Bikram Yoga
What differentiates Bikram yoga is the specific sequence of postures combined with heat and humidity. Bikram yoga classes are for beginners and advanced students alike. They are designed to warm up the body, stretch muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Bikram yoga is unique through the specific series of postures and environment in the yoga room itself. The heat in the room facilitates deeper stretching, prevents injuries, relieves stress and tension, and detoxifies the body. Bikram yoga is designed to systematically stimulate and restore health to every muscle, joint, and organ of the body by moving fresh oxygenated blood throughout the body. In Bikram yoga, the student is guided through a series of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises to increase their concentration, patience, determination, and self-control. As a result, it is possible to achieve mental clarity and reduce stress. There are a number of additional benefits that can come with regular practice such as developing a healthier, stronger, and more flexible body.
26 + 2
Pranayama
Half Moon
Awkward
Eagle
Standing head to knee
Standing bow
Balancing stick
Separate leg stretching
Triangle
Separate leg head to knee
Tree
Toe stand
Dead body
Wind removing
Sit up
Cobra
Locust
Full locust
Bow
Half tortoise
Fixed firm
Camel
Rabbit
Head to knee
Stretching
Blowing in firm
Spine Twist
Pregnancy
Pre-natal yoga
Do not worry, there is no need to stop your Bikram Yoga practice (if you are a regular practitioner). You can continue your yoga practice with us when you are pregnant. Below you are able to find some tips and links to the pregnancy yoga modifications.
Please make sure to talk to your doctor before hand and make sure to inform us about your pregnancy as soon as you know. We recommend you start practicing the modified series the moment you know that you are pregnant.
If you have never done Bikram yoga starting the practice in your pregnancy is not recommended.
Bikram yoga Poses to be avoided when Pregnant:
Sit – Up
All Forward Compression
Standing Head to Knee
Inward Twist
No Kapalbhati Breathing
The Bikram pregnancy postures can be practiced in regular class. The Pregnancy yoga postures are either slightly modified or replace regular postures.The practice will allow you to stay mobile and fit.
Important Tips
During Pregnancy, you will have a hormone called relaxing present in your body, which softens bones and joints to prepare for giving birth. This will make you more vulnerable to over-stretching as you may feel like you can go further in your practice. Because of this, please avoid pushing yourself further in the poses than your body is accustomed to.
Make sure to ease off on your abs during the whole pregnancy. You will have less abdominal support, which means less support for your lower back – again take it easy! Make sure to go slowly go in and out of the postures.
Most importantly… listen to your body.
Enjoy this period of your life and always feel free to ask questions.
The modifications are also great for after giving birth. It is important to avoid Sit-ups for the first few months to allow the abdominal wall to reconnect to avoid diastasis recti.
FAQs
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Yes. This is a beginner’s yoga series. The classes are suitable for both beginners and advanced students alike.
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Lack of flexibility is one of the most prevalent reasons why people start Hatha yoga, specifically, Bikram yoga. Bikram yoga benefits students regardless of their flexibility and depth that they are able to achieve in each of the postures..
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You may feel like you are unable to do all of the postures, but remember it is about trying. Yoga is a practice not a performance. By going into the posture 100% the right way no matter the depth that you achieve you will receive 100% benefit from that pose. Be patient with your body and appreciate the hard work that you are doing to gain and restore your health and well-being.
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Consistent practice will begin to heal and break through scar tissue. This can be a painful process, however, you will start feeling how your body slowly shifts back into alignment. This can lead to relieving chronic pain over time.
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It has been estimated that you burn an average of 800 calories per session, depending on how hard you are working in class. Yoga improves your ability to digest and eliminate food efficiently while stimulating the glands that are responsible for regulating your metabolism. Regular yoga practice will encourage your body to find balance and ideal weight.
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For your safety. The antibacterial carpet also acts as a cushion for your joints and prevents slipping.
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Yoga changes the construction of the body from the inside out, from bones to skin and from fingertips to toes. So before you change it, you have to heat it up to soften it, because a warm body is a flexible body.
Hatha Yoga flushes away the toxins of all the glands and organs of your body. It provides a natural irrigation of the body through the circulatory system, with the help of the respiratory system. The heat is further applied to enhance the cleaning process: when you sweat, impurities are flushed out of the body through the skin.
Our yoga practice does not only increase the oxygen in the body, but also teaches us how to use the oxygen properly- we learn consciousness and awareness of our breath.**
**Additional Reasons for the Heat:
– Enhances vasodilation so that more blood is delivered to the muscles. This means that the capillaries that weave around the muscles respond to the heat by dilation. This brings more oxygen to the muscles and helps in the removal of waste products such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid.
– Allows oxygen in the blood to detach from the hemoglobin more easily. When blood passes through warm muscles, oxygen releases more easily from the hemoglobin. Blood passing through cold muscles release less oxygen.
– Speeds up the breakdown of glucose and fatty acids.
– Makes muscles more elastic and less susceptible to injury.
– Improves coordination.
– Reduces heart irregularities associated with sudden exercise.
– Burns fat more easily. Warmed muscles burn fat more easily than cold ones. Fat is released during stress. The stress of intense exercise causes a deluge of fatty acids into the blood stream. If you exercise with cold muscles, they can’t use the fatty acids and they end up in places where they aren’t wanted, such as in the lining of your arteries.
