The yoga we teach at the Hot Yoga House, Bikram Yoga, was founded in Calcutta India. This Hatha (or ‘Physical’) Yoga was first recorded in a text called The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. This text was written over 1,600 years ago. It synthesized and organized knowledge about yoga from older traditions.
The genesis of Hatha Yoga is “health care”. Maintaining one’s health by performing a pose and then another that is linked to the previous one. The postures boost the bodies normal function, helping to maintain youth-like energy and a pain-free existence throughout one’s entire life. A natural health maintenance system.
Bikram Yoga is a series of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises done in a specific order and in a heated room. This sequence of fixed poses combined with simply trying the technique you are taught in class improves your health. Each pose that Bikram chose to be part of his sequence has a specific anatomical, neurological, physiological and psychological effect on the human body/mind. When practicing a ‘curative method’ of yoga the intelligence of the posture sequence determines the overall benefit of the practice. In other words, a yoga practice is only as effective as it’s sequence and once the perfect sequence is discovered you practice it day after day to clean the body/mind and to boost the bodies natural defenses.
The human body is naturally self-regulating and self-healing. It just needs to be boosted when it is out of balance. Bikram yoga provides this boost by gently stretching, strengthening and massaging the internal organs, glands, muscles, connective tissue, joints and spine.
Some immediate benefits of Bikram Yoga:
- Reduces stress
- Improves quality of sleep
- Builds strength and endurance
- Increases flexibility and muscle tone
- Alleviates joint pain
- Improves your posture
- Improves circulation
- Reduces risk of injuries etc,etc,etc
