I took my first Bikram Yoga Beginners’ Class on my birthday one year ago today. Bikram kind of reminds me of wrestling practice – but without the pain. Still, 90 minutes of nearly continuous yoga postures in 1050 (F) temperature and 40% humidity is grueling. The studio sometimes smells of sweat and is frequently very crowded. And even after 100 classes, I still am unable to do almost any pose correctly (I even struggle with the breathing exercise). Still, I’m keeping at it – here’s why:
1) I’m improving. You wouldn’t know it from watching me, but I’m slowly getting better at the postures and a little more flexible in the process. The flexibility not only makes me feel good, but makes me feel younger.
2) My blood pressure is dropping. After being on medication for a decade, I’m now down to about 1/3rd of my former dosage. If I do a lot of Bikram classes in a week, I can sometimes get off the pills altogether.
3) It’s a nice way for my wife and me to hang out together. We started at the same time, but now she’s one of the best (if not the best) in any class. She’s a former gymnast so I don’t resent her even though I go to more classes than she does. I plan to pass her up by my 102nd birthday.
4) My back feels way better. I cracked my spine in high school wrestling and even daily stretching over the years didn’t eliminate severe pain flare ups at times. Yoga hasn’t completely eliminated my back problems, but I feel better physically than I have in decades.
5) I do better in the heat. This sounds funny, but it’s really true. Even when we went trekking in the Sapa Mountains of Vietnam last summer, the pounding heat didn’t bother me much.
6) I don’t seem to get sick. Although I haven’t often gotten sick over the years, I haven’t gotten so much as a sore throat since starting Bikram.
7) My allergies are much lighter. I never even had allergies until a few years ago, but riding my bike up in the Benicia hills caused me to get all the classic allergy systems. Dropping about 4 lbs (literally) of sweat in the 90 minute Bikram classes, though, seems to eliminate the allergens from my system.
8) I’ve lost around eight pounds in the past year, and I seem to have firmed up quite a bit. I never thought I was really out of shape before, but my good friend assures me I was “doughy” whereas now I actually have visible stomach muscles.
9) My stamina has increased. I went mountain biking with my younger, by seven years, brother in Tahoe over the summer and, I beat him up several of the hills along the 25 mile Flume trail ride. In all the many years we’ve ridden together, it is a very rare thing for me to even be able to keep up with him let alone waiting for him to catch up.
10) I’m eating better. Somehow consistently torturing my body gives me more will power to put less junk into it.
11) I can relax easier (see #2). The more you do Bikram, the more you realize it's really all about breathing. I've also used the breathing techniques before public speaking engagements, and that has been surprisingly effective.
Year 2
I’ve memorized the Sanskrit names for the first five poses, and plan to learn the names of the remaining 21 during year two. I still may not be able to do them very well, but at least I’ll be one of the few students who can say them in the original language. And remarkably, I’ve had a couple of Bikram classes recently where I actually had a brief moment or two where I enjoyed myself. This may have been a fluke, but I’m looking forward to seeing if the trend continues.
