Bikram Practice

On Tuesday night Sept. 23, I went to hot yoga flow. Instructor Kristina was substituting John's class. She was great. It's interesting to see the difference in teaching methods between instructors. Kristina ended the class with reading one of the Yoga Sutras. This was the first time I heard one read to me at the end of a class.
*After taking last week off from doing yoga, my lower back pain finally went away. Starting again this week and now I feel like my back strength improved.
Then on Wednesday morning I went to Laurie's class. I was in such a good mood on Wednesday and it felt good to get up in the morning and move my body.

In class we had our first Bikram practice this week. It was unfortunate that we didn't experience the complete Bikram environment since our classroom was a great deal colder than a Bikram studio would be. However, I thought this form of practice was really interesting. It was a lot more systematic because it consisted of repeating the same pose 2x's on each side of your body. It was more of a step by step approach then a flowing pose to pose class. The breathing in Bikram is also different then what I am used to. Normally breathing in and out through my nose, in Bikarm you breath out through your mouth. Another different aspect is that when laying in shavasana we kept our eyes open in order to be awake and aware of our environment. I think it's interesting that Bikram is always the same consistent poses and you practice to improve those poses instead of challenging your body to try new things. I would practice Bikram again and even regularly. However,  I would do it as a side practice and still participate in other forms pf physical activity because I feel that' doing the same thing over and over may eventually take your body to a plateau and you won't improve.

The physical culture of yoga is one that can be described as a normal healthy practice. People do yoga both to strengthen muscle and as a form of aerobic activity. The instructor of Bikram that came to teach my class, Chris, was very persistent about talking about the health benefit of each pose. He described why we were doing that pose and how it can help certain aspects of our bodies. As we examined in the first few weeks of class, yoga may have started as a religious practice but now in the 21st century many people take yoga purely for the physical aspect and keeping your body healthy and in shape.
Since taking yoga, I have noticed difference in my body. Certain muscles are more defined and I am much more flexible.