certified instructor. This is important because this particular yoga form requires an intensive 9-week training period with 500 hours of study for its teachers. It is a specialized form of yoga, and its instructors should have the appropriate training and knowledge for greatest effectiveness.
Bikram yoga is best when done as a full class every day for two months. During the practice of this form of yoga, your muscles and joints are balanced. You work against gravity, which strengthens your bones. Lymph nodes are massaged. There is a compression and extension of such organs as the spleen and intestines. Bikram yoga stretches and flushes out the lungs by increasing blood circulation. Nerves are stimulated, as is the brain, by improved circulation.
It is not unusual to feel nauseous or dizzy during your first Bikram yoga class; you are in a heated room. Drink plenty of water. If you are disoriented and tired after the first few classes of Bikram yoga, it is because the body has began to cleanse itself due to the postures. These feelings will pass.
Some History
Bikram Choudhury is a preeminent living Hatha Yoga master. He began his yoga practice when he was three. For a research project at Kyoto University Hospital, Bikram and doctors proved that yoga could regenerate tissues and cure chronic ailments. Bikram founded the Yoga College of India in the United States. He travels the world and lectures on his yoga method. Now, there are more than ten Bikram Yoga College of India locations in the world. Go to Bikramyoga.com to get more details on the locations of the Bikram Yoga colleges.
Many of those who practice Bikram yoga claim, “It’s never too late. Yoga is for everybody. There is no such thing as old and infirm…” And “Regardless of your age or current physical condition, you’ll laugh, cry, moan, groan, sweat and experience the most exciting, hard working, and effective therapeutic yoga routine in the world.”
Bikram yoga takes discipline, but has many benefits. It works your whole body and is a great stress reliever. It will improve your balance and strengthen your body. It will rejuvenate you, give you youthfulness, reshape muscles, stabilize your weight and more. Bikram also has a book if you have to teach yourself. Perform one posture a day, then the next day add another posture to the first, and so on. Do not eat within two or three hours before practice. There are many websites on Bikram yoga. Check them out and see if it’s for you.
By Laura Hogg