Weight loss

Bikram Yoga is excellent for weight loss. Your digestive system and metabolism will improve, normalising your appetite and diminishing unhealthy cravings. Warm muscles burn fat more easily as the heat flushes and detoxifies the body. Your cardiovascular system is worked and strengthened therefore, the more weight loss benefits you will receive. You may see and feel immediate results. You will naturally begin to start eating less and make better food choices.

Skin and Beauty

Watch your face and skin develop “the Bikram glow” as your eyes become brighter and your skin becomes more clear and soft. As you sweat, your pores are opened and cleaned allowing natural lanolin to release through the pores, softening and preserving your skin’s elasticity. Faces in general change expression from looking disturbed and frustrated to looking full of life and happiness. As your body detoxifies, you may eventually never need deodorant again.

Blood Pressure

Unstable high blood pressure can respond very quickly to a regular Bikram Yoga practice. Consult your doctor and don’t push too hard for your first few classes. Many students who maintain a regular practice are able to stop taking blood pressure medication over time as the practice alleviates the symptoms. If you experience low blood pressure,transition slowly from one pose to another and keep your breathing regular, the sensations of dizziness or blacking out will lessen and fade with time. 

Back Pain

Bikram Yoga has helped countless numbers of people with back pain, stiff necks, headaches, scoliosis, herniated disks and many other back problems. The Bikram Yoga series is designed to work the spine in every direction,creating a healthy spine and thus a healthy nervous system. Make sure to tell your instructor what type of back pain you suffer from in case modifications are necessary. Be mindful during your practice and consult with your physician before your first class. The practice in combination with your breath and focus play a big part in alleviating back pain. 

“Give me 30 days, i’ll change your body. Give me 60 days, i’ll change your life”. 

– Bikram Choudhury 

Arthritis

Many students experience quick relief from arthritis after only a few classes of Bikram Yoga with certain types of arthritis completely disappearing. A combination of the heat and the moving, twisting, extending and compressing of every joint can alleviate arthritis. A regular practice is necessary for continued relief.

Diabetes

Bikram yoga can be a perfect complement to the lifestyle changes necessary to help keep diabetic symptoms in check.  Recent research has found that performing these postures on a regular basis can decrease blood-sugar levels and that the elevated heat makes the body use more insulin more effectively. This is important for non- diabetics too, as elevated insulin levels can lead to type 2 diabetes.  

Breathing problems  Strong, healthy lungs can efficiently help transport oxygen to the blood, purifying it and helping remove toxins from the body. The 90 minutes of deep breathing practiced in class increases the amount of oxygen that enters the body which cleanses the system. Bikram Yoga will relax your mind and help let go of tensions, toxins and negativity. It strengthens your heart and lungs, improving your lung function. You will breathe easier and deeper than you ever have before.

Stress & Anxiety   

Bikram’s guru Bishnu Gosh said “Mental stress and strain is the cause of all diseases, even infectious ones.” When performing the 26 postures and two breathing exercises a number of chemicals are released and brought into balance. You learn to become the master of the fight-or-flight response and a feeling of balanced well-being is replaced. A regular practice can lower cortisol levels, calm the mind, increase mental clarity and release and reduce stress and tension.

Cholesterol

Your circulation increases allowing blood to flow throughout your body cleansing and clearing your arteries.

Balancing Emotions

Physiologically a regular practice harmonises the nervous and endocrine systems – two systems which play a large part in emotional well-being. Practicing Bikram Yoga cultivates the mental faculties of faith, self-control, concentration, determination, and patience. As we become more aware, we exercise better choices in our responses. 

Ageing / Preventation

Bikram Yoga acts as anti-ageing and preventative medicine keeping the body young and healthy. “Yoga maintains youth. It keeps the body full of vitality, immune to diseases, even at old age. The Yogi never becomes old”. – Bishnu Ghosh

Thyroid regulation

Many of the postures in Bikram Yoga compress and work the thyroid thus helping to regulate the gland balancing thyroid levels. Along with thyroid regulation comes increased energy, weight loss and better metabolism.