A quick look at bikram yoga
Yoga is a great way to stay in shape and find an outlet for your stress. It's very popular all over the country and is therefore easy to find yoga studios and yoga videos with which to learn yoga. There are also many different types of yoga, and it can be difficult to choose which type to do. One of the many styles of yoga is bikram yoga. This article is a quick look at bikram yoga and a description of some of its benefits.
Bikram Yoga is also known as Hot Yoga and is a style of yoga that was developed by Bikram Choudhury, an Indian Yoga master living in Los Angeles, California. Choudhury claims that this method of yoga is the only true Hatha yoga practiced in the Western World, though this is not accepted by many other schools of yoga. Bikram Yoga is ideally practiced in a room heated to 105°F (40.5°C) with a humidity of 50%. A session includes a set series of 26 yoga poses, including two pranayama exercises, each of which is performed twice in a single 90 minute class. As you can imagine, a vigorous yoga session at this temperature promotes profuse sweating which rids the body of toxins. It also makes the body very warm, and therefore more flexible. Classes last approximately 90-minutes. People of all levels, ages and body types practice together.
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It is essential to have your own yoga mat and towel when doing Hot Yoga since you will be sweating so much. Most participants tend to wear very little clothing for the same reason. Be sure that you've been drinking lots of water before and after class so you don't get dehydrated. It is also not advisable to eat during the two hours before class. If you want to try Bikram's method, make sure the Hot Yoga studio you choose has been certified to teach Bikram Yoga. Hot Yoga is not advised for pregnant women, since it can raise the core body temperature.
There is much evidence to support the benefits of Bikram Yoga when it is practiced regularly and correctly. Alighnment problems, rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, diabetes, asthma, heart disease, high and low blood pressure and insomnia have shown much improvement for those who regularly participate in Hot Yoga.
Other benefits of Bikram Yoga include the following:
- Increases your flexibility
- Improves peripheral circulation
- Improves your metabolism / digestion
- Gives the body a cardiovascular workout without negative impacting forces
- Exercises your nervous system
- Endocrine and exocrine glands are massaged and stimulated to better function
- Enhances muscular and skeletal network
- Improves heart and lung function
- Improves back conditions of pain and misalignment
- Improves flexibility of your spine in its range of motion in all directions allowing the improvement in function of your central nervous system.
- Helps cultivate a sense of well being and a more peaceful mind
- Integrates both sides of the brain to improve memory, learning, body coordination and balance
- Builds mental strength and teaches you to hold your mind in a focused and meditative state
- It works every organ, gland, nerve, tendon, ligament and muscle in the whole body every time you practice
- Expands your capacity to breathe deeply and fully
- Prevents injury and may prevent or improve chronic illness
- Promotes better, deeper sleep and may even encourage you to need less sleep
- Has great body toning effects
- May offer weight loss or gain depending on your body's needs
- Improves posture and body awareness
- Improves the healing and regenerative powers of your body
- Lengthens and strengthens muscles
