It is alright - invigorating and cleansing. However, the instructors tout the method and it's scripted sessions like a religion, and will recommend that you do it at least 2-3 times a week. I tried this, and found that my knees ("lock the knee!!") were becoming weakened and in danger of some serious damage (some may argue that I simply "wasn't doing it correctly" - I can assure you I was, as I have had some years of expierience with yoga and movement training), and my body was cold all the time - I got so used to the warm temperatures that it became almost difficult to do my regular yoga practise without the heat.

This is of course my personal expierience, but I have been practising for some time now, as well as being trained in dance for many years. As an ex-coach of gymnastics, I can tell you that my training warns against the "locked knee" that Bikram's method insists upon, and I can attest to personal knee problems after using Bikram for only 3 months. I would reccomend a more safe Iyengar method in a warm room or in your livingroom in the heat of summer instead. It is true that the heat helps open the muscles and soothe the joints, however I found the agressive teaching style and questionable body form to be alarming. Besides all of that, Bikram is legendary for being "all about the bling", and I can't in good conscience trust that his method of franchaised yoga has the yogi or yogini's absolute health and wellbeing in mind.
Again, this is just my personal expierience. I would suggest that it be tried and tested to see how you find it - it just may not be for everyone.

I've tried Bikram yoga once and while I felt great after the class, I would not recommend it for anyone who is a yoga novice. I would not go to another Birkram class - I have rather low blood pressure (healthy low) and I found that the heat of the room made me faint; I had to sit down on my mat four times during the class and I've been practicing yoga for 16 years.

I don't support the practice because of Bikram Choudry himself mostly, I think he's a swaggering arrogant peacock who does very little to support truly yogic practices. Yoga is not supposed to be about competition and Bikram began the Asana Olympics, which I think is an egotistical farce. The fact that he has made his yoga practice litigious is disgusting - many instructors paid handsomely for his training and must continue to pay franchise fees if they want to teach the yoga they paid to train for. I think he violates some of the yamas/niyamas - he also has a solid reputation for sleeping with his students!

On a physical level, I find the practice does not respect the limits of the body; during my class we were encouraged to 'push through the pain' and told not to drink water unless the teacher said we could. This seems to be bad practice to me. I have heard many positive accounts of Bikram instructors though, so perhaps I got a Susan Powter devotee or something like that.

Furthermore, people have died during and shortly after a Bikram class - the only kind of yoga I have ever heard of that has caused deaths.

That's my rant - I feel pretty strongly about Bikram himself, so I do not support his yoga.


As a novice I would recommend you begin with Hatha Yoga in your area. Semperviva yoga studios are excellent as is Prana Yoga.

namaste