Wednesday 23 May 2012

Sweaty salutations

Bikram Yoga
Back to Breathe...more my pace!
I did my first Bikram Yoga class this morning! Let me get it out in the open early: this is not the yoga for me. I felt extremely uneasy watching participants get red-faced and need to flop into "corpse" pose regularly throughout class. For 85 minutes of the 90 minute class, I desperately wanted it to be over! I can't even say that I see this experience as yoga. This class felt like self-flagellation. I know that it is popular. I know that it has physical and mental benefits for many participants and I respect that. We all ask something different of our practice. I want to feel challenged, but also energised and invigorated, celebrating what my body can do and the feeling of being part of my class. The rapid-fire delivery of instruction was passionless and it most closely resembled the calling of a horserace! "Higher, leg higher. Go deeper, higher, stop. 3,2,1...bang, bang, bang!" So, not for me, but it DID satiate my curiosity. Thankyou to Lily for the opportunity - our next stop is back to Breathe Wellbeing! I also love barrebody.
Have you done Bikram? Does it work for you? Leave a comment!
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2 comments:

  1. Lily Liao24 May 2012 at 09:51

    Bikram yoga, knowingly, a set of 26yoga postures practiced in the 36C of heat for 90 mins. It was in one of the Sex and the City’s episodes, that Kim and Carrie both were whispering through their Bikram yoga class with (of course!) the Master Bikram (I’d love to believe that’s himself!) in presence! Well, Australia is boring (and still is, at least sometimes), so anything from the States will carry big or small excitement – at least we hope. Not long after the episode was aired, it was (nearly) suddenly, few of the Bikram yoga studios opened in Melbourne.
     
    My first practice of Bikram yoga was done in early 2009. Due to personal un-fitness (my personal beliefs as I couldn’t run and I couldn’t lift heavy weights etc – Well, I wasn’t trained at the time), I figured out that hot yoga might be the best way to get fit, especially all studio offer a $19 for the first 10 days deal. Still remembered my first few Bikram yoga classes – extremely hot, feeling dehydrated, inflexible joints, etc, then all sorts of discomfort forced me to cope with by lying on my back for the ‘dead body’ posture, whilst others were sweating and completing the rest of poses with concentration.
     
    Did I survive? Yes! & benefits were shown – I lost 3 kgs in the first three days. Well, some may will argue the extreme weight loss in the three consecutive days might be resulted in loss of water and mainly, combined with the change of diet etc, but my own body fat was still there. I know… The 3 kgs were really the true motivation for me to continue practicing – discomfort was still there, but I spend less and less time lying on my back. After finishing the first 10 days at one studio, I moved onto the other one, and so on.

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  2. Emma (from Barre Body)8 June 2012 at 09:19

    I think the important thing to note is that Bikram is not for everyone, but the same can be said for all yoga styles. It's worth trying out different styles of yoga to see which suits you best.

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