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I have been reading through Bikram Choudhury’s book, Bikram Yoga: The Guru Behind Hot Yoga Shows the Way to Radiant Health and Personal Fulfillment. I do have to say, this is a very informative work that has given me a great deal of insight about my practice. It is not just a thorough description of each asana and of course, Bikram also offers tips and hints for those of us who are new to the practice. This is important, given the fact that the instructors cannot give you individual attention when they have a full house of students and it would be nice to be as competent as you can be when you decide to get a private class a couple of months into your practice. This is especially true for me now, given the fact that I am having trouble completing the standing series, let alone doing a number of the postures even somewhat competently. Knowing is half the battle and I think I might have a problem with going too deep into the postures. I should probably talk with one of the instructors at the studio about that before my next class, especially considering the fact that it is hard for them to provide detailed, constructive feedback during class.
Let us also not mince words, your yoga instructor might not know about all of your medical maladies, considering the fact that they are not doctors. Sure, I am not flexible and quite obese but the fact of the matter is that I also have back problems, sleep problems and fatigue. The great thing about the Bikram Yoga book is that it helps show you what each posture does for your body clearly. Sure, they do mention some of it in class (especially the benefit to the colon in Pavanamuktasana, at every class I have been to at this studio) but this goes more into detail and shows the practical uses of the Sequence for curing several conditions. Especially since I see that, if I do not suffer the conditions that are discussed in the page for each asana, I know that they include areas of my life that I think I should work on.
One thing that I have found disconcerting is that Bikram has told me that using a balancing bar or a wall is like not doing the posture at all and I am concerned about that since I use the balancing bar a number of times. I should probably ask my instructors about the balancing bar, because if I will not get benefit out of the posture if I am using the balancing bar, I probably should not use the balance bar at all. He hammers it out often that the right way is the hard way and that we should not be “cheating” in the postures. However, he also mentions how beginners to his Sequence could start off the postures, both in the description of the posture and his “Bikram’s Keys”. He also mentioned the fact that people have a hard time just lying still and enjoying Savasana.
One of the good things about the book that yoga talks about is the history of Bikram and the creation of Bikram’s Sequence. It talks about his experiences as a young boy being raised in India, him finding his guru and how he came to the United States. He talked about how he healed a number of people throughout India in their hospitals through Yoga. I must say that this is a very interesting history of a very interesting man and it gave me some insight into Bikram Yoga. So, I would like to make it very clear that this book is very helpful to the beginning practitioner and I think that it should be read by every beginning practitioner. Although, since I am still a newbie, ask me again once I get a bit more practice in.
I Am New To Bikram 