Bikram Yoga Health Benefits
Fancy a trip to a heated yoga studio? Ready for a grueling session complete with intense sweating and a rigorous series of bikram yoga poses? Well, that’s what you’ll get when you sign up for bikram yoga! Bikram yoga is not for everyone, but the health benefits of bikram yoga are worth the tough experience.
Hot Yoga, Anyone?
Peaceful surroundings, a sense of calm and serenity, a feeling of being at one with nature: that’s what we generally associate yoga with, right? Think again! For starters, how about associating yoga with high temperatures, sustained humidity, and yoga practitioners dripping with sweat? That, ladies and gentlemen, is what Bikram Yoga is all about. The practice of Bikram Yoga, which is popularly known as hot yoga, was initiated by Bikram Choudhury. It consists of 26 bikram yoga poses that are practiced in a yoga studio heated to 38 degrees celcius with 40 percent humidity. Sounds tough, doesn’t it? The health benefits of bikram yoga more than make up for all the pain, sweat and effort of practicing bikram yoga poses in a sweltering studio, so it’s worth it in the end!
Weight Loss
Bikram yoga helps you sweat those pounds off, literally! The artificially heated setting allows your body to stretch longer and deeper while performing the bikram yoga poses. This boosts muscle usage and flexibility, and burns more body fat. The more muscles you build, the more fat you burn- it’s as simple as that!
Detoxification
One of the ways in which the body eliminates harmful substances from the body is through sweat. And in bikram yoga, profuse sweating is a guaranteed part of the package! A 90 minute bikram yoga class is an excellent means of cleansing the body’s largest organ, the skin surface, and of detoxifying the body.
Vitality and Vigor
Miss your youthful days of physical strength and energy? You can regain some of that treasured vitality with bikram yoga! Bikram yoga poses, coupled with high humidity and temperatures, boost your stamina and endurance, enable you to improve your breathing technique, and slow down the process of aging. If you’re yearning to rekindle that youthful spark within you, then bikram yoga is the way to go!
De-Stress Your System
Regularly performing bikram yoga poses enhances and fine-tunes your mind-body connection. This allows you to handle the stresses of daily life without getting flustered and ruffled. Bikram yoga teaches you how to carry the practice of deep breathing out of the threshold of the studio, and into your daily life. Just the act of deep breathing in itself can help to minimize the effects of stress on your mind and body.
Mental Clarity
This hectic modern world leaves no room for mental tranquility. It comes as no surprise then that your mind seems to be buzzing around the clock, with no signs of slowing down. Regular bikram yoga practice helps to sharpen the mind, enhance focus and concentration, and promotes mental clarity.
