Bikram turns up the heat with structure
Look at a photo of it and you might not be able to pick out what makes Bikram yoga unique, compared with other yoga styles and practices.
Get into a studio, however, and it won’t take long to see — and feel — the difference.
Instructor Christian Betancor Leon of Bikram Yoga Commercial Drive explains that Bikram yoga is “a fixed method,” a carefully calibrated sequence of 26 poses and two breathing exercises designed to target your entire body each and every time you’re on the mat.
It doesn’t matter “where you are in the world where you’re doing it, you will have the same experience,” he says.
As opposed to other styles of yoga, where instructors might lead classes through different sequences of poses, speeds of poses, or adaptations of poses, Bikram maintains a constant structure.
The Bikram sequence is “beautiful because it’s really safe. It’s a beginners’ series. It’s not an intermediate series, it’s not an advanced series; anybody can do these poses.”
But beyond the particular poses, Bikram yoga offers its participants another notable feature: heat. And lots of it. The normal temperature in a Bikram studio is 40 C.
Betancor Leon says the high temperature in Bikram yoga studios helps participants learn how to breathe in intense situations. The heat also facilitates a more comfortable environment for stretching by expediting the flow of blood to the muscles being stretched.
Betancor Leon says that because Bikram yoga is so regimented, it’s a good idea to try it multiple times before deciding if it is the style for you.
“Really get an understanding of what a regular practice is going to be like,” as you will quickly improve through the standardized sequence, he says. “Do seven days in a row. Give yourself a week, and then see if you don’t feel the difference.”