Pros and Cons about Bikram’s Hot Yoga
True. True. The man conveys his message in a very egocentric way .. he THINKS he’s god and created a sequence that is flawless and healing in his perspective.. diametrically opposed to a more traditional path of a yogi who appreciates each individual with respect and humility.
The dialogue is rough and pushy. When did yoga become painful and feels like hell? Bikram calls it 90mins of hell and you have to push and push and push! LOCK YOUR KNEES!! Really? I thought that’s really bad for your knees? Tuck in your chin so that one day your spine will be straight??? Don’t we need natural curvature in the spine in order to absorb shock in the body? What the bleep is he talking about?
So, I’ve been practicing hot yoga irregularly for about 5 years. My first year was regular pushing about 3-4times a week. Then, with my busy schedule and feeling great I had found my equilibrium somewhat again, I got it down to 1-2 a week. Bikram’s open the door for me to inquire and eventually helped me find my way.
Sure, it isn’t the kind of yoga that will help save the world and bring beauty to my everyday life but it DOES serve one great purpose if you open your mind and grace to the dialogue: heal an injured body.
I have been commiting to 5-6 days a week of yoga everyday now and trying and teaching different styles. As much as I love it, it has put a toll on my whacked out shoulders that is in need of a lot of awareness and alignment attention. I’ve had sleepless nights from shoulder pain residing in the scapula muscles and can’t roll to my side when I sleep at night.
Since then, I have re-evaluated and backed off my shoulder to let the muscles heal and researched on the cause of the misalignment to prevent this from happening again. Remedy: RICE, heat, massage.
That’s when I rediscovered the benefits of Bikrams yoga – when you’re hurt and you need to heal with heat, bikram’s got the answers. PLUS, there’s no downward dogs or chaturangas that will worsen your shoulder pain. And, it goes farther than just shoulder injuries of course.
Dialogue: I blame his language barrier for his pathetic way of describing things like hugging into the bones/drawing energy into the midline/ tucking in tailbone etc. etc. His layman’s term to suck in the stomache and lock the knees can be very confusing and lame to a lot of yogi practioners from other styles of yoga. However, we should not discredit his efforts and his sequencing that has worked many years to help many individuals who suffered from back pain, car accidents, acute injuries and are now fully healed through practice.
There’s some good in all forms of yoga.. and this is why we should keep an open mind and open source to each form.
Namaste!
