Firstly, let me apologise for my lack of posting but between poorly children and working away with no reception things have not lent themselves to posting!
So to kick off what I hope will be a flurry of posts over the next few days I wanted to share with you my journey over the last month into the world of Bikram (or hot) yoga.
I first came to Bikram yoga after randomly coming across a promotion for it whilst searching for local yoga studios in Bristol. I noticed they were on the lookout for new students and were offering a cheap introductory price to give it a go – so I thought, given that I am not new to yoga why not challenge myself to do it in the heat – how hard can it be?
I booked my first class and, in accordance with advice on the website, turned up with mat, towel and a suitable shorts/t-shirt outfit. What first struck me when I entered the studio, which is based next to St Nicholas Market, Bristol, is how friendly everyone was. I was asked to fill in a form as a new student and then they took me through some of the key points to remember as a beginner to this practice. For your benefit these are:
- Make sure you are hydrated, this means your hydration started 24 hours previous, NOT downing a litre of water an hour before class or a bottle of wine the night before (ahem!)
- Don’t eat a min of 4 hours before class and try to eat as nutritious food as possible in the 24 hours before class, try not to come hung over or after eating lots of heavy fried fatty food as this just won’t help your class. And believe me I can bear testament to this but more on that later!
- Don’t let your first class make your decision, you need to try at least three times in the first week before you decide
Arrive with an open mind; NO expectations. Try to accept that all you can do/ work with is what you have on THAT day – nothing more, nothing less HOWEVER this requires absolute honesty with yourself.
Hatha Yoga (the base of Bikram Yoga) requires honesty always, going to your edge but not losing your breath and never compromising form for depth. Bikram says better to do the posture 1% right than then you get 100% benefits than 1% wrong and get none of the benefits. First class it’s about staying in the room for the 90 minutes, anything else is a bonus! So far so good.
Having been given this advice I wondered just what I was letting myself in for – this sounded nothing like a yoga class I had ever been to and this impression was further compounded by the chat in the changing room which veered from the love/hate relationship most ‘yogis’ seemed to have with the practice to advice about staying calm, breathing and just being in the room – not giving in to the ‘dark place’, which I was told would see me running from the room in a matter of minutes. Immediate fear but it was too late I was changed and standing outside the room.
On entering the room for the first time I noticed the following:
- I was ill prepared for the heat – it really was HOT, exactly like a sauna. In fact the room is heated to approximately 40 degrees (centigrade) with humidity of 35%
- I will poorly attired being dressed for a run (minus the trainers) whilst all the seasoned students were in tankini style swim wear
- Hot or Bikram Yoga obviously must be doing something as most in the room had the toned and fresh look of the healthy and content
- The distinctive smell! It smelt like a cross between stale sweat and incense – not unpleasant but definitely unique
- The silence – not just no talking but a genuine silence despite the 20 or so people in the room
Having placed my mat and towel in an available space (nearest the door as advised for first timers as it is slightly cooler) I sat and prepared for the class. It was hot but I tried to put it out of my mind for fear of the ‘dark place’ I had been warned about.
Bikram Yoga is a 26 postures sequence selected and developed by Bikram Choudhury from Hatha Yoga.
According to the experts it has been proved and experienced by millions that these 26 postures systematically work every part of the body, to give all the internal organs, all the veins, all the ligaments, and all the muscles everything they need to maintain optimum health and maximum function. Each component takes care of something different in the body, and yet they all work together synergistically, contributing to the success of every other one, and extending its benefits.
These studios are built-in such a way that you always get the proper heating which helps you to do your postures optimally. Bikram calls these studios “Torture Chambers” – ominous!
Bikram Yoga has been growing in popularity in the UK for the last 20 years and is now being introduced as a cross-training method for various athletes including, as a poster in the Bristol studio boasts, winning martial arts figures.
In fact another interesting observation I made was the real mix of people in the class. Old, young, male, female – the full gambit was represented; all searching for the benefits, both spiritually and bodily that the practice claims to produce.
So the class began with a breathing exercise known as Pranayama breathing. OK so breathing – easy – or not. I noticed immediately how the combination of heat and humidity, standing and breathing slowly and deeply caused me to feel dizzy. I struggled through the breathing but was concerned how I would cope with movement. So began the next 25 postures, each repeated in sets of two, which for those interested in attending a class can be viewed here. Interesting, hence the title, many of the poses include deep back bends. These claim to undo the years of hunching over desks, shopping trolleys, at the wheel of the car etc and aim to realign your spine. But they do look scary – more on this further down.
The first 11 standing poses I really struggled with, despite some of them being poses in ‘normal life’ I have not had any trouble with. I really struggled to breathe, and it felt that there was little oxygen in the room. I was hot and as I had been warned I began to talk myself into the ‘dark place’ where I couldn’t breathe and felt claustrophobic – full on panic attack was looming. I gulped water believing this to be the cure to my pain and spent most of the first hour (which seemed like three at least!) of the class sat watching in awe as the class moved through the movements with, what I regarded as relative ease and composure. Taking the advice of the lovely teacher, Jenny, I sat and breathed deeply in and out of my nose to regulate my breathing and tried to shut out the negative thoughts that were threatening to overwhelm me. I did try to join in with as many of the standing postures as possible but listening to my body and with the goal to stay in the room I rested as often as I could and contemplated how unfit I really was both in terms of my body but also my ability to control my mind and drive out the negatively and pain being experienced in such extreme conditions.
After about an hour the class moved onto the floor poses. Immediately I felt more at ease, lying down bought my heart rate down and it felt cooler – I began to relax. As soon as I relaxed and controlled my breath I was able to control my mind and felt a genuine positivity to the moves. In fact a few of the moves I even surprised myself by being able to hold them for longer and deeper than was possible outside of the heated environment. That being the case the last half hour passed relatively quickly and I could finally leave the room.
As soon as I was out I shared my experience with my fellow ‘yogis’ and was surprised to hear that many of them had struggled in the class themselves, despite looking so serene. In fact this mental, rather than physical, struggle to control your thoughts and really focus outside the body – on your breath, on the sound of the teacher’s voice talking you through the poses, is one of the key benefits of the practice in that in enables us, in a world of sound, speed and stress, to calm our minds and the constant internal chatter and really ‘check in’ with our body and be in the moment. In that way Bikram yoga is a 90 mins open-eyed meditation as much as it is a physical work out (and it really is a physical workout having burnt 987 calories according to my heart rate monitor!)
Despite the promise to myself in the room that I would never put myself through this again I found myself feeling exhilarated for just staying in the room! I felt thoroughly ‘worked out’ and had a glow akin to a day at a spa. As I had been told at the beginning, it would need more than one class before I made up my mind if this really was a sport for me.
And so I went back, and this time I completed ALL of the poses, albeit with very little balance or grace and the negative voices of the first class, whilst still there, were slightly easier to ignore as I concentrated on the breath and the sound of the class. I even conquered my fear of the backbends; and yes they still hurt a little as I try to push myself to go deeper into the pose however I have noticed that I am a little straighter and less hunched and that I don’t have backaches after long periods of sitting down, something that used to bother me.
Since that first time I have been back three times a week for five weeks. So what can I share with you in terms of my progress?
- I have already noticed that my mind is quieter. Traffic jams no longer annoy me quite so much and I am conscious of the connection between my thoughts and my movements in a way I wasn’t before
- I have had many compliments about my glowing skin (which in part I am sure is to do with my diet) but I hope has something to do with the regular ‘detox’ of sweating it out in a sauna for 90 mins, three times a week
- I am much more flexible, balanced and stronger and am able to move in and out of poses with slightly more grace and achieve many more than I could at the beginning. This has also helped me with my yoga practice outside of Bikram.
- I have met some really lovely, inspiring people from all walks of life that have made me smile even when my practice has not gone so well
I still have bad classes – as do many long-time ‘yogis’. In fact recently I came close to fleeing the room believing I was unable to breathe and that I had someone kneeling on my chest – but once I had a word with myself and relaxed the feeling passed. I really notice the impact of alcohol on my class with my first class of the week (after the weekend) being much more of a struggle than the last one (after a week of not drinking). I have discovered I really can’t eat before a class – vomit inducing. And I have learnt that each class should be approached as if it is your first, with no expectations and only finishing it to be your own goal. Being very competitive this was a hard concept to understand, particularly if I made progress in one class only to not be able to do the pose in the next. Learning that you are different each and every second of every day and that only you set yourself up for failure by setting expectations is something I want to take forward outside of the ‘Torture Chamber’ so that I can enjoy myself more in my other sports instead of constantly judging myself for not running further, not swimming faster. I know I still have a long way to go, in fact I am not sure where the end is so it is probably a never-ending journey, but I am glad to be on it and each class I notice something different – whether it be the breathing, the poses or just my ability or not to be overcome by the mind.
Bikram yoga is practiced all over the UK with several studios in London as well as Bristol. Before I end this piece I wanted to share with you a little interview I did with my teacher, Jenny – who constantly makes me smile with her glittery outfits and her approach to the class, which is to enjoy it for what it is and not dwell on what it isn’t.
Why did you decide to become a hot yoga teacher?
It was probably less of a “decision” in the end and more of a mission or calling. It reached a point where if I didn’t go to teacher training I would not find peace within myself. This yoga has helped me so much, physically but more emotionally for me, it has helped me find the acceptance in my appearance (which I am still on the journey with but much closer than I ever thought I would ever be). Before I started the yoga I used to train 5 times a week, high cardio hating my body and how I looked, pushing my body to the limit powered by the hatred of the reflection that greeted me in the mirror each day. The constant guilt as I went to bed every night about what I had eaten (which was very little) and that I had not run a fast enough minute mile on my 8 mile run before work that day etc. I know I sound very self-indulgent, but it was simply the place I was emotionally. It was not driven by vanity either; I just wanted to feel like I “fitted” in. Walking along the road I would have my head down and just try not to be noticed. After my first class (6.45am) I felt like I may just have found my cure!! I kept coming back and have practiced an absolute minimum of 4 times a week for the past 2.5 years. It is as much a part of my life as eating and since I stopped hating myself I am starting to accept the image that greets me in the mirror. I wanted to become a teacher in the hope that if I could just help one person change how they feel about themselves then that would be perhaps my Karma Yoga! I had a successful job as a sales manager selling telecoms which I loved, but the teaching was something I just HAD to do.
And what do you get out of teaching?
I am literally living my dream every time I step on the podium to teach. It’s so special seeing students progress in their practice but also in their confidence and love seeing them grin when they go a little further into a posture. One of my favourite things about teaching is after class when everyone has what I call the “yoga chat” there are always a different group of people sat around putting their shoes on, going back to the changing rooms to get all the things they forgot because of “yoga brain”, buying coconut water, exchanging stories about juicing, dating, their class, things they felt in class, how it was too hot!! I love it when anyone asks me questions about postures and I can actually answer the question and help them (I don’t always know the answers but it’s then a challenge to find out) I genuinely love people, I always have, love hearing their stories, hearing about their lives and hope that sometimes people leave my class feeling like they can do anything, not because of ME but because I have helped put them back on the right path and perhaps improved their state of mind.
Do you have to be super fit to do hot yoga?
Bikram says : “It’s never too late, it’s never too bad, you’re never to old or too sick to start from scratch once again”
I agree with this statement, although the teachers don’t always say it, the series is a BEGINNERS series therefore ANYONE can do it. No matter what their ailments.
I notice someone in the class is pregnant, how can you do hot yoga pregnant?
It’s a tricky one this, I personally would say if you have been a regular Bikram practitioner then there is no reason to stop once you get pregnant as its part of your routine. By regular I mean a min of 3 times a week, strong practice with little or no missing of postures and have been practicing a bare min of 6 months. But this is my personal opinion. I think when one is pregnant you should do what you feel is right for you, if you have never done yoga I don’t personally believe it’s the time to start hot yoga, however normal yoga when pregnant I think is essential for the body and the mind. There is a dedicated Bikram pregnancy system which can be found in all studios.
Namaste
a peace of my life 