"What I learn from Bikram Yoga"

(written by Victoria Nordgren, www.amateurendurance.com)

Bikram yoga is a 90 minute meditation while performing 26 postures in a heated room of about 101-106 degrees F.  The poses are derived from traditional hatha yoga postures.  What makes Bikram Yoga different from other forms of yoga is the level of discomfort in the form of sweating, heat,potential dizziness, and aerobic challenge it provides in it's execution.  Developeed by Bikram Choudhury in California as a way to strengthen, heal and cleanse the body, Bikram yoga inspires devoted followers or outright naysayers.  THere is no ambivalence about the experience - one either loves it or hates it.  As one who falls in to the former category, here's what I learn with each and every class that makes me a better athlete and perhaps a better person:

Tolerate Discomfort - Bikram Yoga is a series of discomforts, based on:

  -heat levels that run from sweat inducing at a minimum to dizziness inspiring at varying moments;

   -steady breathing through the nose only (in order no to provoke the flight response of mouth breathing according to the instructors) despite the serious aerobic/cardiovascular effort andt occasional desire to gasp for breath

Intense Focus - Learning to focus intensely on the execution of the poses in a deliberate abd steady manner without letting the mind wander is the meditation aspect and an excellent  mental discipline that can be taken beyond the class and out into the world.  This si serious training of a different sort for every athlete looking for imporvement of any sort.  Train the mind and the body will follow!

Access Inner Calm - Breath control is essential to create calm under stressful condtiions.  Strengthen your ability to control your breath and you automatically strengthen youir ability as an athlete.  Having a deliberate method of stress control that can be accessed in daily likfe is definitely a desirable side effect.

Combine Physical and Mental Strength - Bikram Yoga has a magical way of entwining physical and mental strength.  Both are required throughout class, hand in hand, in order to achieve the full range of motion for each posture.  While it is possible to tune out the mind in Bikram Yoga as with any other sport, the environment makes it much more difficult to do so.  The only way to overcome the discomfort is to mindfully execute each pose in a fully engaged fashion.

Locate Balance and Coordination - internal and external balance are fine tuned through the discipline of Bikram Yoga.  True strength can indeed be discovered with the challenge to locate physical balance in the postures. 

Appreciation - The world comes down to a desire for nothing more than air and water while performing Bikram Yoga.  Simple, elemental and very effective!

The more tangible benefits of Bikram Yoga are the strengthening of all the body's systems; injury prevention and healing through increased flexibility; and increased cardiovascular strength.  The "heat training" is agreat way to increase aerobic capacity as time spent in temperatures hotter than race day will benefit any athlete.  Consider Bikram Yoga as another cross-training option to elevate the heart rate and condition the neuromuscular system!