Is Bikram Yoga The Cure For What Ails You?

Does your yoga practice help you deal with a physical disability or other health issue? Mine does. I have a moderate hearing loss and tinnitus (ringing in the ears). It can be very frustrating and physically exhausting. When the tinnitus really flares up, it can be quite debilitating, making it hard to think, and my balance can suffer. It can sometimes lead to feelings of vertigo or extreme dizziness.

But through it all, I turn to my Bikram yoga practice for routine, for solace and for strength. I recommend yoga and meditation to all my friends with hearing loss as a way to deal with the frustration, but also to give the body and mind the strength it needs to survive and thrive despite the challenges we face every day. I think this is the case for many people battling physical ailments and infirmities.

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I Finally See How One Posture Drives Another

August 25, 2015August 12, 2015 Hot Off The Mat Class Experiences, Postures, Yoga and Life Bikram, Bikram Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yoga

Teachers often talk about how one posture drives the next in the Bikram series, and even that some of the postures we do later in class set us up for the earlier parts of class the following day. I always understood that there was a flow within the class itself. For example, Camel comes alongside Rabbit so that the spine can work in both directions and Standing Head to Knee comes first after the warm-up so that the locked knee is firmly in place before other balancing postures are attempted. But I wasn’t always sure how the postures of one class set you up for the following day — until recently with Standing Head To Knee Pose.

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Can you Find These Three Things In Every Posture?

August 18, 2015August 12, 2015 Hot Off The Mat Class Experiences, Meditation, Postures, Self Improvement, Yoga and Life Bikram, Bikram Yoga, Hot Yoga, Meditation, Yoga

I recently attended a fabulous yoga retreat at the Crestone Mountain Zen Cente r led by a wonderful yoga teacher named Charlie Samos. The retreat combined yoga, hiking and Zen meditation. I loved it! There were so many enriching experiences at the retreat, but one of the most memorable was the final yoga class. Charlie challenged each of us to find three things in every posture of the class: (1) the ease of Sukhasana or Seated Pose, (2) the stability of Tadasana or Mountain Pose, and (3) the compassion of Savasna.

It was an interesting exercise and made for a deep and enriching class. Each posture was an exploration of emotion and spirit in addition to the physical asana. It was a wonderful treat and a good lesson in how a physical yoga practice can be expanded and deepened through thoughtful meditation.

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When Bad Habits Creep Back In

August 11, 2015August 3, 2015 Hot Off The Mat Class Experiences, Postures, Self Improvement, Yoga and Life Bikram, Bikram Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yoga

So far this summer, I have done a lot of traveling. This has been wonderfully fun and I wouldn’t change it, but it has been brutal for my Bikram yoga practice. While I typically practice 4-5 times per week during most of the year, so far this summer, I have practiced 4-5 times in total, and most of that was in the past week. It is bad. My body is not in top form, my muscles ache, and for better or for worse, the bad habits I have worked so hard to break this year have reared their ugly heads. Lucky for me, yoga is a practice, not a perfect, so I will have the opportunity to rebuild.

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Parlez-Vous Bikram?

August 4, 2015July 22, 2015 Hot Off The Mat Class Experiences, Postures, Yoga and Life Bikram, Bikram Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yoga

I arrived early for class because it was a new studio for me, and a new language. I was going to take my first Bikram yoga class in Paris. The check-in proceeded well — the receptionist spoke English — but noticing the inadequacy of my “one year of French in college” language skills, she commented, “The class will be in French, will that be alright for you?” “I’ll do my best,” I replied. We both smiled, me a little bit nervously, but honestly, I was not worried. I knew the flow of the class and I felt that I would find my way using visual clues from the other practitioners if nothing else. I was right, but what I didn’t realize was how much of the dialogue I could still comprehend, despite not understanding the spoken words.