Ever since its birth, the great Indian art of yoga (rather, science of yoga) has gone through massive transformation. From restricted access to a selected few to percolating down to the masses, from one school of Gurus to thousands, from preaching in one country to a hundred, yoga has seen and undergone much more than what monkeys went through to evolve into so called “us” as we stand today. The evolution and transformation that yoga has suffered / rejoiced through the thousands of years could bewilder Patanjali if He is still studying the progress of yoga in human civilization from some parallel plane of existence. There may be a number of modern aspects the inclusion and perpetuation of which He may question (like yoga fashion), but will certainly smirk at the face of those who ask, what’s ‘hot’ got to do with yoga!

Mankind has associated words like peace, tranquility, spirituality, transcendence, union with soul etc with the art of yoga. On the other hand the word ‘hot’ has been associated with the sun, the equator, volcanoes, soup, beach wear etc. When you try and merge the meaning of the two together to get some harmony, you can come to insane conclusions like ‘yoga in the equator’, spirituality in beach wear, or even, union with one’s soul through volcanoes… mix and match, and more insanity follows. But if you are really enthusiastic about the true relationship of ‘hot’ with ‘yoga’, please visit the nearest Bikram yoga studio. As you enter a room-sized oven with semi-clad people baking in it in place of chicken, you will get a fair idea of what ‘hot’ has got to do with ‘yoga’.

We owe the development and spread of Hot yoga to Bikram Choudhury who introduced the world to performing yoga asanas in a hot room, where the temperature is somewhere close to or, beyond 105ºF and humidity is maintained at 40%. The asanas can be performed in a fast pace or, slower depending upon the level of training and stamina of the learner. It is always suggested to start with a slower pace so that the heat does not bake your brains while you are too enthusiastic to enjoy the benefits to follow. A series of 26 asanas and two breathing exercises are practiced during the sessions. Intake of water some time before the session is a must to avoid fatigue. Read the rest of this entry »