Bikram Yoga - The "Hot" Yoga

Bikram practiced Yoga at least four to six hours every day at Ghosh's College of Physical Education in Calcutta. Thanks to his efforts many people all over the world now get to reap the healing benefits of this Yoga-style.

There are many arguments why you should practise Bikram Yoga. The benefits of Bikram Yoga can completely change your life. It’s amazing how something that appears to merely an external form of exercise can trigger your being and transform your point of views.

Bikram Yoga is widely known as the "hot yoga", and it seeks to build your mental and physical strength while also improving your flexibility and balance - as is important in all forms of Yoga.

Bikram yoga has roots in Hatha yoga which was devised to heal the mind and the body.

Bikram Choudhury was the originator of Bikram Yoga. Born in Calcutta in 1946, Bikram began Yoga at the age of four with India's most-renowned physical culturist at that time, Bishnu Ghosh, the younger brother of Paramahansa Yogananda (Author of the most popular book on Yoga, The Autobiography of a Yogi, and founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles).

He created Bikram Yoga after he unexpectedly met an injury in a weightlifting accident. He was so determined (he practised Yoga for at least four to six hours every day) that he had discovered some healing benefits in practicing some exercises. Many people have verified the benefits of Bikram Yoga so the routine was passed on and many people continued to practice it.

Some people apply Bikram Yoga for healing purposes and physical therapy. This type of Yoga was proven helpful in bringing holistic benefits to those who believed and practiced it.

In fact, there was a medical patient who suffered from a knee injury. He tried to practice Bikram Yoga and in just six weeks after continuous practice, his knees began to feel better. Some difficulties and pains that he hurt from were all going away.

In order to be successful with the healing process of Bikram Yoga, you need commitment in practicing it.

There are some folk who do not believe in the benefits of Bikram Yoga. Bikram Choudhury developed Bikram Yoga with the assistance of some scientists. The researchers from the University of Tokyo University Hospital proved that Bikram Yoga has medical benefits. Some of its benefits include the repairing of tissues and helps in curing chronic ailments.

The findings and benefits were presented at the International Medical Conference in the year 1972. It was stated that Bikram Yoga can have an effect on the body internally. 

The poses and pressure replenishes the cells and the flushing toxins in our body. It also oxygenates blood throughout our body keeping it clean and healthy.

Quote from Beginners Guide to Yoga "Ha is a Sanskrit term meaning sun, so hatha yoga accordingto Ledgerwood is a 'marvelous means of exercising, stretching, and freeing the body so it can be a healthy, longlived, and vital instrument of the mind and soul'."

While Bikram was on his research at Tokyo University, he found that the healing process occurs when all the body systems are functioning well, conditioned and strengthened. If the body is weak, carrying out the practice and healing approach will be difficult to attain.

Bikram has come up with twenty-six posture exercises which are to be practiced each and every day. In doing so, treatment in the body can be easily obtained. Some poses are accumulated with the unification of the western and eastern disciplines in Yoga which focuses on the stretching of the muscles, tendons, organs, nerves, glands and ligaments.

The different postures have connections and each of it precedes a posture that is helpful in treating the body effectively.

Anyone who desires to do yoga can use Bikram Yoga. Age or sex doesn't really matter as the practise is adaptable to almost everyone. This form of yoga works with a tourniquet effect which includes balancing, stretching and creating pressure which is all done at a same time to maintain a good blood flow to all the parts of the body.

Thanks to Bikram Choudhury, we can now have solutions to some of our medical problems. Always remember that dedication and devotion to Bikram Yoga are the main ingredient to staying healthy.