Davidkiser

Sounds like the down dogs have been taking a toll on your upper body. This is pretty normal with a heavy Baptiste practice, and most studios give some exercises to do during classes to counteract some of the symptoms. The down dog posture is basically being too rough on your body, decreasing circulation, and stretching nerves in your shoulders, you should perhaps try Bikram or other styles of yoga that are not a flow class. Also, acupuncture can do wonders to heal nerve problems.

Please keep in mind, the yoga did not cause this problem…the problem was there, and the yoga brought it out. Now it is up to you to either ignore it again until it goes away like before, or work through it to heal it.

I would see an acupuncturist a few times, and try a form of heated non-flow yoga…something not so rough on the upper body.

the suggestion that studios force students to stay in the room to make more money is unbelievable…I thought I had heard everything, but never that!!! haha.

If Bikram studios want to make more money, what they need to do is change to “Hot Yoga”, teach 60 minute classes, turn down the heat, start their own weekend teacher trainings, and talk shit about Bikram and his methods. There are tons of studios out there doing just that, and they make much more money than the Bikram studios do!!

But, they sold out their roots. I don’t care about selling out their teacher, Bikram as a man has a lot of drama….but there is always a feeling of guilt associated with selling out your original roots that eats away at you. I know I could never live with that, or constantly explaining and defending myself after doing it. Bikram studios don’t keep the name for money, trust me…they keep it because they didn’t originate this series…they have their teacher, and they respect their mentor.

Bikram yoga doesn’t need to be improved or changed…it doesn’t need to be made 60 minutes or cooler. If you don’t like it, then go elsewhere…Bikram isn’t hurting for fans, since it works perfectly every time. You just have to put your ego aside for 90 minutes every day and trust the process.

fair enough Gabrielle….that makes sense. I appreciate the quick response on my misunderstanding.

yup, music is a distraction for the mind. Would it make the class easier, yep. Would more people come, probably. Would it make more money for the studio, absolutely.

But that isn’t what Bikram yoga is about. It is uncomfortable. It is learning to calm your mind and concentrate…you can’t do that while jammin to the oldies.

A lot of studios realize that you can make much more money by offering 60 minute classes, playing music, keeping it at a lower heat, turning on mats, etc. etc. Yes, you can make more money, but they lost their way…it’s abou the yoga and teaching, not about making money!

This is part of Bikram’s dialogue, and just means upper body touching your legs. Maybe ask yourself, why does this reference bother you so much?
It is just Bikram’s way of expressing his thoughts, and he’s an indian guy with english as a second language. You still get the point, right? I don’t understand why Gabrielle’s responses always begin with a vibe of “yeah, I told you this was so wrong, let me explain why I think it is…sigh.” Her posts seem to do that every time. Kinda depressing that she feels she should apologize for her own job so much, especially when this series requires no apology, it does amazing things!! I don’t understand….this practice is beautiful, regardless of who teaches it and whether they say Japanese Ham Sandwich or not…

Gabrielle is right, that smell doesn’t just come from the carpet…in most instances, it is from air flow. Inexpensive heating solutions can have poor exterior air flow, and this means that the air in the studio is recycled, and therefore smells.

But, before you go scream foul and get angry at your studio owner for their heating system…please keep in mind that these heating systems are very, very expensive, and are never perfectly precise. A heating system with 100% exterior air flow usually costs over $100,000 to create. Most yoga teachers don’t have that kind of money to throw into their studio when opening, so they do the best they can. They want to spread the benefits of hot yoga…and do it the only way they can, so they get the best heating system they can afford. Making a room consistently 105 degrees and 40% humidity can be much, much more difficult than it sounds, and costs a TON of money!

Studios can also use different flooring such as flotex/neofloor, which is an antibacterial carpet hybrid that does not smell, and extracting the sweat from the carpet nightly. Turning on the mats or moving your towel should not be necessary at all if the studio owner understands how to clean a studio. Once again, using the antibacterial flooring like flotex isn’t cheap…it costs about $12,000 for a 1500 square foot room.

Unfortunately, many studios resort to moving towels, turning on mats, making an “X” with an extra towel, etc. during class to save themselves the trouble of extracting sweat from their floor…they should extract it regularly anyway.

How long have you been teaching hot yoga?

Incorrect Gabrielle, at least if you are trying to teach Bikram yoga. “Hot yoga”, I’m not so sure…that term can mean so many things.

The chest/abdomen should be parallel to the floor….at least that is how Bikram teaches it. I know you don’t do Bikram yoga in your studio and don’t really know, but people seem to be asking about Bikram yoga, so Bikram teaches it that way. You seem to be disagreeing with Bikram on his own style of yoga simply to be different. Anything for a buck, huh?

Bikram teachers say chest/abdomen parallel to the floor because that is the way the posture is taught, and should be performed. Pretty simple. If they don’t say that, then they are not teaching Bikram yoga. Bikram, parallel to floor. Done.

Theres a lot of misinformation on here. Sucks that someone makes money on misinformation. It’s also a shame that some students of studios come here to ask honest questions because they feel they can’t address their teachers…that is really awful. They should be able to address their teachers, and it sucks that they feel they can’t….But don’t make it worse by giving incorrect advice! That just screws up their yoga practice, confuses the student, and hurts them….that’s not fair!