Bikram Yoga, as described by wikipedia and confirmed by myself when I went to try it out this long weekend with a few friends, is yoga for 90 minutes in hot-hot heat. Simply put, kind of a crock as far as yoga goes.

This is going to be a bit of a rant, and a bit of a review.

Rant: Keeping in mind I have a very narrow view on yoga, what it is, and what it means to people, I’d always thought it was about being spiritual and such. You know the deal: worldly possessions, hate and greed are avoided and not practiced amongst yogi of high stature. If you have a similar view on this, I think this link here called The Money Pose is a very interesting read. The gist of it is basically the creator of Bikram Yoga aka Hot Yoga goes on and on about how baller he is, how important he is and how revered he should be in America since he was brought there by a former president. He develops his yoga style and teaches it, then, years later after his branding is established, he goes and sues practitioners (some, former students of his) to pay him money for using his name and agree to only teach his style or else stop. Not the nicest of yogi’s.

The article is obviously biased and compares him to Microsoft in how he is creating a bit of a monopoly on the yoga community. I’m not in total “agreeance” (ha-ha fred durst) with this comparison, but I think it’s a bit wild of this guy to charge for “his” technique, and act the way he does as described in that article. I think on principle alone I should not go back.. or better yet, I should go back as many times as I can manage in next 2 weeks so that each “class” I attend loses worth.

Review: Some back-story: The yoga class costs $20 for 1 session, but if you pay $10 more, you can come back for 2 weeks for an unlimited amount of times. If you wish to continue practicing, then you pay for a set of classes (which expires after a period of time), or for a single class.

As an exercise, I don’t like it. it’s way too hot for my liking and I felt super dehydrated, dizzy, and all in all unhealthy during. Don’t get me wrong, it was super difficult and I was sore the next day (my shoulders), though I think it’s because I’m not as bendy as a yogi. The “great” feeling promised by the instructor afterwards was delivered but not in the exact way it was intended. It was said that you’d feel “great” because your body got a great work out, and you feel accomplished for doing it. Personally, I felt great filling my lungs with non-humid, sweltering air that felt like inhaling other people’s breath, and that I’d not quit and walked out. I lasted about 60 minutes like Ann did and then my limbs and other extremities became tingly and numb.

On the pervy side: Ladies, if you are intending to try this out and feel like you want to wear some tight shorts, you may want to try said shorts on first. Once they’re on, find a mirror, turn around so that your ass is facing the mirror and bend to touch your toes and look at your ass between your legs. That’s right. That’s what me and the guy next to me will be staring at.

Note: What Jaybles and I were staring at was tightly stretched, thinning, black cotton covering a bum with a black stringed thong.

Is that.. her.. poon?! Why.. yes.. yes I believe it is. I hope she doesn’t fart during this pose.. or maybe I hope she does.

Tags: Rant, voyeurism

This entry was posted by Will on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Daily, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.