Padme

Hi guys.

I know this is an old post, but it is a good question never the less!!

I have just come back from the Bikram TT spring 2011. It had been a dream for me to go, for over a year – almost since I first started to do Bikram yoga. So when I got my studios acceptance of going – and a a lot of great support from teachers and fellow student, I was so relieved.

The Training was 9 weeks, and all located at a hotel in an airport area – not charming at all. We where staying at the hotel rooms, most of us sharing, having a small hotel fridge and the nearby supermarkets. The hotel also had a buffet especially made for us which was alright, but not very interesting especially as a vegetarian. No food was was included in the 10900 dollars this costs.

All classes (2/day, 1/saturday, free sunday) was in the big ball room of the hotel. So we were more than 430 people training together all the time. Imagine being on row 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…?? Not much seeing your self in the mirror. There was never silence until the second class started (which for me is an important part of my training) and very quickly after the teacher left there was noise and chatting again! We didnt have any “plans”/goals with all that training. E.g. improving certain postures etc. Just in and out of the room. No guidance, no personal corrections, just mass production.

In between the classes we had lectures. Bikram was speaking a lot. The curriculum we had received before going, had made the topics he would speak about interesting, the traditional foundation theory of yoga, but the way he talked and made it so much about himself all the time, was just so simply boring and a waste of time. We heard a lot about his cars, his expensive watches, saw his favorite bollywood films until late in the nigths (were never allowed to leave, had to sign in for it all and stay there!)
We had anatomy classes which was OK, but nothing at all I couldnt have read in a book in a day myself. And then we had a lot of simply useless lectures, which seemed more to be there just to fill out the time. E.g. a lecture about womens menstrual cyclus, from some guy in Bikrams family. Some lectures from private people doing bikram, how it safed them, what it made them capable of etc. A few lectures a bit more spiritual, that focused on the powers of the mind, importance of discipline etc.. Interesting but not structured as an integrated part of the whole training.
It all just seemed very unstructured, and improvised. We never knew what we were going to hear about in the following lectures, or by who. And that very much seemed to be because the staff didnt either. I am sorry to have to say that I found the course quite ridiculous. Before I left, I thought that at least I would get two interesting months for my money (as I wasnt sure I wanted to teach) but that should definitely not be the reason to go. If you want a good quality course, with space to feeling free and if you really want to learn about the yoga, the postures, and the benefits, spiritual and physically I can not say that I recommend the Bikram TT.

After trying it out, I understand more than ever why Gabrielle has felled she has to make her own TT and a good book about all the postures. Because there is nothing within the Bikram world that gives us this. Not even as a teacher. It is scary to see how little we actually learned and now people are out there teaching – and all we did was go through this bootcamp with no much teaching, but just a lot of classes in a big hot room and a self centered “guru”

Yup. If you ask, I dont like the Bikram TT. I am mostly glad I went because I had to live out that dream (getting disappointed or not) and now teaching is a learning process for me too. Just as well that I know I am not the only one with that opinion, I do know that some says it was the bast thing they ever done and loved it! I will never understand that. I dont know if I regret going, it doesnt really matter now, except when I am asked if I recommend it. Now that it is done, it has lead my into a world of even more yoga, and I learn by teaching. But it is really just Bikram monopoly. I want to check out Hot Yoga where the Bikram spirit doesnt live, but the postures are the same – just as they also were thousands of years ago.

If you want to teach Bikram yoga – you simply have to go through the Teacher Training. But if you want to learn a lot of interesting things, and do not need to teach at a Bikram studio – find something else – I think Gabrielles course sounds so much better and she definitely knows what those people going through Bikram TT misses!! I also find that we didnt have much spiritual teachings at Bikram TT. I would like to try The Hot Yoga Doctor TT or maybe find an ashram somewhere and learn about more traditional yoga.

This was just my first thoughts on your question, and I think people have the right to know a little more true things about that Bikram TT before going. At the training they say that looking a Bikram is like looking at a mirror – which makes is quite hard for some to say, like I feel, that he is not interesting, not my guru, not peaceful. He is doing a lot of good things to so many people but I think it has all come to his head and somebody should tell him to calm down. They also say “trust the Process” throughout the whole training so when we were really feeling that we were lacking to learn about the postures and very disappointed with the overall quality, it was in the air that we couldnt ask, and we should just “wait and see”-kind of. The last few days we finally got a short introduction to the postures but it was close to worthless being 430 people in a room with a teacher and a model on a little stage in the center.

Ask me any questions and I will gladly answer my honest opinion.

Around in Scandinavia. 2-6 times per week. Loving it.