Today’s post was written by David Kirshenbaum. David sent this as part of his New Year’s letter. I never really thought of David as a “yoga” kind of guy. He is one now! And goes three days a week. You can reach David at dknj18@comcast.net
Bikram Yoga in the UK
My wife, Marcy and I took up Bikram Yoga about four months ago at Bikram Yoga Evanston. In Bikram, the participants perform a series of set poses over the course of 90 minutes. Bikram is also known as “hot yoga” as the poses are performed in a room heated to 105 degrees.
The heated sessions (including “warm up” and “cool down”) stretch to about 100 minutes in total. While it sounds awful and torturous, we have found it to be not only good exercise and mentally challenging, but also replete with everyday lessons applicable to other portions of our lives. Among notable kernels we have picked up:
>Ability to Listen Carefully- Bikram demands that the participants listen carefully to the instructor from the beginning to the end of the session. Listening remains an underrated skill in each of our lives. Whether in business or in family relations, too often we may be technically listening, but we are certainly not hearing what others are saying.
Yogiraj Bikram Choudhury, the founder
>Relax and clear your mind completely- Between poses, Bikram instructs the participants to relax completely and unclutter the mind fully between poses. In our busy lives, are we able to really completely relax? Everyone has difficulty getting completely away from the phone, the Blackberry, day to day activities, ongoing commitments and the like. However, finding time to truly relax both body and mind is increasingly important as we age and more stress is piled on to each of us during successive difficult years.
>Focus on the task at hand exclusively and with no clutter- Bikram demands that while doing poses, 100% of the focus go into the pose and the pursuit of perfection. While a perfect pose is impossible, the pursuit and the related concentration and focus help to improve the poses across successive sessions.
In our day to day lives, many of us fancy ourselves as multi-taskers extraordinaire, able to juggle numerous tasks simultaneously. However, we all know that some of those things do not actually get our full attention and the results (in whatever the realm) suffer. Being able to focus on one thing at a time so that thing is achieved as best as possible may be an old fashioned notion in today’s world–but is there anything wrong with that?
>Remaining Present- Like the above points, remaining present and focused is another key to a successful Bikram session. Because of our hectic lives, too many times we are in situations where we are listening to a friend, colleague or family member while simultaneously thinking of our “to do” list or what may be coming up around the corner.
The 26 Bikram Yoga Poses
>Never give up- Bikram means striving to overcome difficult physical challenges (poses) and those poses don’t always work out (believe me). However, we are instructed that if we “fall out” that we should jump right back into action to try to get the most out of the time remaining for that particular pose. Moreover, we are instructed to test the boundaries of our comfort zones and are implored to stretch (literally) into positions we did not think possible.
Striving to achieve pose by pose goals and breaking mental and physical barriers becomes an important factor in the ongoing success in Bikram classes. The parallels to everyday life are obvious, and as the world becomes and remains more difficult, this discipline becomes all the more important.It is very easy to occupy our comfort zone. The challenge in life is when we leave comfort and test ourselves in ways we did think possible.
>“How you do anything is how you do everything”- Stuart Getz, the owner of Bikram Yoga 
Evanston studio is fond of saying this during each class. While it sounds a little hokey, if you think about it, it is quite a telling principle. It is also obviously applicable to our home and professional lives and other aspects of the way we live.
Editor’s note: The following video does not depict Bikram Yoga Evanston. I found it on youtube and it shows all 26 poses.
Don,
Is that a picture of you in this thread??
Larry:
Not exactly.
I started Bikram Yoga about a month ago & I absolutely love it and am addicted. I wrote a blog post about Bikram & will continue to write about it. I think the most important thing is to stay present & to BREATHE through your nose!