Bikram Yoga Heating up body and mind
“Welcome to 90 minutes of wonderful torture. Newcomers do the best you can, that’s what Bikram Yoga is all about, doing the best you can every day. Now for our first breathing exercise…” This instructor at the Bikram Yoga Canada Studio in Toronto is Clyde. He wears very little — bicycle shorts, just above the knees, and no shirt.
Twenty-five committed converts have shown up today for 90 minutes of cleansing, focus, meditation and flexing, of the whole body and mind. They are all wearing very little. A wall of mirrors at the front of the class aids total focus of self. The studio, which can accommodate 50 students at once, is well lit, with white lights — just enough to kick the heat up another notch or two.
After the first two intense breathing exercises your body is warmed up and ready for 25 more postures of this ‘athletic yoga’.
“Plop, plop, plop, plop, is the sound of beads of sweat hitting the towel, which covers your mat, and is the only sound, besides the cadence of Clyde’s clear instructions.
“Now for the half-moon, inhale, touch the ceiling and go to the right…hold, hold, hold, go deeper, deeper, deeper, change…” The standing poses last for 60 seconds each and it is in the more intense seated poses that the work really begins.
Instructors very seldom demonstrate a pose. It is in the discipline of the listening, that students are encouraged to further keep intense focus. Talking, unless addressing the instructor, fidgeting, leaving the class unnecessarily, is not allowed.
Students are instructed to ‘stay in the moment’ by keeping their eyes opened. In Bikram Yoga there is no chanting, om-ing, music, nor candles burning, to create the ambience.
Bikram Yoga www.bikramyoga.com is not for the faint hearted. Combining a tough regimen with lots of heat, Bikram Yoga takes the fitness programme to a new level. If you can’t take the heat, get out of the holistic yoga studio. Bikram Yoga, a demanding series of 26 poses, including two breathing exercises, is a fitness trend sweeping Canada, the United States and parts of Europe.
Unlike pavement pounding, unrelenting aerobics classes or competitive sports, Bikram Yoga challenges the person to complete a deep, strengthening workout, void of bass — pumping music or encouraging cheers.
Bikram Chourdhury, a world-renowned yoga master, began practising Hatha yoga at age 3 in his native India. At 11, he became the youngest contestant to win the National India Yoga Competition.
A weightlifting injury in his 20’s crippled him. It was than that he created his now famous series of postures to restore and strengthen muscles and ligaments.
Bikram Yoga is done in a heated room (100 degrees Fahrenheit) to warm the muscles and prevent injuries. The heat also allows a deeper workout and increases sweat, which cleanses the body by flushing out toxins.
The 90-minute programme is said to stimulate organs, glands and nerves and moves freshly oxygenated blood throughout the body. It challenges you to balance and strengthen every system in the body, while refining concentration, increasing mental clarity and decreasing stress.
Students of Bikram Yoga report feeling rejuvenated, centred and thoroughly worked, after one intense session. Some even report weight loss. The beauty of this nonabrasive exercise regime is that anyone can do it.
One Bikram Yoga instructor in the United States relates this story, “One of my students had severe shoulder injuries. She had gone to physical therapy for months, and after just three sessions of Bikram Yoga, she had increased movement.”
Many many testimonials such as this one come in every day.
“It only makes sense,” practitioners say that the fitness craze was created during Bikram’s own rehabilitation. Because it is comprehensive and controlled, it is appropriate for all ages and fitness levels.
“Never too bad, never too old, never too sick, never too late, to start from scratch and begin again,” Bikram is famous for telling his students.
Those who wish to try the Bikram method should be prepared to have patience, pace themselves and enter the hot environment with an open mind. Students should wear light clothing, avoiding jogging outfits, and must be sure to hydrate (drink lots of water) properly, before a class.
The postures are best performed on an empty stomach, as they require extensive stretching and twisting. Things typical of the fast-paced, harsh and too often stressful world are forbidden in the studio. No shoes, no gum, no pagers or cell phones, no perfume, no cologne, no excess jewelry or watches, and most of all, no ‘bad attitude.’
In Bikram Yoga there is no yelling drill sergeant, no clumsy weights or weight machines, no meat market atmosphere.
The Programme is intended to stretch, strengthen and tone the body, while clearing the mind. Many celebrities including Madonna, Shirley McLaine, Michael Jackson and NBA players, have long touted Bikram Yoga as their primary fitness regimen.
According to Bikram, the mind has five aspects, which as they develop, bring equanimity to the mind. These are Faith, Self-Control, Determination, Concentration and Patience. Each of these five develops by practising Bikram’s Yoga.
This writer is a student of Bikram Yoga. “For years I spent hours in the gym — steps aerobics, kick boxing, spinning, pilates, weight training, abs crunches, jogging, you name it, I did it. But Bikram Yoga is the most intense, deep and satisfying physical workout I have ever done. It has elongated my body, like a dancer, calmed my mind and given me a new perspective on breathing.
