Bikram yoga

In My Humble Opinion
1

Does anyone have any experience with Bikram (“hot”) yoga? I’d like to hear what you thought/think about it.

There’s a studio down the street and I am intrigued. I haven’t particularly loved yoga before, but this at least seems like more of a workout! I am looking to get back in shape – I do more traditional workouts, but I like variety.

I can filter out the ‘detox’ woo if they stress that too much.

Also, is there any difference between yoga mats? I’ve never bought one.

So: did you enjoy it, was its good workout, did they push so much woo you couldn’t handle it, any advice on preparations before going, really anything.

2

Ugh, could a mod change the title of this thread, stupid autocorrect changed Bikram to Buckram…

3

I am a regular and love it, but it is not for everyone. The heat and humidity really make it hard - and it feels really great afterwards. Yoga is moving meditation, and getting into the Zone is a great part of it. The heat and humidity,and the stamina required to hold the poses, are killer - but it’s gets better when you get better at getting into the zone, if that makes sense. The heat helps keep you in the Zone.

Go three times - you’ll have a clear sense of whether its for you. Once or twice isn’t enough because you’re body has to acclimate…

4

What is the “dialogue”? This is mentioned on the website a lot.

What happens if you simply can’t, say in your first time, hold a pose as long as you are supposed to?

5

The poses are in a set sequence; the dialogue is what the instructors learn to talk through in order to lead a class.

Heck I can’t hold poses now and Ive been doing it for years. You stay in the room and try your best, beyond that, plan to sit down a bit as you get acclimated to the heat. It is really a foreign sensation.

6

My husband and I do Bikram on occassion.

If you can’t hold a pose or get to dizzy, you sit out for a while (on your mat).

You can buy a regular yoga mat, but you probably need a mat towel. You get so sweaty your hands and feet will slip on your yoga mat.

I did find that in Birkram Yoga (compared to, say, Vinyasa), I really focused on the movements because it was all I could do to stay in them. It’s hot, you sweat a LOT, and it’s pretty hard. But I enjoy it. I enjoy the repetition and the systematic movements. Keep in mind that every class is exactly the same. You do the same poses in the same order every single time.

No one ever pushed woo on us, but I did hear phrases like ‘letting out the toxins’ and crap. But mostly it was just a workout.

ETA: Preparations - drink a lot of water during the 24 hours BEFORE, and eat a light meal about 2 hours before. Don’t go dehydrated or on a full or empty stomach.

7

Interesting, I didn’t know every class is the same – I kind of like that.

8

I like it. The session is challenging; the predictability helps me manage my head better. If you find you’re a Bikram person, you’ll love the challenge and appreciate how you feel afterwards, a lot. I sleep so well that night. If you’re not, you’ll likely know immediately. It’s a pretty bright line in my experience.

9

I have had a love/hate relationship with Bikram Yoga since 1998.

I detested Bikram Yoga when I first went. I mean, I absolutely detested it. I hated the experience, I was angry, I thought the room was dangerously hot and it just generally seemed like a stupid way to spend my time. Despite all of that, I went a few more times and then dropped off.

I returned many years later and became addicted to it for several years. I could go as little as once or twice a week and I saw physical results that I never saw in my entire life with any other form of exercise. I used to go to the 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm class and felt amazing when I left. I felt off the charts amazing when I woke up the following morning.

Repeat that experience a number of times over a period of about six or seven years and you can understand what my experience with Bikram Yoga has been like. I alternate between a class in which I feel empowered and alive and engaged and the poses feel natural and good and then the next time I’ll go and have a disappointing class where I’m distracted by the heat or the repetitive nature of the class and I fall out of every pose, but I still leave feeling amazing and I’m always glad I went, no matter what the experience was like.

So while externally each class is exactly the same, the class experience personally couldn’t possibly be more different. I have gone to Bikram Yoga studios in many cities on the East Coast and there is very little variation in the dialogue from one studio to another. I find the dialogue at a Bikram Studio to be a little less “new age” than other yogas I have tried, and it seems more focused on just describing the pose you are moving into and the proper position for it, along with some descriptions of the health benefits for each particular pose.

The specifics about the class: 90 minutes, and the class which begins and ends with a breathing exercise. After the first breathing exercise you do a series of standing poses that include stretching, balancing poses, cardio poses and then you move to the floor and do a variety of other poses on the floor. I have been in studios that felt almost dangerously hot and that used humidifiers to keep the room humid and I have also been in studios that had heated floors and a much dryer feel. In either event, I leave the room as if I had stood under a shower head in my yoga clothing.

In every studio I’ve ever visited, the teachers were encouraging and reminded the students to accept where they were in the process and to listen to their bodies. I should also mention that some studios are militant about the routine and will not accept students who fidget or begin to move into poses before the instructor tells them to, which, as a regular student is easy to do because you can anticipate what is coming next.

I can answer any other questions you might have.

10

Thanks all!
A few more questions.

What is an example of a cardio pose?

What happens if a studio is “militant”?

Do they try to up sell you on associated products?

How much does a good instructor matter?

11

If you wear glasses, the flood sweat will make them slide right off your face. If you wear contact lenses, the salty sweat might sting your eyes terribly.

12

Well, a cardio pose might have been a misnomer, but I find that this one really makes my heart pound:

It looks deceptively easy and is only held for ten seconds, but it really works.

“Militant” might have also been an overstatement, but I have been at studios where the instructor chided a student for entering into a pose before the instructor led the class into the pose. I was also in a class where a student’s cell phone went off and the instructor forced the student to hand over the phone until the class ended, then went on a tirade about distractions. It is incredibly rude to bring a cell phone into the practice room, so I didn’t disagree with the action the instructor took, but it was my opinion that she furthered the distraction by bringing attention to it.*

I have never been subject to any kind of marketing for anything I can even think of. Most studios have a small selection of yoga gear for sale, including mats and bags, but I’ve never heard anyone explicitly suggest purchasing anything.

In my opinion, a good instructor is key, especially if you have some of the issues with mental focus that I have. I have a favorite instructor in mind and she is gentle and veers off the dialogue with generally positive and uplifting, non-hokey statements. I have a least favorite instructor who reminds me of an auctioneer. She never varies the dialogue and at times it feels like she’s expressing the poses in a mechanical way just to get through the words she needs to get out.

  • The general rule is that nothing comes into the yoga practice room with you except for your mat, your towel(s) and your water bottle. Shoes are taken off immediately inside or outside the studio (depending on the setup).
13

I have been regularly practicing Bikram for seven years. So far the previous posters have done an excellent job describing the practice. I am not a fan of exercise and this has been the only one in my life that has kept me coming back.

I like it because it’s made my body very toned, it’s consistent, very little woo and I like the heat. You will get a pretty good cardio workout as well. The studio will have mats, outfits and books for sale but it’s never pushed. They don’t care if you get your mat elsewhere. Generally they’ll rent you a mat for $1 but you can get a cheap one at Target or Amazon. I like a thicker mat and, since I am tall, a longer one.

They take care of newbies there. Don’t worry if you can’t do some of the poses. Just try to do them correctly. After seven years, I still can’t do some of them fully and for the whole time. I probably never will but that’s not the point.

I think that all studios have a deal where for $20 you get all the yoga you can do for ten consecutive days. Buy that and try to take at least three or four classes. You just might get addicted.

15

I’m personally not a massive fan of bikram, but I think with yoga the difference between the instructors is always bigger than between the different styles, so that might be why. Does that make sense? Basically, you can call something power yoga or hatha or vinyasa, but you still have no idea of what it will actually be like or how strenous/how much exercise it will be.

Just go, try it out! And like others said, go a few times. Yoga takes some getting into.

For a mat, try in the shop to see it isn’t stretchy. I say this because my yoga place bought a whole set of new mats, and they are completely worthless because they stretch. That means that if you are doing a pose with eg your legs apart, the mat slides further apart. They had to get rid of the whole batch!

I’m looking for yoga right now, my fave teacher is gone for 6 weeks. Not going really sucks, somehow. I practice for myself but it isn’t the same.

16

I did it once and absolutely hated it. And it reeked to high heaven in the room. It was a mix of BO and chlorine.

17

It’s a good workout if you push yourself to whatever limit you’re capable of that day. It’s easy to burn out especially if you do a consecutive day challenge. The heat and consistent dialogue helps me focus on each movement, and you’re forced to either let go of all the crap in your head while practicing or have a terrible class. The woo in the dialogue must be said whether the instructor, or even Bikram himself, still believes it.

The class forces you to be very conscious of hydration which is good if your only beverages consist of coffee, Diet Coke and beer like me. IMHO if you go twice a week or more you can pretty much eat absolute crap and remain thin while adding muscle tone. I don’t know how well it works forl long-term weight loss. It does smell but if you’re paying attention to that you aren’t pushing yourself in class. Regular practice also seems to give you great skin. My theory is that the heat and humidity contributes to exfoliation of skin cells as it’s similar to those steam facials.

I see the thread is several months old, what did you end up deciding about it Daphne?

18

Huh? That’s odd! I didn’t mean to animate a zombie, it showed up on the IMHO page… :confused:

And the woo… yeah, the woo. I don’t mind if it’s gently incorporated while you’re doing stuff, but I don’t want to pay to sit still on my mat and hear about how people with “clairvoyant hearing” hear all the molecules of the universe vibrating together to make the sound oooooom. And you can’t even point out how the “voy”-part doesn’t make any sense paired with the “hearing”-part. :mad:

19

It just seems so nasty to me–working out under the most unpleasant circumstances possble, all to create the illusion that you’re suffering so you must be working out really well.

I’d rather work out with disco music and Vivaldi blasting simultaneously and the smell of sulphur all around me–it would be just as unpleasant but at least I wouldn’t be creating unnecessary rivers of sweat the whole time.

20

** gracer**, maybe there was deleted spam?

** prr**, the heat and humidity do more than that, they do make you a bit more stretchy which is why there’s a concern about hyperextension and pushing yourself too far. Also, and it isn’t for everyone, the environment forces you to be conscious of every tiny move, even the blink of an eye, but then you must consciously filter out all the extraneous crap to achieve the best ‘pose’ you’re capable of that day. The first time an instructor did a sort of hypnotic “relax your [insert body part starting from toes up to scalp]” dialogue during the final savasana I learned about how much tension we normally have.

21

I like yoga and the thought of doing it hot intrigues me but locking me in is the killer. I want to know I can leave if I want to.