Braddock Yoga

Okay, you probably know that yoga is one of the best things that you can do for your mental and physical health. Unfortunately, you may not know how to get started with yoga or you may have some doubts. You might think that Yoga is something for hippies or weirdoes. 

Nothing is further from the truth. Yoga is a set of ancient Indian exercises and meditation practices. Yet its health benefits are real and they have been well-documented by modern medicine. Major health clinics like the Mayo Clinic now recommend yoga for everybody.

The Mayo Clinic’s website actually states that yoga can help reduce stress, improve fitness, help individuals manage chronic health conditions and lose weight. Yoga will not replace normal medicine but it can make it far more effective and help speed up recovery.

Some of the well-documented health benefits of yoga include:

• Increased strength
• Better sleep
• More flexibility
• Increased relaxation
• Improved concentration
• More energy
• More endurance
• Better muscle tone
• Fewer aches and pains
• Better attitude
• More fun
• Better posture
• Better circulation
• Strengthened immune system
• Better balance
• Lower likelihood of injury

That’s right! Your whole body will feel better and your overall health will improve if you perform yoga. The reason yoga is so good is that it is a system of exercise that doesn’t involve a lot of strenuous exertion. Anybody at any age can do yoga and experience all of its health benefits. 

 Scientific studies have shown that people who practice yoga will recover from disease faster and get fewer injuries. Seriously injured individuals have been able to recover normal movement through it. Yoga is particularly good at eliminating pain and reducing stress because it combines exercise with meditation. Part of the reason why it is so successful is that it addresses mental and spiritual health as well as physical health.

That being said, you should be in good shape when you start and you should never learn Yoga alone. Instead, you should learn it from a trained and experienced teacher such as a Bikram Yoga practitioner.

The Yoga for Real People: Bikram

Bikram yoga is a modern form of yoga designed for modern people living a modern lifestyle. Bikram is relaxed, comfortable and fun. It is practiced in a heated room for maximum comfort and class participants wear comfortable clothing.

Best of all, the people you meet at Bikram are normal everyday people like you. They have jobs, families, bills to pay and all the stresses of modern life. So they understand you and what you need to accomplish. These people come from all races, classes and backgrounds. They’re just like your friends, neighbors and coworkers. In fact, some of them probably are your friends, neighbors and coworkers.

Bikram Yoga is designed to be a stress-free fun-filled environment where people can get in shape and improve their health. Above all, it is a method of healing designed to help people like you cope with all the stresses and problems of modern life.

The basic philosophy at Bikram is that anybody can start from scratch, no matter what shape they’re in or what age they are. If you’re one hundred pounds overweight, stressed out and smoking three packs of cigarettes a day, Bikram can help you. If you’re just burned out from the gym routine and constant exercise, Bikram can help you too. 

All you have to do to get started is attend the class and wear some comfortable clothes like a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. You don’t even need a yoga mat!

The Man behind Bikram Yoga

 Some of you will wonder what Bikram stands for. Well, Bikram is actually a man named Bikram Choudhory. Among other things, Bikram is one of the world’s most famous and most respected yoga practitioners. He’s not only an expert in yoga; he’s been practicing it all of his life.

 

Bikram as a young weightlifter in the 1960s

When he was a teenager in India, Bikram won that country’s National Yoga Championship four times. When he was just 14, he was named king of the yogis by the revered teacher Swami Shivanada.

 Bikram today – as you can see, he’s not your father’s Yogi.

Despite his early success, Bikram’s life took a very tragic turn. He was very badly injured in a weight lifting accident when he was just twenty. The accident destroyed his dreams of becoming an Olympic athlete and a world-class weight lifter. At the time, some of the top doctors in Europe told him he would never walk again. Bikram turned to the power of yoga and was walking again in just six months.

Since then, Bikram has devoted himself to bringing the healing benefits of yoga to the world. He has developed a program designed to help the average person turn his or her life around in just 60 days. He’s also been training and accrediting yoga teachers for nearly twenty years and he’s lived and worked here in the USA since 1973.

 

Bikram demonstrates a hatha or pose

The Bikram yoga practiced in studios across America today is based on the system that Bikram developed for his own recovery all those years ago. The system involves 26 hatha yoga postures that are performed in a room heated to 105 degrees Fahrenheit.

Unlike some other yoga systems, Bikram is designed for physical, emotional, psychological and mental healing. Bikram developed it to overcome injury and paralysis and it can help you as well.

 

 If this system could help Bikram overcome such a devastating injury, it could definitely help you overcome your problems. Maybe you’re a physically active person who’s been sidelined by an injury or an illness. Or maybe you’re just stressed out or sick. Even people with very serious illnesses such as cystic fibrosis can benefit from Bikram.

For example Brooke Sterling, the owner of Bikram Yoga of Phoenix, has suffered from cystic fibrosis since she was a child. She credits Bikram with restoring her health.

Who can Benefit from Bikram Yoga

The truth is that anybody with almost any physical problem can benefit from Bikram yoga. It’s perfect for those recovering from a serious injury, accident, illness or surgery, as well as those with serious emotional or psychological problems. Individuals with serious medical conditions should obviously ask their doctor if it’s alright to participate before coming in.

Some of the problems that Bikram could conceivably help you with include:

• Arthritis
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Asthma
• Allergies
• Insomnia
• Type II diabetes
• Depression
• Alcohol addiction
• Drug addiction
• Obesity
• High blood pressure
• Stress
• Anxiety
• Anger
• Boredom
• Melancholy
• Overeating
• Frustration
• Joint Pain

Many people that can’t benefit from regular exercise routines will benefit from Bikram. Those who feel that they can no longer exercise because of injuries, old age or fatigue can benefit from Bikram because of its unique environment. 

You see, Bikram yoga is more than just a system of exercise. It is a system of healing that is designed to change your entire life and give you an entirely new attitude and outlook.

How it Works

Part of the way it works is with the sixty day challenge. Unlike some yoga programs which have no real direction or purpose, Bikram has a sixty day challenge. This challenge isn’t a hard one; all it takes to complete are sixty yoga classes within sixty days.

That’s one thirty minute class a day for sixty days. Most people can do that; the courses are short, easy to work into the schedule and undemanding. They involve no weight lifting, swimming, running or other vigorous exercises. Since they’re done in a warm room, they’re relaxing. 

That’s right! This is exercise that actually relaxes you. You see, Bikram understands that two of the main things that people in today’s world need are fun and relaxation. Too many of us aren’t getting them from work or our families. Many of us end up turning to pills or booze for fun and relaxation.

That’s why Bikram is perfect for people with addiction problems and those suffering from mental problems related to stress. Nobody should have to live with stress or go around feeling bummed out all the time. Bikram is there to lift your spirits and improve your life!

Best of all, you can see if Bikram is for you by taking a free class. You can call a center and drop in for a class and see if you like it.

A Surprising Benefit from Bikram Yoga

One of the most surprising benefits from Bikram Yoga is the way that it can restore your hormonal balance. Most people including most Canadians and Americans suffer from serious hormonal imbalances brought on by stress, bad diet and environmental factors.

Daily exercise can release large amounts of human growth hormone into your system. This hormone or HGH is vital to your health. If you don’t get enough of it, you won’t be able to recover from disease or to sleep properly. It is also a key to weight loss and recovery from illnesses.

 

The human growth hormone is also vital to the smooth functioning of your immune system. Without a good supply of it, your immune system will be impaired and less capable of fighting off disease.

A daily program of exercise such as yoga can raise your HGH levels which will improve your overall well being. HGH may explain why yoga is so successful at improving individuals’ health.

Bikram can help you overcome your physical, mental, spiritual and emotional weaknesses. You can recover your physical balance and your medical balance.

Maybe you’re suffering from a serious health problem or you’re just a middle aged person that wants to feel good again. It can help you and put you on the road to recovery.

Bikram yoga is one of the most powerful methods of recovery around and we all need recovery whether it’s recovery from an accident, drugs or just a bad period. Turn your life around today by checking out Bikram Yoga.

 

• http://www.webmd.com/balance/the-health-benefits-of-yoga?page=2
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/yoga/CM00004
• http://www.bikramyoga.com/BikramYoga/TwentySixPostures.php
• http://bikramyogasa.com/
• http://bikramyogaphoenix.org/AboutUs/studio.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikram_Choudhury
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikram_Yoga
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_yoga