bikram yoga opinion

[Uvadixiechicken]

Just curious...what do you guys think about bikram yoga?

---how healthy is the high heat? ---does it provide a
challenging cardio/resistance workout as it claims? ---if
you've done it before, does it complement your running
routine? ---if you've done it before (and consistently) what
changes have you noticed in your body?

thanks!

[David]

I have an Ashtanga practice... but I have tried Bikram. Here
are my thoughts...

1. The heat is fine. There may be some contraindications but
I'm not sure what they would be off hand... perhaps it
would be a problem for people with low blood pressure. I
don't know if I completely buy into the whole
'detoxificaton' thing... and I do think the heat is
perhaps somewhat of a gimmick... but it does allow your
body to open up more and it should, theoretically, be
safer because of that (i.e. you are much more pliable
with the heat). It takes a few sessions to get used to
apparently... but the one time I did it, I LOVED the
heat. It's pretty neat. I just don't know if it's
completely necessary.

2. No style of yoga offers much in terms of cardio... I
would say... unless you are doing endless sun salute
B's... and even then the cardio workout does not really
approach something like running or swimming. And no one
wants to do endless sun salutes anyway... they are just
to warm up. As for strength, yoga is excellent for
strength. It's not going to give you a body-builder look
of course (although... looking at a guy like Baron
Baptiste... I might take that back)... but you will gain
a lot of functional strength... esp. in the core and...
with Ashtanga at least... in the shoulders and upper body
in general.

3. I do yoga for it's own sake. I'm not sure if it helps my
running or not... but it certainly can't hurt. My core
stability, balance, strength and flexibility are vastly
improved... and those are all good things for any
activity I would say.

4. The benfits I've seen... other than just being a more
content and peaceful person... less prone to stress out
or give into road rage or whatever... are again...
strength, balance, flexibility, posture, core... etc. One
thing yoga does, I find, is to undo years of small
injurues... lost flexibility... bad posture... bad
habits... etc... and return your body to a more youthful
state. You may find yourself able to do things that you
thought only 5 year olds could do... or that you haven't
been able to do for years... or decades... like touch
your toes for instance :) Again... I do Ashtanga... but
all styles of yoga have these benefits. Bikram in
particular has some nice back bends in the sequence and
I've read that it does wonders for a lot of people with
chronic back problems. I've read more than one story
about people who have been going to chiro's for years on
end with limited and temporary results experiencing full
recovery after doing Bikram for a year or two.

"uvadixiechicken" <jillian@virginia.edu> wrote:
> Just curious...what do you guys think about bikram yoga?
>
> ---how healthy is the high heat? ---does it provide a
> challenging cardio/resistance workout as it claims? ---if
> you've done it before, does it complement your running
> routine? ---if you've done it before (and consistently)
> what changes have you noticed in your body?
>
> thanks!

--
Nova Scotia, Canada

[Me Again?]

"uvadixiechicken" <jillian@virginia.edu> wrote in message news:<c5bk8c$a4k$1@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU>...
> Just curious...what do you guys think about bikram yoga?
>
> ---how healthy is the high heat? ---does it provide a
> challenging cardio/resistance workout as it claims? ---if
> you've done it before, does it complement your running
> routine? ---if you've done it before (and consistently)
> what changes have you noticed in your body?

Jill, There's nothing I haven't done. How big are they? Do
they bounce nicely when you run?