Yoga Bikram
Yoga Bikram has been part of my daily routine since March and I can say that it has become a real addiction! It brings me a physical and mental wellbeing and proves to be a true challenge!
What is yoga bikram? Yoga bikram is a series of 26 different postures and two breathing technics - developed by Bikram Choudhury and derived from hatha yoga - practiced in a room warmed at 40°C during 90 minutes. It has for objective to increase general health and the heated room helps to drive a deeper stretch while preventing injury. A warm body is a flexible body.
What are the benefits? Yoga changes your body from the inside out. It gets ride of the waste products, toxins and impurities of your body through the skin. Practicing yoga increases our supplies of oxygen and teaches us how to use that oxygen properly. It also brings nourishments to every cell of your body so that each one can perform its function and keep your body healthy. Yoga bikram boosts your metabolism and is amazing for weight lose as you sweat from all the small pieces of your body, even the most unsuspected and burn around 500 calories per class. Besides being beneficial for your body, it is also great for your spirit as it releases stress, empty your mind, build inner confidence and brings you to the path of meditation.
Advices: 1. Do not to eat two hours before the class, just take a light snack to fuel your body with good energies. It can be fruits, dark chocolate or nuts. 2. Drink a lot of water during the day, stop one hour before the class (as you don't want to go to the bathroom during the class) bring a big bottle to the class and drink again a great amount of water after the class. Freshly squeezed juice can be amazingly good for your body as it brings back all the nutriments and vitamins you lose during the session. I recommend a perfect healthy combo, a mix of ginger, lemon and honey. And last but not least, 3. Listen to your body! The warm temperature and the pressure on your muscles, can make you lose control. So if during the class you feel dizzy, sit down on your knees, put your hands on your thighs, try to keep breathing by the nose and relax until you feel completely better to keep doing the postures. There is no pressure by spending half of the class, down on your knees, it is completely normal to not feel well during the first classes, your body needs to adapt itself from the 40°C. Do not forget that yoga is above all a practice of meditation, so let's your mind travels and be proud of what you have accomplished so far.
My opinion: My first class was at Bikram Yoga Rive Gauche and as my first experience was perfect, I didn't want to test other places. I'm pretty faithful to what I like. I recommend this place to anyone who wants to discover this practice of yoga. The place is a wooden studio of 400 square meters with an indoor garden. The classes are every two hours, starting from 7am to 9pm. It exists some english classes too. Teachers do not show the postures, they describe them, for the only benefits of being more focused on our movements and respiration. At the beginning of the first class, you clearly got the impression that you are going to die, but at the end you realize, how good it was. You feel lighter and moreover proud of yourself. I'm used to do the 9pm class, so when back home (11:30pm), I go to bed straight away and my sleep has never been as good! After two weeks, doing it three times a week, I can say that I started noticing my muscles a bit better, my waist was slimmer and my legs leaner. Yoga bikram is an ideal who those who want to find an activity than can be both physical and mental.
Namaste
