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Bikram Yoga

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Bikram Yoga

Bikram Yoga

Bikram Yoga is a new form of yoga in the big picture of things. While yoga as a form of exercise and meditation has been around for millennia; Bikram yoga has only been around since the 1970’s. It is named after its founder, Bikram Choudhury. The trademark of the discipline is that it is done at high temperatures. Traditional yoga doesn’t lay out atmospheric guidelines; climate control wasn’t really an option in the first millennium of the Common Era, which was when yoga did much of its development.

Choudhury practiced yoga from a very young age, and was taken under the wing of the guru Bishnu Ghosh. Through his teen years, he competed, winning the Indian yoga championship four years in a row. Eventually he set his sights on pushing the practice that was such an integral part of his life in a new direction. To that end he sought to adapt yoga practices and philosophy to something more accessible to the West. While he kept the forms intact, he experimented with practicing yoga in different environments and eventually settled on adding heat and humidity to his routine.

Bikram yoga is supposed to be done at temperatures around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature threshold has been a source of controversy for the practice. Choudhury himself says that beginners will feel lightheaded and dizzy while practicing; which is a dicey proposition for your health and well-being. The reason for this is that while lightheadedness is a perfectly natural reaction to bodily exertion in unusually high temperatures; everyone has a different adaptation timetable to a high temperature, and everyone has a different hydration threshold.

Dehydration in high temperatures leads to heat stroke, which is ordinarily simply an unpleasant bodily reminder that you are pushing too far outside your body’s boundaries. However if mild heat stroke is ignored it can cause permanent damage or even death. Why would you ignore what your body is telling you? Well part of the adaptation process for Bikram yoga is that you need to push yourself and learn to cope with the intense heat and humidity. If you are a healthy adult, this may take several sessions. If you have health problems, it creates a dangerous mix. Symptoms of heart attacks include the same kind of lightheadedness and dizziness that accompany heat stress.

The controversy over Bikram yoga’s health effects has not diminished its popularity in the slightest; rather the controversy has ensured it stays in the news. It has made the founder extremely wealthy, and now he holds yearly certification sessions where instructors can go to be certified in his techniques. The certification process is important, as it teaches instructors proper technique for the poses. More importantly however, it teaches them to identify the danger signs that separate a person who is at health risk from someone healthily pushing their boundaries.

Bikram yoga is more commonly known as hot yoga, because the heat is the defining trait of the discipline. Many of the poses used are the exact same ones as you will find in any other class. The forty percent humidity and one hundred degree temperatures are what present the unique challenge for practitioners.