How has Bikram changed your life?

"I have been practicing Bikram Yoga for five years. My introduction to Bikram Yoga has been one of the best gifts I have received.

Bikram Yoga has been beneficial to me both physically and mentally. For many years, I had been seeing a chiropractor to help control my back pain. Since I have been practicing Bikram Yoga, I no longer need to visit a Chiropractor. It has been liberating.

In 2001 my mother was diagnosed with cancer and succumbed to the illness in 2003. During her illness, my yoga practice was limited to once a week. Although it was not much, it was enough to help me with the stress. I would have never survived my mother's death without this yoga.

I now practice yoga three times week and my goal is to increase it to five times a week."
Minerva Calderon

"Hello! My name is Vilma De Leon. I can't believe it was 3 years ago that I started Bikram Yoga in La Canada. I am 48 years old and I have suffered from migrane headaches since I was 14 years old! Yoga had a great change in me mentally, physical and emotionally. For me it was the best discovery ever!! My first Bikram class was May 15, 2004, and I practice as often as three to four times a week. Over this period of time I lost about 40 pounds and reduced my stress level.

I used to suffer from shoulder and neck pain as well as migraine headaches. I would go to a chiropractor three to four times a month to align to my spine so as to reduce the amount of discomfort I would experience. As a result of my regular yoga practice, I have reduced my visits to my chiropractor to once every six weeks and my migraine headaches have almost absolved.

"My first year practicing Bikram's Yoga I was awarded the Bengal Tiger Strength Award in acknowledgement of my commitment to my practice. The Bikram Yoga La Canada community has been very supportive and inspiring in my dedication to improve myself in my practice--thank you!"
Vilma De Leon

This is a short article written by Bikram Yoga in The Woodlands, Texas (Houston). They profiled my dad because of the tremendously results he had practicing Bikram Yoga regularly.
Jennifer Moore

I started practicing Bikram yoga just a couple months before I turned 50. My knees were giving out on me in aerobics classes and I’d tried ballet class but pulled a groin muscle trying to keep up with people who had been dancing since age 7. I had taken some yoga classes but the ones I found were more relaxing so I didn’t count them as a workout. That opinion of yoga changed when I took my first Bikram class. I tried to leave a half hour into my first class. I told the teacher I was too hot. I had never sweat like that before! She told me I was fine. And, to my surprise, I was. More than fine. Three years later, I went to teacher training. I actually grew about ¾ of an inch those 9 weeks. My goal was simply to stay healthy but I have increased my strength and flexibility through yoga. It’s been the best thing I could have done for myself and for my family and I love sharing it with others.
Carolyn Hughes

For over ten years, starting in my mid-twenties, I suffered from extremely bad arthritis in my hands. During those last few years, I would wake up in the morning unable to make a fist. I took medication 4 times a day just to get the joints relatively flexible, so I could work on the computer, and to try to alleviate some of the pain (the pain never really went away). It was terrible, but there wasn't much I could do about it and it was just a part of my life. Then I started Bikram. Within 9 months, the pain was gone and I had total flexibility in my hands. As long as I keep up with Bikram, the problem in my hands is non-existent. Bikram cured it completely. This is why I am so adamant about a nice, tight, white knuckled Bikram grip when I teach.

I also had high cholesterol, more of a genetic problem than an eating one. When I started Bikram I was taking Lipitor to keep my cholesterol down. Without Lipitor it hovered around 290-300. With Lipitor it stayed at 200. But no one knows what the side effects of these drugs are and I was never comfortable taking them. Just as an experiment, after Bikram solved my arthritis, I stopped taking Lipitor, to see what would happen. My cholesterol remained at about 200. It has stayed that way for the last 4 years.

I currently take Bikram 4-6 times a week. Bikram works.
Tom Provost, Bikram Teacher

One of the pieces of advice I ever received was from my first Bikram yoga teacher. When I asked Lynn how often I should do class, she said; you get up every day and brush your teeth, wash your face, and do your yoga. Resistant at first, I eventually tried a 30-day challenge. It changed my life. The lower backache I had from various injuries over the years disappeared, I lost 30 lbs and changed the shape of my body, and best of all got rid of my chronic insomnia. I have suffered from insomnia ever since I was a little girl. Even in my first grade school picture you can see the deep circles under my eyes! Insomnia runs in my family and was only exacerbated by my own personality. When I keep a regular practice I am able to go to sleep and stay asleep all night long.

Still, I’m pretty stubborn and contrary and don’t like to be told what to do, so I left and returned to Bikram several times over the next few years. Each time I tried a different form of exercise I would eventually realize that nothing else worked every single cell in my body every single time I went. Dissatisfied, I ended up back in class.

I had always been attracted to the idea of going to training, not so much to teach, but because complete immersion and really seeing how far I could push my body appealed to me. I finally made up my mind, made the time and found the money and attended Teacher Training in 2005. It was a glorious nine weeks. One of my favorite memories is of the day I had a 102 degree fever. I was so sick, but I had to do class. At one point I lay on my mat crying because I felt so awful. BUT!! I was not only able to get through class, I also felt better at the end of it. At one point I remember lying there thinking “If I can do this, giving birth can’t be that hard.” I was right. Ten months after training ended I gave birth to my perfect and beautiful daughter Maya. I went through many many hours of back labor, after which I was given two and a half epidurals. More hours of waiting followed. At last they were all ready to wheel me in for a caesarean when I suddenly went from one centimeter to ten. Even though I was effectively numb from the waist down, and had been in labor for thirteen hours, I was able to push my daughter out in two hours. Without all my yoga training I would not have been able to isolate my muscles even though I couldn’t feel them, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have had the endurance to last all those hours up to and through the pushing.

Oh, and now I LOVE teaching. Brush your teeth and do your yoga!
Love, Jen

I started practicing Bikram Yoga in 2001 at the Pasadena Studio. I was going through a lot of stress at the time; starting a new job, buying a house on my own and ending a long-term relationship. I was struggling to find something that would balance me as I went through these major changes in my life. I was introduced to Bikram during a student event held at a local university I work for. I was intrigued by the information the instructor shared about the study and practice. So I figure I had nothing to lose and everything to gain by trying.

I'll never forget my first class. At the end of the class, the instructor suprised the class singing a song near and dear to my heart. It was "You are my sunshine", a song I sing with my nieces and nephews when I visit them located throughout the United States. I felt it was a sign! I WAS SOLD!

I love the practice! I enjoy taking classes at both studios, Rose at La Canada and Val in Pasadena. And I love the results of this practice. After each class I feel healthier and stronger. Overtime I can see the changes in my strength and flexibility and even in my mental discipline. Bikram yoga helped me funnel my energy and concentration forward rather than on the past. My life is happier, calmer and centered and I credit this practice in helping me get there. Thank you to all the instructors and students...you all inspire me to become a better student and a better person overall.
Kimberly, Pasadena