Hot Yoga

On Monday I went to my first Bikram Yoga class in Brisbane, Australia. I have for a long time wanted to try this popular, but highly controversial style of yoga out for myself. Bikram is often discussed quite heavily between yoga practitioners. Finally I was going to be able to make a judgment based on my own experience.

First of all, what is Bikram Yoga? It is a yoga system put together by Bikram Choudhury and has over the last 40 years gained a lot of practitioners. The class goes for exactly 90 minutes. The teacher does not show any of the postures or correct any of the students physically, but a written script is being recited, with a few comments on the side to correct students individually. The class consists of a series of 26 postures and two breathing exercises. The room is ideally heated to 40.6°C (≈105°F) with a humidity of 40%.

The night before going I met a guy who just had done his first class. He complained for hours about his eyes being really sore and he couldn’t stop scratching them. He also told me that at several occasions he was about to pass out and just had to stop the practice. Even with these fresh second hand experiences I decided to try my best to go with an open mind, trying to stack away my preconceived ideas and thoughts about the practice, to be able to get a more balanced opinion.

The studio was beautiful, and the space is only used for Bikram yoga. Drop in price for the class was $20, with the possibility of going as much as you want for one week (the first time). My friend (a huge Bikram Fan and dedicated daily practitioner) changed to her sports bra/top before class and suggested me to do the same. So I took my singlet off, grabbed my towel and down we went (feeling a little naked). During the class, the teacher often told us to look at our stomachs while in different poses. Three of the walls were covered by floor to ceiling mirrors. The eyes has to be kept open (the teacher keeps saying ‘it’s an open eye meditation’) and often we are told to use the reflection of our self as a point of balance. I have not looked that much at myself in a sports bra for years. I felt quite self conscious by the end of it as I realized I have a bit more around the waist line then what I need. (As an aspiring yogini, this is an attachment I have to let go off though.)

It was hot, and I did sweat a lot… and I must admit that it was probably nice NOT to have a cotton singlet on. It was certainly a tiring practice, and the 20 second shavasanas felt like 2 seconds. There was never a time though that I felt I was about to pass out though. We were once told we could take a sip of water. I didn’t feel the need to drink at any time though during the practice, but others were ‘told off’ for drinking at the wrong time. I generally have it as a rule not to drink water for about half an hour before and half an hour after my yoga practice… (I will write about this in another post one day… ) but I usually don’t evaporate so much water either. It certainly felt more like an exercise than a yoga class.

The teacher was very good with encouraging and correcting the students throughout the class, but I felt for the students who were new to yoga and maybe in not the best physical shape, as it is a hard practice. Even after the class it was like we had done a performance. The teacher commented on everyone’s effort and the response to me was said something like: ‘Wow, really well done. You practice like a pro!’. Of course that gives encouragement to continue… but this competition attitude is also something that has been ‘criticised’ by practitioners of other styles of yoga. Yoga is an individual practice where the ultimate goal is unity between the body and mind, as well as between the Self and the Universal consciousness. It is not about how good your balance is or how far you can stretch. Bikram is a physical practice, with no or little focus on the spiritual aspect of yoga (at least this is not the focus in the class I went to). I would say that this does depend on the intention of the practitioner though. It may well be a spiritual practice, like everything. It certainly is a good workout, it gets up the blood circulation to all muscles, organs and joints of the body. It burns a lot of calories and due to the sweating major detoxification happens. If stretching in that temperature is good or bad for the muscles, I’ll leave to experts to decide, but I did feel that my ability to stretch further increased. I think we often need to go within and feel, only this way can we decide if it is a good thing for us to do or not. People are made up differently, we all have different needs, and for some people, like my friend, it is a great way to release tension and build up emotions in the body.  

I felt like I had done cardio exercise in a sauna… My face was redder then it’s been for years. I felt good though after the practice, but I had a bit of a headache later on in the afternoon. I might not have drunk enough water.

I could be inclined to do Bikram once in a while, but I would certainly not exchange if for my more relaxed, non sweating, closed eyed practice. It did feel nice to sweat out properly, but I would definitely advice to keep a conscious mind not to overstretch.

Om Shanti.