Bikram, Shmickam!

posted on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 21:09

Today I had my first, and probably last, Bikram Yoga experience. Many of you may know of Bikram as the so-called ‘Hot Yoga’ where they turn up the heat in the practice room to 105 degrees with 40% humidity causing you to feverishly sweat all the toxins out while enabling increased flexibility.

I’ve always been intrigued by the idea, especially since it’s specifically geared towards hyper-detoxing the body, but never got around to checking it out. So, when my Yogini friend from Washington was in LA this week for a national Yoga competition, I jumped at her invite to join her for a Bikram Yoga class at the World Headquarters of Bikram on La Cienega. I was excited to try this now intense form of practice!

At first things were all good. The teacher for the class was late so they asked my friend to teach and she lovingly led us in the opening Pranayama breathing exercises to oxygenate the body. No problem, nothing different than what I’m used to, besides the intense heat, which I was fine with. The room was a rather large room, so my friend was equipped with a wireless mic which struck me as a bit impersonal, but I guess necessary given the size of the room. However, things took a nosedive when the scheduled teacher arrived and took over. All of a sudden I felt like I was in bootcamp. The new teacher was like a drill sergeant auctioneer pounding out rapid-fire orders through her head-mic as if taking bids on our poses. She was unrelenting, in a loud and grating voice, speaking so fast that I soon felt like I was at an auction bidding on my sanity. She kept encouraging us to push ourselves in the poses till we felt the pain. At one point she said that one of the poses would ‘hurt like hell’ if we did it right!!!

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I go to Yoga, I expect it to be intense, but I don’t expect it to be painful. Every Yoga teacher I’ve ever studied with has always been very conscious to mention repeatedly throughout practice NOT to push oneself too much to the point of pain. And in fact for my Ayurvedic body type, Pitta, it is actually recommended for us specifically to NOT be an over-achieving hero. But not in this class! No pain, no gain seemed to be the motto. Amidst the many intense balancing poses in the class, I kept finding myself losing my balance due to the merciless attack of the teacher’s harsh-toned delivery.

I realize that much of my complaints may be teacher-specific and that I should not necessarily indict Bikram Yoga as responsible for my negative experience. But I definitely had some issues that were with the program itself. For instance, I felt the order of the poses was really rough and jerky, lacking a smooth transition flow that I’m used to in the Yoga classes I usually take. As well, I felt so dried out from the heat, even my teacher said she felt like she was in a desert. I was surprised by that admission, given that I was at the world headquarters of Bikram, and that this was supposed to be the blueprint Bikram Yoga experience. Finally, there was no music and not an ounce of Spirituality brought into the experience. The definition of Yoga is ‘Union with the Divine’. This was more of an unforgiving fitness class than a loving union with the Universe.

Thankfully I ignored the teacher’s pleas to push myself and listened to my body when it said to take it easy, and I came out of the experience intact and feeling pretty good, albeit a bit rattled. I’m sure Bikram works for many people, and there are good aspects to it. But for me, it just doesn’t cut it when I’ve got loving, compassionate masters such as Julian Walker who integrate the body, mind and Spirit in their practice. Stay tuned for more info on Julian Walker and other amazing Yogis in Los Angeles.