Winter Makes Me Crave The Bikram Yoga Heat

January 26, 2016January 24, 2016 Hot Off The Mat Class Experiences, Yoga and Life

I sometimes feel ambivalent about the heat in a Bikram Yoga class. Most days I like it, seeing the heat as an important part of the Bikram Yoga process. Occasionally, especially on very humid days, it can feel stifling and overwhelming. It can get to be too much.

But in the winter, I crave it. I wake up in the morning thinking about it, set up in the hottest part of the room, wallow in my glorious sweat, and dream about my next class almost as soon as my current class ends. I hate being cold and the Bikram Yoga heat is a great escape from winter.

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Vacation Yoga – Piecing It Together

January 19, 2016January 19, 2016 Hot Off The Mat Class Experiences, Yoga and Life

When I am at home, I practice Bikram Yoga regularly, and when I am away, I try to find a Bikram studio in the area so I can maintain my practice. But many times there is not a studio nearby, or there just isn’t time for a 90-minute class. So what do I do? Whatever I can.

I was recently out of town for a few weeks, with no Bikram Yoga studio for miles around. Undeterred, I pieced together a practice from the available options — resort yoga classes, Pilates classes and Sun Salutations outside on the deck. The variety provided a nice break from the rigors of Bikram Yoga and gave me a few tricks I can bring back to my regular practice.

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One Week Off Bikram Yoga and I Can’t Sleep Through the Night

January 12, 2016January 28, 2016 Hot Off The Mat Self Improvement, Yoga and Life Bikram, Bikram Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yoga

Before I began practicing Bikram Yoga, I awoke each night at 2 or 3 in the morning grinding my teeth and worrying about something. As my eyes snapped open, I knew I should drift back to sleep — I had things to do the next day — but often I laid awake for an hour or two with my mind racing. Sometimes I would even get up and walk around the house, trying to clear my head and reboot my thoughts. I hated it.

My Bikram Yoga practice changed all that. At first, I was simply so physically exhausted from the practice that I slept like the dead. After several months, I was getting into the groove of my practice, but my sleep stayed sound. It was life changing and remained so for years.

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Why Would Anyone Want To Straddle a Yoga Mat?

December 15, 2015November 30, 2015 Hot Off The Mat Class Experiences, Postures, Yoga and Life Bikram, Bikram Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yoga

I enjoy practicing at different Bikram yoga studios, because while the basic premise is the same, there are always one or two unique features at each studio that help me in my practice. But one thing I find confusing is the way that different studios handle the three postures following the balancing series (Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose, Triangle Pose and Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee Pose). I have experienced three different methods.

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Can Bikram Yoga Help With Jetlag?

December 1, 2015November 30, 2015 Hot Off The Mat Class Experiences, Yoga and Life Bikram, Bikram Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yoga

Every Thanksgiving, we travel from NYC to visit my husband’s family in California. It is a lot of fun, bustling with cousins, good food, and festivity, but it is also a long trip for a relatively short period of time. It is amazing to think that I have been doing this for twelve years (since my daughter was born), but each year the three-hour time change has gotten a little harder for me to stomach. Getting older is no fun…