Bikram Yoga: The Guru Behind Hot Yoga Shows the Way to Radiant Health and Personal Fulfillment

by Bikram Choudhury

Book Overview

Leave your assumptions--and your excuses--at the door. Bikram Choudhury, the world's foremost authority on Hot Yoga, is here to show you the true way to self-improvement and a new love of life. Based on a centuries-old and scientifically proven pathway to health, Bikram Yoga will whip your body, mind, and spirit into shape. Based on Bikram's signature program of 26 postures and two breathing exercises, this book will help you combat a variety of afflictions--from...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060568089
• ISBN13: 9780060568085
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.7" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Interesting modern take on Hatha Yoga for the West

Bikram has provided a modern, LA, hot update on Hatha Yoga for the West. He situates his position well both in a Yoga context and in the context of various gurus coming to the United States. For students of Paramhansa Yogananda's SRF or Ananda, the book provides interesting history on the importance given to Hatha Yoga in the early years of SRF and the more wide ranging interests and expertise of the wider Ghosh family beyond just Kriya Yoga. Bikram is particularly critical of some of the rival Hatha Yoga schools and Western sports in general. So, guru spreading the benefits of Yoga in the West in the Holy tradition of his guru (Yogananda's brother), 'bad boy' upsetting the apple cart of older franchises with their allegedly watered down and/or unhealthy practices, or yet another dollar 'guru' taking commonplace Indian techniques and packaging them for high-priced consumption by gullible Western audiences? A visit to Bikram and other studios is the difference between knowing and following the opinions of others, an option readily accessible to all and a scientific approach popularized by Yogananda himself, visiting tens of individuals and groups in a search for truth in his famous Autobiography, recognizing that many believed their way to be the one and only way.

Just skip the gym altogether...this is all you need!

I have been taking Bikram yoga for a few years now and I finally read Mr. Choudhury's book. I wanted a better understanding of the postures, breathing, and what this yoga means in my life outside the classroom. Bikram explains everything about his yoga in a no nonsense honesty that I appreciate. I would recommend first taking a class...read his book...and then keep coming to class as you continue reading. This yoga and this book will change your life. And yes, I really did cancel my gym membership. This yoga gave me all over, and instant, results both in my mind and body.

A Guide for At Home Practice

I have attended Bikram Yoga classes, but the studio is far from my house. This book allows me to practice at home, using the book as a guide. The author provides a description for each pose and what areas of the body each pose may benefit the most. Although the sequence of poses is meant to be practiced in order, if you have a specific problem, you can look up which pose(s) may help. Bikram Chourdhury also provides some information and explanations related to yoga. This book contains some yoga theory but the book's primary use is for applied practice.

Best yoga book

I love this book. I think it is much better than Bikram's previous book. The section on how to do the poses is not cluttered with chit-chat, but gets straight to the heart of the issue. EAch pose has a paragraph called "Bikram's tips" that really have helped me to do the poses better. I found the sections about Bikram's history and how he became a yoga teacher interesting and inspiring. Bikram makes a lot of claims about the benefits of his yoga and how it is better for you than other styles of yoga, and at first I was very skeptical. I thought this was just marketing. But after practicing for two years and going to a Bikram yoga studio for a while, I have found that most of his claims turn out to be true. Doing his sequence faithfully and regularly, every day, really does heal the body AND the mind. Bikram yoga has healed several injuries that I had, and it makes living in a stressful environment less crazy-making. Practicing in a hot room is great, if you can. But I find the sequence to be beneficial even if you can't get to a hot yoga studio or heat your own home up to 100 degrees. I just wear a fleece jacket if it is cool and go slowly.

Hot and Spicy

This book is incredibly readable and fun. Bikram's breezy tone and brash opinions grab your eyes and hold your brain, whether or not you think you have any interest in yoga. Actually this book seems particularly geared to non-practitioners. The earlier chapters give historical background on yoga and Bikram's autobiography. The yoga history is highly slanted to Bikram's narrow view. Hey it is his book (and he won't let you forget that, believe me) - he can analyze the murky and heavily disputed history of yoga entirely as he pleases. The autobiographical material is very interesting, both for light on Bikram himself and also his excellent multi-cultural contextual scene-painting. We are learning about India as we go. And we are seeing our own culture strangely refracted, through Bikram's very perceptive lens. He has a sharp tongue though. His basic message is that American culture is great in some ways but that individual Americans are mostly unhappy and messed up, mentally and physically. Fortunately there is a one-size-fits-all cure, a true panacea - Bikram Yoga. Things Bikram Dislikes: Tatoos Exercise (running, tennis, aerobics, weights, team sports, ... fill-in-the-blank!) Other styles and schools of yoga Drugs - medical and recreational Western medicine in general Actually it is strange that he dumps on weight training, because he points out pridefully in another section that his own beloved guru was some kind of weight champion and pioneering promoter of the practice. Whatever. He trashes the popular Iyengar style of yoga by sneering at the many mechanical props they use to control or achieve difficult postures. At least Iyengar came in for one full paragraph of dumping, while the extremely influential Ashtanga style is dissed off in less than one sentence as "'never existed in India" (which is a very odd claim, as the 91-year-old meta-guru of Ashtanga, Sri Patabhi Jois, has lived in Mysore, India his entire life and he learned starting as a young teenager from his own guru right there.) It is also odd that Bikram makes a big deal of his historical claim that there are exactly 84 asanas or postures in traditional yoga. Other respected analysts have come up with 608 or other numbers. Anyway, Bikram made his own sequence by choosing the best 26 out of his classical 84. Bikram's sequence is much shorter than Ashtanga's Primary Series (not to mention the follow-on 5 additional Ashtanga series), and in practice it is simpler than Iyengar's posture perfectionism and mechanical molding. So in that sense, it is a good practice for modern conditions (he does teach his full set of 84 postures, to advanced students only). His insistence that only his way is the "right way" to do Yoga reminds me of great Chinese masters of Tai Chi and Qi Gong (traditional breathing and stretching practices for energy cultivation). They ALL insist, just like Bikram, that only THEIR personal way is the universal right way. Almost every one of them has this same