Bikram Helps Fat Loss, yes or no?

As a Bikram Yoga Teacher I get this question a lot: Will Bikram yoga help me lose weight? Recently I found this on the Mayo Clinic website. What I think is great is that it clearly states where/how our fat gets released from our bodies-- through sweat (yeah Bikram heated room) and carbon dioxide air exhaled from our lungs: that's what we start with: Pranayama breathing....so breath and sweat (the only thing we don't do (hopefully) in the room is urinate. On the other side a calorie is the amount of energy used to raise one gram of water one degree centrigrade -- so if the room is doing the work for you --you are not burning the calorie. I have been a teacher for seven years and have witnessed folks who "rely on the room" to get the sweat on. Just like in the gym you have to do the work in order to use the energy to raise the temperature to release the fat. The room aids in the release of the broken down fat. You plus the room equal results. Here's the article:

Question Body fat: Where does it go when you lose weight?
Where does body fat go when you lose weight?

Answer
from Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.
When you consume fewer calories than your body needs, your body turns to fat for energy. Your fat cells (triglycerides) provide the fuel for this energy.

Through a series of complex metabolic processes, triglycerides are broken down into two different components — glycerol and fatty acids — which are absorbed into your liver, kidney and muscle. Here, these components are further broken down by chemical processes that ultimately produce energy for your body.

The heat generated through these activities is used to help maintain your body temperature. The waste products that result are water and carbon dioxide. You excrete water primarily in urine and sweat and carbon dioxide in air exhaled from your lungs.

Away From Yoga

Recently it was the holidays and I got away from my yoga practice. I moved cross-country -- I started two new days jobs, I moved back into my house -- so many many things: changes-- the new, the old it all collided around the holidays, until it was almost two weeks and I hadn't practiced regularly. If it's possible to feel your own circulation diminish I felt it. Blood, life, went into a stillness --- but not the stillness that we talk about in yoga. The stillness of stagnation -- lack of movement, lack of flow. All around my personal life was filled with challenge...my friends weren't getting along, strangers weren't getting along -- my cousin announced a divorce, a former colleague died. Is it a coincidence that I wasn't practicing -- I can sometimes be superstitious about certain things -- wear a lucky color, but that's about it. No, it isn't that if I don't practice bad things happen: it's that these types of things are always happening and when I don't practice I am not at 100 percent, and therefore dealing with these things throws me (much more than if I do practice). I recently watched two films: Food Inc. and Super Size Me...which also coincided with my yoga practice derailing... It all pointed in the same direction: take care of yourself. If you haven't seen either of this two films they are worth your while. Food Inc. shows how far away we have come from really knowing what is even in our foods, and Super Size Me, shows just how easy it is to get sick from all the fast foods we have readily available to us. Organic food is more expensive and fast food chains are all over working class neighborhoods. Yoga means union -- if we are so far away from where our food is -- if we are so far away from each other's neighborhoods (this includes the NIMBYS!) we are far away from yoga. I went back to class today. My mantra was, "I am at peace in my yoga practice".

My Thumb

Two days ago, I took Teri Almquist's 9am yoga class. She is the studio owner in Haverhill, Ma. I have taught in many yoga studios on the two coasts of the continental U.S.A, and Teri's studio is top of the line. Teri is a unique Bikram Teacher: she is hilarious -- I think she was a stand-up comic in a former life (actually she was a sign language interpreter!). But what is really great about Teri is that she even pushes the teachers in her room. Many Bikram teachers (I am guilty of this!) stop correcting you once you've become a certified Bikram Teacher....not Teri.

So no one has ever told me to use my thumb in standing bow! It works -- my thumb had not been engaged enough in the grip: it turns out that (Newton's third law of physics, apparently still applies to standing-bow pulling pose): I couldn't kick harder because there wasn't enough opposite force to kick against...in other words (the bow part -- of my bow and arrow -- was too slack) --- how silly do I feel -- where was my thumb all these years!!!

Still doing the challenge -- Monday I moved and worked my day job, so I missed (that means there is a double class in my near-future) -- I really like doubles, though.

30 Day Yoga Challenge

I just started a 30 day yoga challenge. That means I will practice everyday without taking a day off in between. It was a combo of a friend starting a charity yoga challenge and my need to get myself more focused as I transition from living the graduate lifestyle and get back to Los Angeles and my life there. There are so many unknowns --- how will things turn out? Will I get the place, the career, the relationship of my dreams? So many transitions -- it seemed only counter-logical to challenge myself into the mix! I am only on day three. Day one and day two were magical -- "I'd decided to take action and do something for myself -- and I had both days off from my day job!" -- Day 3: not so easy -- I had to teach and pack to move to my interim place before LA....so much to do -- that I was stressed out about getting to a class. Fortunately for me, since I do teach I was able to practice after I taught. I am realizing that sacrifices will have to be made: I would have liked to have finished packing, but it won't be done until tomorrow. At one point this morning I was so caught up in activity that I was stressing myself out. I had to jump out of myself and say, "Hey, it's okay to move tomorrow afternoon -- no one is putting the stress on yourself, but you!" -- Okay, and then "But practicing on my own doesn't count! " Says who? Says me -- so if it's says you, you have the power to change it. This was great -- I have made this realization many times in my life and every time I do, I give myself permission to change things. So progress --- not perfection: I had a great private, my stuff is half packed -- the rest will follow -- and now my muscles are all warmed up and I won't hurt my back moving all those boxes. The 30 day challenge is challenging myself to put myself first: to take the time I need to move. And when I perceive outside pressures, to stand up for myself and say, I need more time. I think so many people walk around with an invisible taskmaster -- someone whose authority they have never questioned...life can be better. I hope some of you out there that are doing a 30 Day challenge join me. Post about your day. How was your practice today? Did you have a spontaneous inspiration? I did: I realized I am "freaking out" about moving -- and that is great news -- how can I solve things if I don't acknowledge them? I admit to myself that I have a lot going on -- that I am juggling many ambitions, goals, desires -- and live in hope that things will work out. I know one thing: in the yoga practice I have learned that I don't know how strong and flexible I am -- I prove it to myself each time. And as I write this there is a smile on my face despite all the unanswered questions -- because a yoga practice gives me appreciation for this vessel that holds my spirit. My vitality is here.

How to Succeed as a Yogi by Bikram Choudhury | Life & Style

How to Succeed as a Yogi by Bikram Choudhury | Life & Style

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Blog Post Interruptus

I was writing a post and got side tracked in research -- yep, I actually look things up to write this blog -- it's not just coming off the top of my head -- until NOW. Basically writing to ask you (dear reader -- Juliana, or Mindy...if you get any text showing up in the post below. It is an article from Yoga Journal on Bikram. I ran into it because I was looking up the quote,"the most Exciting, Hard-working, Amusing, Glamorous Yoga class in the World." --- and I ran into this article in Yoga Journal. I was able to click "share" on their site, and the link showed up on my blog without text. Also, I kept looking for the date when the article was originally published, but Yoga Journal makes that impossible to find. This would have to be more than several years old (pre 2001) when Bikram's studio was still in Beverly Hills (previous to Todd Tramps and way before La Cienega Blvd) Please let me know if you can read it off my site. I think she (the writer of the article) does a good job at capturing Bikram's personality, but she was lukewarm on the yoga itself and I think because of it painted a rather biased opinion. It just annoys me that the Yoga Journal people allow an article to be entitled, "bad boy of yoga" -- What does that even mean? I will ask Bikram himself what he thinks of Asthanga since it has roots from India. I can easily believe that he puts down Power Yoga and all the other newbie yogas -- but who knows maybe he had another reason for not liking Asthanga. Whatever the case maybe -- I really am all for the Craig Villani quote,"All yoga is good yoga." Even with the yoga competition coming up, Diane states that Bikram and Rajashree are encouraging other yogis (not just Bikram practitioners to participate) -- and you know that people are practicing other forms -- (I have seem too many compass poses -- and that 'ain't in the 84!) -- in these competitions. Anyway, beside the point -- this is extemporaneous, after all.

Yoga Journal - Yoga News

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- Yoga's Bad Boy: Bikram Choudhury




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