Who is Bikram Choudhury?

Bikram Choudhury, founder of the Yoga College of India and Bikram yoga, began studying yoga in his native India, at the age of three. At five, he began studying with Bishnu Ghosh, brother of Paramahansa Yogananda (author of the famous Autobiography of a Yogi) and quickly became a yoga champion the area. At age eleven, he was the youngest contestant to win the India Yoga Competition nationally. At age 20, a weightlifting accident crippled Bikram. He retired from the sport and began practicing yoga in a professional manner. Six months later, with the guidance of internationally renowned teacher, Bishnu Ghosh, Bikram realized that yoga can cure chronic physical ailments. Bikram decided to teach the curative methods of yoga to other fans, and thus, Bikram yoga begins.


Bikram arrived in the United States in 1973 and quickly became leading yoga teachers in the West as celebrities, athletes and others began to flock to him. Since then he has cured thousands of students at his school in Los Angeles and traveled the world extensively, bringing the benefits of Bikram yoga to millions of students across the world.

In addition to anecdotal evidence about the benefits of regular exercise, Bikram has been involved in research with several leading research hospitals. In a medical research project at Tokyo University, Bikram helped doctors prove that yoga practice helps to regenerate tissue and relieve chronic disease. Currently there are some interesting research being done to confirm the medical benefits of Bikram yoga, including one by the University of Southern California and one in the testing of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center increased bone density through Bikram Yoga.

Is Bikram Yoga?

Bikram's Therapeutic Hatha / Raja Yoga are a series of 26 yoga postures and breathing exercises taught in the classroom 90 minutes. Each pose is a challenge based on personal ability. Postures performed in a safe environment of a heated room so that penetration can relieve one's body resistance without risking injury.

At the end of class sessions, each individual will have worked every muscle, tendons, joints, ligaments, organs, and glands while systematically moving fresh, oxygenated blood to 100% of the body. The result is the restoration of health for all systems.

As you increase strength, flexibility and balance in your body, you will be energized, you will revitalize your mind, and you will be working on eliminating conditions of stress generated by the fast-paced lifestyle. These postures work synergistically and cumulatively to put the body back on track and balanced. Regular practice of this series of postures results in wound healing and repair and disease, weight loss, and peace of mind.