Bikram has provided me with a great all round practice, I am able to train all year round no matter what the weather. As someone who played competitive sport since I was seven years old I was used to pushing myself. I needed to get a certain intensity to feel like I had achieved something. The odd ache and pain took longer to recover from, and the heat in the room enables me to get more flexible and my joints do not ache at all after practice.
The mental and emotional benefits I feel from going to regular practice I did not expect. Not just the calming and relaxation after class has finished, but I sleep better and am able to cope with everyday life on a more even keel. I know this works because a
couple of months ago I must have been a bit short or tense and I was asked how long since I had been to yoga? I had not been for almost a week. My family benefit from my yoga practice.
I first tried Bikram about eight years ago. About two thirds into my first class I was struggling to stay in the room, but I did. For the first year I did not attend class more than twice a week as the studio was some distance away.
When a studio opened close by I began to go more regularly. Unfortunately, the studio reduced the number of classes and again I was able to practice only two or three times a week. Then one of the teachers told me about OHYP.
At my first 90 minute class in several months I thought it would be difficult, but it was also more gratifying than I expected. I had forgotten that incredible feeling after class, when I have rehydrated and all of my muscles are relaxed and there is no pain or discomfort in my joints. When I am able to regularly attended three to four classes in a week I benefit mentally and emotionally.
In this studio I am not only able to attend classes regularly, I feel more a part of the community than any of the previous studios. When I tell people about Bikram often they say that they should try but that they are not fit enough or flexible, we have all heard these comments. I tell them that I did not start Bikram until I was 48, (I leave out the bit that I was fit and flexible to start with) and that they will never be fit or flexible if they don’t start.