Bikram Yoga

Bikram Yoga was started by Bikram Choudhury, who studied with the brother of Yogananda, Bishnu Gosh. Bikram, also called Hot Yoga, follows twenty-six specific asana in isolated areas brought to a steamy heat - eighty-five to up to one-hundred and fifteen degrees Fahrenheit to cleanse the physical self. The bikram yoga room is held at sixty percent humidity.

Yoga in conditions such as this may lead to the dangers of overstretching and ligament, joint, and muscle injury.

The heat used in hot yoga classes holds the purpose of relaxing the body to allow deeper asana challenges. A typical class is one that uses each pose twice, held for specific time periods. The same routine is used for every hot yoga class, or Bikram class, around the globe. This is accompanied by Kapalabhati, or Fire, Breath. The heat helps to develop greater willpower and discipline while increasing our metabolic rate, which induces weight loss. The severe downside of performing asana in a high-humidity intense heat is that once a muscle is stretched twenty-five percent greater than its resting length, it is easy to damage the muscle. The most common injuries are rotator cuff and knee cartilage tears when practicing hot yoga.

Heat applied to yoga stems from the ideology that heat improves circulation, which should scientifically warm muscles, ligaments, and tendons for stretching. Bikram himself had found yoga after a weightlifting injury to his knee kept him from walking. Yoga rebuilt his body and gave him a fresh outlook on wellness and health.