Bikram yoga, your thoughts..

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Permalink Reply by jason on October 12, 2009 at 7:23pm

I frequently do bikram yoga and I love it.

I get sore too, its the undoing of 28 years of living poorly. Poor diet, poor choice of exercise (trauma causing contact sports), and poor posture.

My spine is changing and sometimes during the undoing, you get sore. Its changing, well you are, the structure of your body back to "right".

I think its the best exercise in the world.

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Permalink Reply by Steven on October 12, 2009 at 7:33pm

Hey Jason, I wanna love bikram, but it wipes me out for days at a time every time i've done it so far. Do you think this is detox or exhaustion? Also, why do I feel so stiff and sore several days after each class?
thanks for your time and thoughts.

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Permalink Reply by Steven on October 12, 2009 at 9:10pm

it's amazing how something can make me feel so good and so out of it all in the process of 24 hours.

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Permalink Reply by jason on October 12, 2009 at 9:26pm

It took me a year of hating it, just doing it to empty out my little bag of shit hooked to my stomach.

It hurt and I could only do a few poses for a long time, now I can do them all and some pretty good. Doing standing head to knee full expression in control is a beautiful thing to feel, knowing my foot barely hooked to my hands a year ago.

The sore isn't really sore, its your skeleton adjusting to the way its supposed to be, optimally. It gets better and you're stronger, you just don't notice it yet.

I would also suggest coconut water and wheatgrass juice to accompany your practice. I always do a wheatgrass juice shot about and hour before doing bikram and its like night and day, I tell the people who I practice with "it's not fair", because I know what it feels like both ways. Just a suggestion.

Its probably detox mostly that has you down. Notice week to week how much better you feel. You're squeezing and pulling all of your muscles and organs and expelling toxins from all over. You feel the poison while its on the way out.

Also make sure you hydrate. I swim in the ocean and eat dulse, kelp, and cucumbers daily to replenish lost minerals. Coconut water is great too, lots.

I would recommend you start practicing more. All of the sore you speak of will be gone in the first 20 minutes of class the next day. Best way to get that poison out is an all sweat fest forcing it out from everywhere, you may have new poison tomorrow, but pretty quick you'll be feeling unbelievable and then you'll want more and more. Its amazing, do it -

Peace

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Permalink Reply by Steven on October 12, 2009 at 11:28pm

"You're squeezing and pulling all of your muscles and organs and expelling toxins from all over. You feel the poison while its on the way out."

Yeah, I think this is the main point here. It makes the most sense. Most of all the achy-ness is coming from my lower sides of my back, which is where one always feels pain when the liver is detoxing. Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I'm gonna try to stick to it and get back in there.

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Permalink Reply by YogaBrudder on October 13, 2009 at 12:26am

One of the things I liked about Bikram, the same 26 every class, and seeing my progress.

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Permalink Reply by YogaBrudder on October 12, 2009 at 9:44pm

Hi Steven,

the last few months. I've only gone about 7 times.......I think this quote of yours is key.

I did Bikram every day for a long, long time, every day, sometimes twice a day. My hunch is that if you like it so much and (as they recommend the selling point, do it at least three, if not four, if not five times a week), your body will get used to it. Some people do not do, I understand, well in such a hot room or ninety minutes. But yu probably need to experience it more regularly to see the benefits and not the drawbacks.

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Permalink Reply by Erin on October 12, 2009 at 9:52pm

Do you normally get wiped out from heat? Some people do (like me, LOL!) It could be you're just not wired for strenuous activity in hot conditions. You might also want to try drinking your water during Bikram with some sea salt added to it, as the fatigue could just be due to sodium loss (esp. if you have any degree of tired adrenals). That little trick has upped my heat tolerance considerably:)

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Permalink Reply by Steven on October 12, 2009 at 11:29pm

tired adrenals are a factor, i'm gonna start sea salting my water. thanks so much.

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Permalink Reply by Rawzilla on October 12, 2009 at 10:40pm

I love yoga, but Bikram is not a good match for me. The heat made me almost pass out, and I wasn't able to do the class, even though I can do "hard" and "power" yoga classes without trouble. I also don't like the idea of heating up a room where you're going to be raising your internal heat anyway. But that's just me.

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Permalink Reply by Steven on October 12, 2009 at 11:31pm

I hear you and respect that opinion. It makes me feel so good right afterwards, before it makes me feel so out of it, that I think I have yet to unlock the real upsides in bikram.
Keep you posted..

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Permalink Reply by Rawzilla on October 13, 2009 at 9:40am

I think it might be one of those things that relates to energy types and body types. I've done a sweat lodge too, and it was so harsh on my body, and I ended up getting sick (and not "better" afterwards, as in detoxing). It's very taxing on my adrenals and kidneys, and too intense for my composition. I'm all about detoxing, but not in ways that are harsh on my system. I enjoy working up a sweat in exercise, but it is so much gentler on my body to start at room temperature.

I have friends who do really well with hot yoga, and they have very different body types and energy types--and no issues with adrenal fatigue, which I think is another factor.

By the way, I did experience some intense detoxing in Kundalini, where specific organs and meridians were stimulated. That was intense, but better for me than heat.

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