New Students
Bikram yoga is a 26 posture series practiced in a heated room (The recommended temperature is 40 degrees with 40% humidity).
Bikram yoga was designed for Westerners with bad backs and bad knees and junk bodies.
Arrive for your first class 20 minutes early to sign in and get settled. Bring a mat, full size towel and water with you. Dress lightly, you want to see you alignment in the mirrors. Shorts encouraged.
All classes are 90 minutes. Don’t worry, you get used to the time in the class room. It doesn’t feel that long. There are all levels of students in the classroom. New students can copy them for alignment and technique but we all practice the postures at different levels of depth. Depth comes over time and with correct practice. All students are welcome to sit down at any time during the practice but are encouraged to stay in the room the entire 90 minutes.
In the beginning, you may feel all kinds of weird sensations including headaches, tiredness, soreness, …… all bad stuff and toxins coming out of the body. Every reaction is normal. Drink plenty of water and don’t get scarred. As the body cleanses, it detoxes and it has to come out somehow.
Over time, these awful feelings and symptoms go away. You will feel light and amazing. You will have cleaned your body from the inside out! You just have to get through the bad to get to the good.
Look under “benefits” for students testimonials who have gone through the awful to get to all the great medical benefits. Also look on Bikram’s home page www.bikramyoga.com for more testimonials.
The room is kept at this temperature or more for the following:
- Keeping the body from overheating (contrary to popular misconception)
- Protecting the muscles to allow for deeper stretching
- Detoxing the body (open pores to let toxins out)
- Thinning the blood to clear the circulatory system
- Increasing heart rate for better cardiovascular workout
- Improving strength by putting muscle tissue in optimal state for reorganization
- Reorganize the lipids (fat) in the muscular structure
