|
|
Veteran
Posts: 163
 
| I have searched through the forum but haven't seen this issue addressed (or at least I couldn't find it). I have some medical issues that makes it unhealthy for me to be very hot. I have a vigorous Ashtanga practice but I do it in a pretty cool room. So it's not that I can't sweat, but I try to stay inside when it is very hot outside and I don't do vigorous exercise outside during the summer, etc.
So does anyone know about benefits of doing a Bikram series (e.g., following his book) but not in a hot room? What are the thoughts of the Bikram community about this issue? Is it the heat or is it the series, or it is both together? |
|
| |
|
| Sharon, you write that you maintain a "vigorous ashtanga practice." I assume means the Primary series? If so, I don't see any benefit of replacing it with the Bikram series unless you're simply wanting to do the poses that aren't included in the Primary. |
|
| |
|
Veteran
Posts: 163
| Yes, I do the primary series at home and once a week in a Mysore class, but I also take some viniyoga and some Iyengar classes. Besides my asana practice, I also work on the other parts of the eight limbs but I enjoy leanring the differences in the asana work between the various theories. For example, I took a few Anusara classes and really enjoyed how different the torso position is compared to Ashtanga, so I guess I am kind of a yoga nerd  and wanted to see how Bikram compares. |
|
| |
|
| Then by all means enjoy but if you really wanna get that full yoga nerd experience, don't miss the opportunity to go to the real thing. |
|
| |
|
| The hot room accelerates the warming up process. If you do the series outside the hot room, you might want to consider doing some other things to warm up. When I've done the series out of the gym, I typically will do some sun salutations beforehand, and that seems to help. The other main differences I've noticed are less flexibility and more strength in a cooler room. Thus, poses like awkward and triangle are easier to hold. To compensate, I held them longer.
The flexibility isn't much of an issue if you aren't already used to the hot room. The main danger here is having an expectation about how far you can go in the heat, and then pushing too deeply. Since you don't have any such expectation, you should be fine if you just listen to your body.
Duffy |
|
| |
|
Veteran
Posts: 149
| I have done it too in both 'norm' room temp and HOT. I have found that though as duffy pointed out the experience doing the two ARE different when all is said and done and I'm rolling up my mat........... it's ALL good LOL One is not better or worst in my eyes I just get different things out of them. |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | I do Bikram at home, all the time WITHOUT the heat. Although....in the winter time, I don't keep my house cold and I like it warm when I do yoga. In the summer...easy cause I don't have A/C in the mountains and its perfect yoga weather. I'd never do yoga in an A/C controlled environment...its too freakin cold, unnatural and so not comfortable. |
|
| |
|
| Ok, SOMEONE has to play the other side here...
Bikram's series without heat is still really good yoga, but there is a reason for the heat! (Many reasons, actually.) It makes the series more effective and changes your body more dramatically. So like Bruce says, the only way to get the full-on, yoga-nerd, pure Bikram experience is in the 105 degree room. It's not even just a little bit different - it's a TOTALLY different experience.
But if you legitimately can't be in heat, then sure, you can still follow the postures in the book (maybe with some extra warm-up first) and give yourself a terrific yoga class. |
|
| |
|
| I totally agree that the series is still good out of high heat. Something is better then nothing. Also, Bikram really didn't start adding the higher heat temp until the mid 80's. I guess he even didn't warm his room until he went to japan in the early 70's and the winters were too cold to practice in safely.
According to my teacher, he actually added the higher temps after doing the floor pose in the sauna and he found he could stretch easier. |
|
| |
|
| a lot of my clients with ms cannot do anything in heat or get too hot, and yet the benefits of bikram are helpful to some of them (the work somehow really helps with liver issues, digestive issues, and also endometriosis and related), and so i recommend that they do it.
the heat makes it *really* different, but it's not the primary benefit of the practice. the sequence itself seems to have it's own benefits independent of the heat that the heat supports, but isn't necessary to achieve those benefits (in m experience). |
|
| |
|
Veteran
Posts: 163
| Thanks everyone. I am seeing my doctor on Monday and will discuss this with her. You have piqued my curiousity about the experience of the heat and there just happens to be a brand new Bikram studio open a few blocks from my office.......hmmmmmm sometimes the universe puts things in your path that you are meant to find.
Namaste.
Edited by Seeker101 2009-06-25 7:13 PM
|
|
| |
|
| ask the teacher about teh 'cool spot' in the room as a heat sensitive and beginner to bikram and heat, ok? they do exist, and emphasize that you NEED to be in the cool spot in the room. |
|
| |
|
Expert Yogi
Posts: 5098
Location: Somewhere in the Mountains of Western NC | I personally feel that the sequence is the #1 key to the benefits of Bikram, not the heat. If you go back to the principals of yoga, the understanding about the asanas - their individual benefits, the sequence and how they are put together, each one complimenting the other, it makes perfect sense. Its a great sequence with or without the heat. I consider the Bikram sequence to be very balancing to the human body system. |
|
| |
|
| i agree. it is a good system. that's why i think the heat is irrelevant as well and have certain clients do the sequence who can't be in heat at all. for people with MS, heat can knock them out for weeks or cause more pain and fatigue than 'normal' for them. thus, best that they not have heat, but the sequence is good for them for other reasons. |
|
| |
question about Bikram series without the heat
