About Bikram
The Practice
The Bikram Yoga series, otherwise known as "The Original Hot Yoga", is a form of Hatha / Raja Yoga and is made up of 26 postures (or asanas) and 2 breathing exercises.
The class is a challenging sequence of poses performed in a heated room over 90 minutes with the ultimate goal being to create health. Bikram Yoga delivers strength, flexibility and balance to all aspects of life, while energising and rejuvenating the mind, the body and the soul.
Every posture except for one is performed twice, giving you the opportunity to go deeper into the posture to improve your alignment and receive more benefits. The scientifically designed Bikram series works every system of the body: cardiovascular, nervous, endocrine, immune, digestive, muscular, skeletal and reproductive. Each posture systematically moves fresh oxygenated blood to 100% of your body, promoting good health, rejuvenation and healing.
“Yoga is the only form of exercise in the world that uses the body to heal the body.
Why the heat?
By intentionally heating the room, the 90 minute Bikram practice has three major benefits:
- A warm body facilitates a deeper stretch with greater benefits
- The heat assists in the purification of every system of the body and removes toxins
- The challenging environment strengthens your mind
“In the extreme heat we forge bodies and mind of steel. By pushing you to your limits and then beyond, you begin to understand that there are NO limits.”
Can I do Bikram Yoga?
Bikram Yoga is suitable for all ages, all fitness levels and all levels of ability. It doesn’t matter how flexible you are as over time and with regular practice you will improve not only your flexibility but both your physical and mental strength. Remember, that any movement towards the posture is the posture.
Yoga is the only form of exercise that can be performed at any age and as Bikram says, “It’s never too late, it’s never too bad and you’re never too old or sick to start from scratch once again.”
About Bikram Choudrey
Bikram Choudhury is the founder of the worldwide Yoga College of India™. Born in Calcutta in 1946, Bikram began Yoga at the age of four with India's most-renowned physical culturist at that time, Bishnu Ghosh, the younger brother of Paramahansa Yogananda (Author of the most popular book on Yoga, The Autobiography of a Yogi, and founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles).
Bikram practiced Yoga at least four to six hours every day at Ghosh's College of Physical Education in Calcutta. At the age of thirteen, he won the National India Yoga Championship. He was undefeated for the following three years and retired as the undisputed All-India National Yoga Champion.
At seventeen, an injury to his knee during a weight-lifting accident brought the prediction from leading European doctors that he would never walk again. Not accepting their pronouncement, he had himself carried back to Bishnu Ghosh's school, for he knew that if anyone could help to heal his knee, it was his teacher. Six months later, his knee had totally recovered. Ghosh was a celebrated physical culturist and the first to scientifically document Yoga's ability to cure chronic physical ailments and heal the body.
Bikram was asked by Ghosh to start several Yoga schools in India. The schools were so successful that at Bishnu's request Bikram traveled to Japan and opened two more. He has since brought his curative methods of Yoga therapy around the world.
“Two very important words in the English language: want & need. If you don’t give the body exactly what it needs, all the wants in the world mean nothing”
Read more in our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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