Cameron Conaway thinks Bikram yoga—yes, yoga—is one of the most physically and mentally demanding workouts you can do.
There are plenty of articles and books out there about the history of Bikram yoga, so I won’t go there. It’s a 90-minute series containing twenty-six postures that are all completed inside a 105°F room. Let me just say this: Bikram is as intense as any mixed martial arts workout, and I’ve trained with some of the world’s best. Bikram is for even the toughest and fittest of men.
I’ve met many a dude who scoffs at the thought of incorporating yoga into their training routine. However, I’ve watched Bikram yoga crush muscular men to the point of having to sit down within the first twenty minutes. I’ve watched them be (and have been myself) mentally destroyed from a lack of coordination and kinesthetic awareness. These days, many of us are out-of-touch with our bodies. Bikram is one way to help reclaim the awareness of our physical selves.
Sometimes people confuse hot yoga for Bikram. Bikram is basically a brand—the leader and most intense form—of hot yoga. Participants, even when they breakdown, are encouraged not to leave the class—to at least just sit in the heated room for the full 90 minutes. There’s a McYoga quality to Bikram in that each class goes through the exact same movements—it doesn’t matter if you’re in Bangkok, Thailand, or Charlottesville, Virginia. At first you might want different postures or cooler moves, but if you travel it’s wonderful because you’ll know what to expect. Also, the deeper you get into the Bikram practice, the more the subtleties of technique, of teacher style, and of struggle begin to matter. You won’t be craving hundreds of other techniques because you’ll realize you still aren’t even close to mastering the twenty-six that are offered.
There’s some negative talk about the health dangers of Bikram yoga, and while some of them have merit (anything is dangerous), Bikram is a practice I’d recommend to just about everyone. Here are five reasons why:
- Because of the heated temperature, muscles have a chance to get warmed up and there’s actually less chance of pulling something than in many other forms of unheated yoga.
- Because your heart rate is skyrocketing, you are burning more calories and improving your cardio as well as your flexibility, balance and strength. The cardio element is often lacking in many other forms of yoga.
- The physicality of it (especially in regards to the postural muscles of the back) can help reverse the degradation of our bodies due to the way many of us spend our days sitting.
- The sweating and the tourniquet effect (whereby blood flow is temporarily cutoff to, say, the lower back for a few seconds and then when the pose is released healthy, oxygenated blood rushes to the area) are two ways of internally cleaning the body from the daily toxins accumulated from stress, environmental factors and from just being alive.
- It’s grueling if you push yourself and it’s this aspect of Bikram that I believe has tremendous potential to cultivate mental toughness in other areas of life. If two people (a non-exerciser and a Bikram yoga practitioner) were dealt a bad card and a tremendous amount of stress in their careers or lives, I’d put my money on the fact that the seasoned Bikram yoga person would be the mentally tougher of the two—the one more likely to pull through.
Cameron Conaway, NSCA-CPT, MMACC, NESTA-SNS, is the author of Caged: Memoirs of a Cage-Fighting Poet.
—Photo by Bennie Shapiro
hi there. i thought that you might be interested to know that bikram himself, the man, is reported to be far from a ‘good man’. just google “bikram rapre racism” and have a look at what pops up. i don’t know if you will want to promote his yoga so passionately on your “good men project” site? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/05/bikram-yoga-lawsuit_n_3709518.html
My first time in a bikram yoga class, I had no idea what I was in for. I was there on a date, and in that regard, it was humiliating: she was apparently doing just fine, while I struggled mightily and slipped around in my own sweat, though she was behind me so I can’t be sure. I know that afterward, I resolved to come back more appropriately attired, and to never try to do 90 min of hot yoga before going out to dinner, again: not without a shower in between. My date was apparently from a species that… Read more »
Nice article. 🙂 I certainly agree with your points!
I have been vigorously practicing Bikram yoga for just under a year, and will be attending Bikram yoga teacher training in April to receive certification to teach. It’s awesome to see more guys get into the yoga practice. Although I’m not an athlete, I do hear more and more about male athletes using this yoga practice to improve the quality of their involvement in their sport(s). Strength, flexibility, concentration, focus, etc. are all intertwined in the practice.
Thanks for sharing.
-Jacob
I’m a recent Bikram Yogi, just 4 Months into my journey.
Read my blog from my recent 30 day challenge here.
http://getintheroom.wordpress.com/
Namaste,
Phil
Totally agree with Gabriel.
In my personal ashtanga practice, I also believe that the heat should come from inside the body and through the special breath that we call “ujjaji breathing”. So the heat and cleansing effect is from inside out and not from external factor. The therapeutic effect and toxin release is then more effective and genuine than a heated room.
Try an ashtanga class and you will sweat just as much as a hot yoga class.
Vinyasa make the practitioner a lot stronger too…
While I agree with you that people who do not do yoga at all find bikram to be the most demanding practice in te world. And yeah, the biggest for me, after practicing for many years is the quality of teaching. It is a dialogue, yet so often, even though it is a bikram studio, people will choose to say what they want to say. In that regard, Ashtanga Yoga is the most demanding and the most liberating, mainly because like bikram it is the sme practice, again, like bikram it is the subtelities that are discovered over years of… Read more »
Paul, I couldn’t agree more. There are several stages throughout the practice when my ass is so kicked that the practice becomes purely mental. But you basically have to leave your mind and just live in your body. Bikram calls it the “90 minute torture chamber” for a reason ha! Likewise, I’ve heard other Bikram instructors say, “Thinking gets you nowhere, you have to feel it.” Regarding the martial arts, right on! The flexibility is obvious, but I think you nailed it as well with unique combination is offers. The grappling arts are often heavily reliant on isometric strength, and… Read more »
Nothing I’ve ever done kicks your ass like Bikram (35 year martial arts background here), and it’s a great cross train, adding flexibility and I would swear speed as well. I thought I had all the muscles covered in martial arts, then I discovered quads at Bikram. Breathing is also another great benefit if you follow the Bikram scrupulously, breathing from that spot below the navel and through the nose, it’s also increased my lung capacity. Another remarkable aspect is how Bikram combines isometric, isotonic and aerobic in the workout. The practice can make you very conscious of tightening certain… Read more »
I think you are right on, dude. I might try this myself thanks to your plug.
Vik,
Sounds good! Where are you located? Might any friends want to get involved and come with you? I’ve been reading some articles about how NFL players are using Bikram now as well. Pretty cool. Best of luck! Check back in and let us know how it went! 🙂
~Cameron
Cameron I am totally with you. I have done a form of hot yoga here in Boston which is an offshoot of Bikram for over a decade now (less recently but still probably once a week). My first yoga instructor was a contributor to the original GMP book. You can read his essay, “A birth and a death” here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/30245611/Yogi-Rolf-Gates-Essay-Film
Tom,
Awesome man. I knew you’ve done hot yoga in the past but I didn’t know how long it’s been part of your life. My respect for you grows by the day it seems. I suppose when my fiancee and I come to Boston (who knows when) we’ve all got to meet up and get some training in!
Reading the article you sent now. Thanks brother.
~Cameron