How does Bikram Yoga work?
By the tourniquet effect: stretching, balancing (using gravity), and creating pressure all at the same time. The blood supply in arteries and veins is being cut off, creating pressure.
When released, a lock gate effect is created, causing blood to rush through veins and arteries, flushing them out. Also, pressure is applied to the heart by its relative position to the rest of the body.
What is happening to My Body during Bikram Yoga?
Muscles are contracted and stretched at a cellular, biochemical level. Lipids and proteins reorganize optimally in such stretching, allowing for better circulation. Joint mobility and range of motion is increased, and strength is built by the use of gravity. Muscles and joints are balanced.
Blood and calcium are brought to the bones. Working against gravity strengthens the bones. The organs of the immune system within the bones (red marrow) are boosted.
The lymph nodes are massaged, lymph is pumped throughout the body, and white blood cells are distributed throughout the body as the lymphatic system works more efficiently.
There is compression and extension to the thymus, spleen, appendix and intestines; lungs are stretched and flushed out by increased blood circulation. The endocrine glands are encouraged to secrete appropriate hormones, and the communication between hormones and various glands and systems of the body is perfected. Toxins and waste are eliminated through the organs of elimination.
The nerves are stimulated by compression and extension, improving communication within the systems of the body and supplying fresh blood, oxygen and nutrients throughout. The brain is stimulated by improved circulation and by varying blood pressure.
Why the Heat?
1. Enhances vasodilatation so that more blood is delivered to the muscles. This means that the capillaries that weave around the muscles respond to the heat by dilation. This brings more oxygen to the muscles and helps in the removal of waste products such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid.
2. Allows oxygen in the blood to detach from the hemoglobin more easily. When blood passes through warm muscles, oxygen releases more easily from the hemoglobin. Blood passing through cold muscles release less oxygen.
3. Speeds up the breakdown of glucose and fatty acids
4. Makes muscles more elastic and less susceptible to injury
5. Improves coordination.
6. Reduces heart irregularities associated with sudden exercise.
7. Burns fat more easily. Warmed muscles burn fat more easily than cold ones. Fat is released during stress. The stress of intense exercise causes a deluge of fatty acids into the blood stream. If you exercise with cold muscles, they can’t use the fatty acids and they end up in places where they aren’t wanted, such as in the lining of your arteries.
Note: Muscles aren’t the only beneficiaries of the heat. Higher temperatures improve the function of the nervous system, meaning that messages are carried more rapidly to and from the brain or spinal cord. Warm muscles are more elastic and are less susceptible to injury. Warmer temperatures produce a more fluid stretch, allowing for a greater range of motion. Cold muscles don’t absorb shock and impact as well and do not stretch as easily, so cold muscles get injured more readily.
(Excerpt from ‘Smart Exercise’ by Covert Bailey)
Do I Have To Be Flexible To Take Class?
NO! Bikram Yoga combines strength, balance, concentration and breath; the flexibility comes with time. As long as you are feeling the stretch, no matter how inflexible, you are receiving the intended benefit of the posture (just ask our instructors!).
Is Bikram Yoga an Aerobic workout?
YES, absolutely! Bikram's Yoga System is as good or better than any other aerobic workout you will find! It raises your heart rate for 90 minutes, moving fresh, oxygenated blood to every cell in your body.
Can I Practice Bikram Yoga If I Have High Blood Pressure?
YES! Bikram Yoga reduces high blood pressure and balances your metabolism.
Can I Do Bikram's series of 26 Postures and 2 Breathing
Exercises If I've Never Done Yoga Before?
YES! Bikram Method Yoga is designed for beginners. It is simple but challenging.
Can I Still Do Other Exercise If I Practice Bikram Yoga?
YES, of course. Bikram Yoga is the perfect compliment to any exercise program.
I feel dizzy and nauseous during class, why is that?
It is not unusual to feel nauseous or dizzy during your first class. Practicing yoga in a heated room reveals to us our present condition, and inspires us take much better care of ourselves.
Usually the problem is that we do not drink enough water for daily living, let alone for exercising in a heated room. Nutritionists tell us that we need 64-80 ounces of water a day to help the body function properly.
In the heated yoga room, your body needs adequate fund of water to allow perspiration to release heat from the body as you practice. So we estimate you need another 64-80 ounces (sometime during the day) to allow for your 90 minutes in the room. Once you are drinking enough water your body will tolerate the heat better and you will actually enjoy the heat.
If you feel disoriented or like you need a good nap after your first few classes, this is likely because your body has begun to cleanse itself as a result of the yoga practice. Don't be scared. After the first few classes this sensation will pass. The more you can relax as you give your 110% honest effort during class, the more energized you will feel throughout the class and throughout the rest of your day.
Why Certified Bikram Yoga Teachers?
It takes more than a hot room and a list of postures to make your Bikram Method Yoga practice a safe, rewarding experience. Bikram Method Yoga is a specialized form of yoga, requiring appropriate training and knowledge to teach it effectively.
Bikram Choudhury, the creator of Bikram Yoga, personally trains and certifies his instructors to ensure that his methods and philosophy are preserved and properly taught. To be certified as an instructor in the Bikram Method of Yoga, an instructor must complete an intensive nine-week training session requiring over 500 hours of study. A studio guided by a Certified Instructor provides the best possible instruction in the Bikram Method. Certified Instructors have a continuing connection to Bikram Choudhury and his training staff, allowing the Certified Studio to draw from all of the resources Bikram's training center has to offer. This includes special seminars, posture clinics, guest instructors, and answers to questions that may arise in a particular practitioner's Bikram Yoga practice.
Many can claim that they teach "Bikram Yoga," but unless there is a Certified Instructor supervising how and what is taught at that studio, you are not getting true the Bikram Yoga.
Credit--Bonnie Kuykendall
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