Bikram yoga is the devil.
I’m a bit of a physical activity snob. My repertoire of hobbies includes dance (ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip-hop, Pilipino, bhangra, Chinese…), rhythmic gymnastics, taiko, hurdling, and wushu. Being that I was actually pretty good at all of these things, I feel I have the right to wrinkle my nose at fitness fads.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, people like to show off how health-conscious they are. Yoga mats, rolled up and wrapped in the most stylish over-the-shoulder bags possible, are like badges of honor. It’s as if having ever considered purchasing a Lulu Lemon product makes you 15% more aware of the energy housed in your core than the average person signing up for pick-up games of baseball.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I think yoga is a great form of exercise. It engages your mind and increases your body awareness. Its slow pace is probably more appropriate for the masses and better for our aging bodies than the pounding of improperly-supported sneakers on asphalt. It is more recreational than it is competitive, which is perfect for the many people who simply want to build a healthy habit.
Bikram yoga, however, I think is the devil. It’s the one where they turn the heat up like crazy and you push your way through numerous postures, all the while negotiating your fellow yogi’s sweaty ass in front of you as you try to stabilize your stance. Some people may as well not be wearing clothes in bikram yoga classes, drenching themselves in so much sweat that all you can think is “Write to Nike. Tell them new microfiber material does not prevent transparency when in contact with sweatwater.”
If you like saunas, if you like working out, if you like working out in saunas, then be my guest, but you’re putting your body in a lot of danger by subjecting yourself to intense workouts in extreme heat. Again, it is not the practice of yoga that I am against. It is the false sense of having “warmed up” that bikram followers use as a crutch that I am against. Your body is meant to build upon its own kinetic and potential energy. We are designed to release whatever chemicals are needed to make our way through aerobic and anaerobic workouts. Introducing heat throughout an entire exercise session is foreign and dangerous.
If it’s not what you’re used to, what makes you think it’s right for you?
Consider this: Pain killers. Pain killers and athletes must be mixed with caution. Take too much Ibuprofen and you may mask the pain more than is advisable. Injuries often occur when pill-popping people “feel fine” (thanks to pain killers) and end up pushing their bodies more than they can physically take. Maybe your knee problem wouldn’t be chronic if you didn’t keep overdoing it while your muscles are numbed.
I apply the same theory with the un-ordinary conditions of heat that are introduced to bikram yoga. Sure, you feel all flexible and bendy as you twist and turn, but once you walk out of that heated room, your muscles go into shock. Even if you cool down, your body is probably not ready to maintain the progress you may have made at yoga, nor is it ready to adjust at such an unnatural rate to your normal, daily environment. You increase your chances at snapping or pulling muscles because this type of conditioning was not meant to be for everyone’s body.
Yoga doesn’t need heat. Bikram simply puts too much of a strain on your system. Yo-yo dieting is not a good idea, and neither is yo-yo climating.
I speak from experience, having gone through a trial of bikram last year. I dug up an old journal entry on my first experience of bikram that you can read below, and I have to say my thoughts haven’t changed since then.
That said, excuse me while I go to my first day of training as a front desk receptionist at a bikram yoga studio. Irony abounds.
Editor’s Note: For the record, I refuse to consider myself “employed” just because I was able to bullshit my way through a front desk application process. I am far overqualified for this position and it is a temporary commitment.
It was like Coachella but wetter.
Mayka tries bikram yoga
Yesterday I joined a pack of post-9-to-5ers in a room filled mat-to-mat with sweltering air and sweaty bodies. With Hawai’i coming up in March I figured I’d work out for “spring break” – my first attempt at doing so – and that the best way to do that was to try a fad thing that everyone claims instantly shaves pounds off your body. And thus we meet again, Funky Door, next door. In considering a trial month of Crunch versus a trial month of bikram, I figured the latter option was the way to go, because with all the oft-denied health risks in bikram yoga, I’d be less likely to continue membership there anyway. I just want to take off some weight, not actually commit to anything.“Celebrate the silence…”
“There is strength in serenity…”Yeah yeah fuck you.So anyway, Mayka doing bikram yoga turned out to be a horrible idea. I was that newcomer in the back who got totally nauseated and couldn’t breathe for crap. I felt so sick. It’s not that I underestimated myself in being able to do any postures, it’s that I COULDN’T BREATHE. And that’s it. If I fall over in bikram, it will not because I’m not flexible or stable enough, it will be because I CAN’T BREATHE. I didn’t fall over last night simply because I took, oh, about four or five mini-breaks. At some point I just gave up on everything involving standing on two feet and joined back in with the lying on our backs stuff. It didn’t smell bad in there. But then again, maybe it did. I couldn’t tell, because I COULDN’T BREATHE.I kept thinking “Where’s my inhaler? Where’s my inhaler??”
But I don’t have asthma. And I don’t have an inhaler.
Though it definitely felt that way and I definitely wish I didI just couldn’t breathe.
I bothered to stick it through because I had just bothered to pay $29 for a wham-bam-thank you-ma’am month of the worst idea ever to hit American fitness centers. I’m just going to do as many of these sessions as I can with the ultimate goal being to make it through an entire 90-minute class and be as svelte as my 5′3″ frame can be on the beach. Now that I’ve tried it, I can totally knock it.
So basically, I suck. (That’s hard for dancer, former rhythmic gymnast/hurdler to admit.)
I love breaking a sweat, and I think I did kinda like looking at myself sweaty in the mirror, but then this little bird of a reminder flitted in and peeped “You’re not the only sweaty person here.”
Bikram yoga could potentially be a really great place to pick up on a date. Although it took some adjustment, I can kind of see why people would find all of the room’s heavy breathing somewhat arousing. If you’re trying to coax your honey into orgies in the steam room, you should totally start ‘em off here.
I then had to hustle to NDC [Nguyen Dance Company], and by the time I had reached BART (where I had never found the sudden gush of an inbound BART train so inviting…) I had a really nice rosy flush in my cheeks. Also kind of erotic if you think about it. No wonder hippies and uptight businesspeople love bikram. Then again, it’s not like all the Indians in South Asia are running around with all this pent-up sexual frustration after they meditate.
Bikram yoga is NOT good for you. It forces your body by using heat into postures that it is not ready for and can have long lasting, damaging effects. The only reason it feels like its good for you is because you feel exhausted, drained and defeated. This style gives yoga a bad name.
Bikram yoga is limited to 26 poses. They are the same every time! There exists 100s of yoga poses that target different muscle groups and when using them in variety is the only way to get a total body workout. Please, do the research! Bikram is taking advantage of yoga’s good name and claim to medical benefits and not following through.
I am a certified hatha yoga instructor and experimented with bikram for a year until finally injuring by lower back. I know many others who have been injured and never seemed to get any stronger, thinner, or more balanced. If you are looking for a workout, try ashtanga–if you’re looking for relief from: stress, anxiety, depression, hypertension, sciatica; try any other form of yoga!! If you like the heat, which was my favorite part, try heated vinyasa flow. Your body and mind will thank you!
Wow, thanks for your input, Jillian!
Update: I no longer work at that studio. Thank goodness.
Funny article, I’ve been practising Bikram for 5 years, and I love it!!!! Read the book, then maybe you’ll understand the yoga a little more.
Hello Mei! This is cute. It seems people make all sorts of assumptions on what is good for you and what isn’t even when they have no expertise to do so. Yoga has been around for 5000 years. I don’t really think they had air conditioning in India for a lot of that time so I would feel funny doing yoga in a cool room. You couldn’t breathe because your mind wasn’t letting you. It’s amazing what the body can do if the mind will just let it. When you learn that you can breathe in a room of 105 degrees while doing strenuous postures, you can breathe so much easier in many situations. I just happened to be watching the special on HBO about panic and after all the brain scans and analysis of the brain activities, they worked on the people’s breathing! It is the only way we can consciously lower our heart rates, by controlling our breath. Then I was really amused when I went to Jillian’s web site and it talks about using props and music. So instead of doing postures that have been perfected for over 5000 years, we are modifying them with props, which change the integrity of the posture. So unknowing students will think oh this is a cute yoga and it looks easier. To me this is what is really dangerous. I would much rather go with the guy who learned yoga when he was 3 years old, in India from a famous yogi, then from someone who was probably a personal trainer and then took a week long yoga training course to become a teacher. Of course it is amusing to read their articles and comments! Give Bikram yoga a try! And even give Jillian’s a try as well (just be careful) and decide for yourself!
Hi Al,
A couple of things:
My first name is Mayka, as in “theMaykazine.” My last name is Mei.
You missed the point that I have practiced yoga, that I come from a dance background, and that, yes, I have tried out Bikram yoga as well. When you speak of “unknowing students,” you are talking about someone else.
I already decided for myself. I do not like Bikram yoga.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hi Mayka,
Yes I understood that. I was addressing you, the first commenter Jillian and the general reading audience with my comment, sorry if that wasn’t clear. To be specific to your article, I was referring to when you said you ‘couldn’t’ breathe and the ‘abnormal’ heat which sends your muscles into shock after you leave the room. This is really a ridiculous statement, it just doesn’t happen. One thought is maybe you brought your preconceived notions of what you think yoga is all about and that led you to do something or feel a certain way. Since you did take another bikram class after your first I’m going to assume you didnt think this ’shock’ was all that bad anyway. My general concern with your article is that you want to dissuade people from doing Bikram yoga and that’s a shame, especially with those types of statements. The rest of my comment was directed towards Jillian and then just encouraging whoever is reading to try both and make their own decisions. There are really many many people around the world who are reaping so many benefits of Bikram’s yoga. Just because it is not your cup of tea, doesn’t mean you should make outlandish comments about it, in particular that muscle goes into shock comment…
Cheers and good luck with your blog.
Breathe : )
Al
You’re right, and like I said before, I decided for myself. I read opinion articles and don’t buy into everything that people profess. I actually appreciate when people tell me the good and bad of their experiences, but if you’re against the practice of “dissuading,” then we’ll just have to disagree on what the value is in sharing one’s individual account.
Dissuading and making outlandish comments are two different things : )
Briefly adding my own experiences: I do a wide variety of activities to keep in shape (running, biking, swimming, some weights, etc.), and have also done a fair amount of yoga over the years from various schools of thought (Iyengar, Ashtanga, and hatha under many different teachers). I recently signed up for 2-weeks Bikram “hot yoga”, and was easing into it, doing the “introductory level” class every other day, drinking lots of water, and was honestly loving it. I felt good during and after the sessions.
The problem is that I had two muscle pulls OUTSIDE OF CLASS during those 2 weeks — I strained a calf muscle while on an easy jog, then a week later I strained a hamstring while bending over to pick a sock up off the floor. It’s hard to directly blame Bikram “hot yoga” for these strains because they happened outside of class, but for me the correlation is too much to ignore — I am very fit and was injury-free, but hurt myself twice in this short period of time while doing easy activities. Not sure how to explain it, but I don’t think I’ll be doing any more “hot yoga”.
Thanks for your two cents, Mike. Another friend of mine with a dance background enjoyed Bikram yoga, too. But when her instructors told her how it was “normal” to lose feeling in her right arm during stances, she started to smell the possible fishiness.