Bikram Hot Yoga

Some like it hot, Bikram Choudhury, the founder of Bikram or hot yoga  believes at least 105°F ( 40.5°C) and humidity of 40% the ideal conditions to practice yoga asana in.  This is not the only way that the Bikram school of yoga  differs from the other major schools of yoga. Unlike  Iyengar yoga, Ashtanga  yoga  and the nameless school of Desikachar, Bikram  yoga is not based on the yoga sutras  of Patanjali, and the eight limbs of yoga. Instead it is based on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika  which does not impose yamas and niyamas (limbs  one and two of the eight limbs of yoga),  and consists of a series of 26 postures with pranayama. Each Yoga Pose is usually performed twice and held for a certain period of time. Yoga Sessions start from Standing Postures, then the Backbends, Forward Bends, and Twists. The poses are accompanied by Kapalabhati Breath or the "cleansing breath".

The reasons why the room is kept at this high temperature – quoting the official Bikram  website:
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

Bikram was born in Calcutta, India in 1946, began Yoga at the age of four with Bishnu Ghosh, the younger brother of Paramahansa Yogananda (Author of the popular book, The Autobiography of a Yogi, and founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles). Bikram was trained at Ghosh’s College of Physical Education, (est. 1924) in Calcutta, India. In the late 1960’s he was sent to Japan to establish a school and teach their method of yoga. In the mid-1970’s, he established a school in San Francisco, then settled in Los Angeles and founded the Yoga College of India in Beverly Hills in 1974.

Since 1974 Bikram has become a very wealthy man, a self-styled yoga teacher to stars. in 2002 he created great controversy when he copyrighted his name and style of yoga. He then began to aggressively enforced claims of copyright and trademark protection, threatening many with lawsuits at $150,000 per infringement. As a result no one may teach Bikram Yoga classes unless he/she is a certified and licensed Bikram Yoga teacher. No one may teach or certify others to become Bikram Yoga teachers other than Bikram Choudhury. No one may offer obvious, thinly disguised copies of Bikram Yoga and represent to the public that it is "their" yoga. Bikram asserts "it is for the protection of Bikram Yoga, Bikram Yoga practitioners everywhere and the true spirit of yoga that these imposters must and will be stopped." Bikram yoga is now  effectively a franchise operation with licensed studios all over the world.

Many people, with good cause, have questioned how good this is for yoga, and that it is in the true spirit of yoga. Personally speaking  and I don’t think that somebody who speaks like this while teaching yoga really knows too much about its true spirit. These are all quotes  from a yoga class taught by Bikram  in 2005." I’m feeling sleepy, because I haven’t gone shopping for a long time…. I haven’t bought a car for two years—no, I bought a car last month, the fancy new Chrysler. Okay, move your right leg. Now your left leg." "What is the number-one reason people get divorced in America? Why do men leave? Because they don’t get according to their expectations…. Men have an imbalance of hormones. But yoga helps men maintain [sex drive]. Shit! Shit!"

Bikram  also wants yoga to become an Olympic sport. He and his wife Rajashree  are both past winners of the National India Yoga Championship (whatever that is).  Below is a short clip from the film about Bikram and the rise of McYoga ‘Yoga Inc.’  made in 2006 by John Philip.

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