I have often had people ask me why I do yoga, and bikram yoga to be specific. When I started, it was never about the weightloss nor weight-management, but more about the meditation.
Let’s take it back a lil’ bit to what bikram yoga is: it’s a style of yoga that comprises of 26 postures and two types of pranayama (breathing exercises). The original format is done twice, over a period of 90 minutes in a room typically heated to about 40-45 degrees Celsius. I say original because some studios have introduced 60 minute classes and even 75 minute classes. The heat is added to assist the body to stretch, detoxify, relieve stress, tone, and heal chronic pain.
The Bikram sequence was designed by Bikram Choudhury as therapy for a severe knee injury he had incurred while weightlifting as a competitive yoga athlete in his teens. I took up the practice in October 2014 as therapy for my anxiety and panic attacks. This month marks my 4th year anniversary practicing. I needed something to calm me down and stop trying to constantly be on the fast lane and in control.
Trust me, looking at yourself in the mirror for 90 minutes, in a hot room will humble you. You will curse at yourself, judge every part of your being then realize after sometime that this is you, this is all of you. The best thing to do is learn to love the girl in the mirror and when I made that decision, I was on my road to recovery. I have not always loved how my body is, but I had to fall in love with it because it’s here to stay. And I’m not quite ready to nip and tuck!
Bikram Yoga has got to be my favourite workout during winter as it keeps me warm, and it’s probably the only thing I do in winter as it gets too cold to run *hides*
There are obviously other benefits to the practice that I never signed up for but are most welcome. I just picked the ones that relate to me the most:
- Increases strength and flexibility:
I must say, this has got to be my favourite. This comes with regular practice. Focus on doing the postures correctly and the strength & flexibility will come with time. The heat accelerates the stretching process beyond your body’s limits but be mindful as to not over-stretch. It’s great to see how far your body can go and it’s great motivation to keep coming back, but honour your body first, not the posture.
2. Burns fat and assists with weight-loss:
Bikram yoga is a fat-burning cardio workout and you will drop the excess weight, guaranteed. A 90-minute session of bikram yoga can help you burn up to 1000 calories, which is just as good as other forms of cardio exercises
3. Detoxifies your body:
If you think sprinters or extreme sport athletes sweat, you’ve not seen a yogi doing hot yoga. I don’t know anyone who’s walked out of a yoga class semi-dry, you literally drip of sweat. Even the teacher who’s just taking you though the dialogue ca not be completely dry, I mean, the room is over 40 degrees Celsius after all. The heat and high energy demand causes you to sweat and this helps you reduce water retention and sweat out a long list of toxins, chemicals, and other unwanted compounds that shouldn’t be in your body. The increased hot body temperature promotes blood flow to the skin cells leaving your skin with an awesome glow.
When you sweat you don’t just lose excess water but also salt. You need to replenish and replace the electrolytes in your body so you don’t feel dehydrated. I use Coconut Water, Rehydrate or Game Energy Drink to replace the electrolytes in my body. And drink lots of water, to find out the benefits of drinking water, this article should help you: https://wordpress.com/post/ladyteelady.wordpress.com/740
4. Increases Energy :
When you spend time focusing on your breathing, you increase your oxygen intake which results in increased energy. Prolonged sweating is also a great way to boost endorphins in the brain and chemicals also act as our body’s natural pain relievers, leaving you feeling open and relaxed.
Yoga in general balances the systems of your body and this increases energy, bikram yoga is no different
5. Improves your mood (stress-reliever):
Since your breathing patterns are directly related to your state of mind, developing awareness of your breath in challenging situations will help you manage your stress levels. Needless to say, I’ve had less panic and anxiety attacks because I’ve learnt the power of breathing correctly.
6. Aids with healing injuries and chronic pain:
The heat, helps stretch stiff or arthritic joints further in comfort, promoting healing and reducing the risk of added injury and pain.
Bikram yoga uses the term ‘the tourniquet effect’ where blood flow to certain points of the body is blocked off and upon release, healing, oxygenated blood flows through the body, nurturing the development of healthy cells and irrigating scar tissue and calcification of the joints. Old injuries naturally begin to feel better and chronic pain is diminished as you increase your flexibility and strength. I suffer from a sciatic nerve and I manage it with extra caution in the yoga room.
7. Improves your sense of balance.
The bikram standing series promote grounding yourself through the heels, distributing your weight evenly throughout the four corners of the feet, engaging your hamstrings and locking your knee, and aligning your hips and tailbone with your spine, all of which do wonders for your balance. I can hear my yoga teacher screaming “lock your knee, lock your knee, lock your knee”
Oh did I mention that some of these balancing postures are held for 60 seconds at a time, that’s a whole minute. Focus, dedicate, concentrate! Quite an achievement when you’re also battling with the heat and sweat in your eyes.
Now this here, is most probably the most important disclaimer about bikram yoga: don’t expect your instructor to demonstrate the moves, all they’re trained to do is talk you through the sequence as part of a moving meditation. I guess this is done so that you don’t have to think for yourself, you just listen and do. The dialogue is pretty much the same throughout the universe. This little fact can work to your advantage if you find yourself in a foreign country and they don’t teach in English. I was a victim of this when I visited Thailand early last year. The studio I chose didn’t teach in English (I didn’t know) and it was the nearest to the hotel I stayed at. I wasn’t prepared to travel miles to get to a yoga studio so I soldiered on. The only thing that got me going was the fact that I already knew the sequence so I didn’t really have to understand any of my instructors.
To see the all the 26 postures in the series, you might want to view this link, compliments of @yogaexperiencejozi: https://www.bikramyoga.co.za/bikram-yoga-hot-26-postures/
I am giving away 10 10-Day Vouchers to anyone who’s interested in trying out some hot yoga for themselves. All you have to do is follow @yogaexperiencejozi and @thandymatlaila on Instagram and tell us why you’d like to try out some yoga. T&Cs apply and they will be in my next instagram post.
NAMASTE (meaning The Divine In Me, Honors The Divine In You.)
If anyone knows me well enough, they will tell you that to maintain a healthy body and mind, I do 3 things religiously:
We’ve all heard it but seemingly we tend to ignore the signs: Drinking MORE water can assist you in loosing weight. I am living testimony of that statement; if there was such a thing as a Water-holic, that’s what I would be. So much so that I sleep with a water bottle next to my bed in case I wake up in the middle of the night dehydrated.
Ladyteelady 