tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post4127960479861351220..comments2023-10-20T11:34:03.492+02:00Comments on Skippetty Street: I Went to Bikram™ YogaSkippettyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01150011417758604923noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-16713576467165274392010-03-19T16:49:00.012+01:002010-03-19T16:49:00.012+01:00Just remember to hydrate on the flight, otherwise ...Just remember to hydrate on the flight, otherwise you'll dehydrate even more in the hot class! Have a good trip back! :)Skippettyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01150011417758604923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-55329535192971134592010-03-19T00:23:14.064+01:002010-03-19T00:23:14.064+01:00hi Skippety
(now that i've come back to read- ...hi Skippety<br />(now that i've come back to read- ah, interesting discussion). Cody Pomeray hasn't been leaving comments but for a while in his blog, before he stopped blogging, he was writing about what he liked about Bikrams. he was doing ashtanga before. now i don't think he's doing yoga at all. bummer. in any case, the Bikram routine was good to his knees, which which he had problems. i've only done one class here. it seemed to purify my body of a lot of toxins from the sweat and the heat. i paid too much for the class, though because i went as a drop in and dropins are expensive here in many shalas.<br /><br />you've given me an idea. i need to go to San Fran next Thursday and i read that a good cure for jetlag for a Shanghai-San Fran trip is to go do running or exercise when you arrive. so i may go to a Bikram's class the evening i arrive so i'll be refreshed in the morning. there's one in a studio called funky door yoga near where i plan to stay the first night.<br /><br />cheers,<br />ArturoArturohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10971352220152467379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-32800393165372828102010-03-18T21:53:36.683+01:002010-03-18T21:53:36.683+01:00I googled Babaji, and no he doesn't look famil...I googled Babaji, and no he doesn't look familiar. That picture looked more like Paramahansa Yogananda. Although I've never seen that picture of him in that pose before (he had a blue tint to him too). <br /><br />ANYWAYS... one of my good friends who's also a Bikram teacher emailed me about this post and with his permission, coz I think it's good info... these are his comments on this post, lock stock and barrel: <br /><br />Soo long winded! LOL!!!<br /><br />I think the 3rd "girly boy" was probably Paramahansa Yogananda (from Autobiography of a Yogi - fame), the older brother of Bishnu Gosh. Terrible place to have it in the studio, most studios have them in the entrance as a homage. Also the drishti in Bikram is your own eyes in the mirror throughout.<br /><br />On the Tiger Skins:<br /><br />You'll see in images of Lord Shiva, that he sits on a Tiger Skin, it symbolizes the mastery over our own lower animal-nature, through the practice of yoga and spiritual training. Since Shiva is the father of all yogis, in India yogis will often sit on Tiger Skins to honour him.<br /><br /><br />On Bikram's 2000 Rolls Royces, what people don't know is that he bought all of them in terrible conditions and restored them with his own hands. He says working on old cars at night is his form of meditation.<br />He's always saying: "I work on junk bodies and junk cars." :-)<br /><br /><br />I agree that the Bikram Sequence is completely limited, and I think as teacher and practitioner I've come to the end of my road with it, I'm enjoying both my Ashtanga teaching and practice much more these days, also really enjoy the fresh air and being able to breathe!<br /><br />I think the heat is a complete beginner's tool, and works well for people that are stiff, both to loosen them up, but also to make them so tired that ego falls away and they don't get to over-work and over-stretch. So that they can get stronger and fitter first before they get to go very deep into the postures. But I think you get to a point where you graduate (at the risk of sounding superior) from the heat.Skippettyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01150011417758604923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-81396940477778025612010-03-18T15:51:30.933+01:002010-03-18T15:51:30.933+01:00you don't think it's Babaji? the inmortal ...you don't think it's Babaji? the inmortal yogi Paramahansa Yogananda talked about? he has been alive 800 years. haha. i'm coming back to read your post more carefully tomorrow.<br />word verif: prozo, i'm not on itArturohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10971352220152467379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-80401472450120902872010-03-17T22:02:06.106+01:002010-03-17T22:02:06.106+01:00The last time I went to bikram was in January when...The last time I went to bikram was in January when my boiler was broken and the shala was shut. Totally hit the spot!<br /><br />I've done the advanced series about a dozen times. It has everything in it that's not in the first series! Those postures are touched on briefly, sometimes with advanced variations... and you have deep backbending including dropbacks, a bunch of lotus stuff, leg behind head including dwi pada and durvasasana, a bunch of arm balances (they like to do them on fingertips, which I HATE!) and all the inversions.. basically you do what you can, so if you wanted to tictoc in the appropriate place or whatever, I'm sure that rather than stopping you everyone would stop and gape in awe. The teachers perform the series with you, and a lot of them can't do half of it either.. and the poor students who get selected out of the normal class are obviously in for a shock at first!! In some ways it's easier than a regular class though, mainly due to a lot of explaining and consequent lack of pace, and I must say any 2nd or 3rd series ashtangi will be very well equipped to cope. I think I can do everything except those damn fingertip balances (I have 'double-jointed' fingers) and one-handed mayurasana :) I have to say the advanced bikram series is a lot of fun! Oh, and it takes over two hours :)susanandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07608125527941228200noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-50936347255233779502010-03-17T16:21:18.579+01:002010-03-17T16:21:18.579+01:00Thank you for the recount Skippetty you had me cra...Thank you for the recount Skippetty you had me cracking up... I suppose it might be good for us to keep a Bikram class on the schedule once in a while just to keep the sense of humor up... :-)Claudiahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06609779915009954933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-43861357980378884822010-03-17T03:23:55.761+01:002010-03-17T03:23:55.761+01:00fascinating discussion! For me, a big part of wha...fascinating discussion! For me, a big part of what distinguishes Ashtanga is that it comes through a lineage. It's not just one person's idea of how to do yoga, which I believe, I hope, makes it less personal in the sense that there is less of one ego coming through it. Bikram obviously doesn't even try to keep his ego out of it and some of the approach, like mirrors and skimpy clothes, (competition?) sure seems to invite practitioner ego in as well. But yeah, there are days when a heated studio would sure seem appealing!Franhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04476916210693346720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-17416349473779740982010-03-16T10:36:10.072+01:002010-03-16T10:36:10.072+01:00Hey Liz - I haven't watched Yoga Inc yet and s...Hey Liz - I haven't watched Yoga Inc yet and still really wanna see it. Different strokes for different folks I guess... if it works for some people, then why not. ;p<br /><br />Kai - Yeah, I was trying not to look up as much as I could. Or if I looked up, I'd focus my gaze a little closer, almost like a nose drishti while looking up... so those 3 dudes were fuzzed out in the background!<br /><br />Grim- you make a good point. Maybe tigerskins WERE the Manduka of that time. But Bikram is of our current time, and it's not PC to own a tiger skin now! I've not read the Yoga Makaranda, but the Hatha Yoga Pradipika mentions a similar thing about cleaning your space with cow dung (amongst other dubious cleansing practices). Hehe. I don't remember if they mentioned deer and tiger skins too. And yes, I suppose if it's referred to as yoga ASANA competition, then I suppose it would be like a gymnastics competition, coz that would be its point entirely. I suppose it would be sad if that's the only thing people associated yoga with - circus contortionists. But if this leads the way to deeper self-realization in time to come, then I suppose that would be OK. It still makes me uncomfortable though. <br /><br />Kat - you're right about the bikini distractions! The website of this place actually said you can wear your swimsuit (!) ...and er... this being Europe, there were plenty of men in their... er... budgie smugglers. I think there was even a dude with stars & stripes on his Speedos. I'm not sure, I couldn't bring myself to look down THERE. ...you find Bikram better for cardio? I find it the other way around... Ashtanga improves my cardio fitness.<br /><br />Pye! Finally! A Bikramite's point-of-view! Thanks for your feedback. Yes, of course the dude is Paramahansa Yogananda. Unfortunately I couldn't find the exact shot of him in this particular studio on the internet. Yoga competitions - even if they've been around in India for many years doesn't mean it's a good thing. Or that there hasn't been debate about its fundamental difference to what the intention of yoga is. Also, some schools of thought say it was the British colonial masters who brought the idea of asana competition to India, and it wasn't something started by the local Indians themselves. And finally - that's good to know the series goes further, I've not heard of this before. I wonder what's in the advanced series? :)Skippettyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01150011417758604923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-85477510410854493352010-03-16T08:17:45.109+01:002010-03-16T08:17:45.109+01:00hello,
just 3 points in case you really wanted ...hello, <br /> <br />just 3 points in case you really wanted to know:<br /><br />1. the chubby dude is Paramahansa Yogananda, brother of Bishnu Ghosh. you can learn more about him from his book, "Autobiography of a Yogi".<br />2. yoga asana competition has been around in India for many years.<br />3. the advanced series includes 84 classic asanas. only teachers and invited students practice it because teachers, as of now, are only trained to teach the basic 26.<br /><br />hth,<br />pyeAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09767356650675134173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-30612430768653181602010-03-16T02:02:45.245+01:002010-03-16T02:02:45.245+01:00Hey J, loved your bikram review. I find Bikram sto...Hey J, loved your bikram review. I find Bikram stories a bit fascinating (eg. Bikram won't teach students that wear green!) Can't imagine why people think yogi's are odd!!<br /><br />Did '10 days of free bikram classes' last year at Darlo - mainly because I was broke and I knew it would be the only kind of yoga my flattie would be able to get into and I wanted to be supportive (her GP told her she has to stretch more). Found that Bikram stretched other bits that don't get touched in my mysore practice (I'm only half way through First Series) and so it helped my Ashtanga. It noticably improved my cardio fitness (something that Ashtanga doesn't) and my skin absolutely loved it.<br /><br />With you on the downsides: it's noisy, or meditative for me, yoga + bikini can be visually confronting, there's not enough core and the upperbody/shoulder stuff is seriously lacking. (My shoulders ACHED when I finally got back to my beloved ashtanga. I'll disagree on the lack of advancement/development point. I think people say the same thing about Ashtanga and I can see that the postures can almost always be taken/developed further - though it seems that you're less likely to get the teaching/guidance that would enable that in a led class.<br /><br />I also find the 'body' differences really fascinating. You can see the difference between a bikram yogi (very defined waist from all of the upward stretching and often quite curvy) and an ashtangi yogi (slim ankles, elongated calves, stronger shoulders and the upper arms have a particular type of definition too - probably from all that downward dog.)<br /><br />Bottom line? I think, it would be really good for me to go once a week...but I don't.kitkathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10838583214718897197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-63921049800053564132010-03-16T01:20:09.197+01:002010-03-16T01:20:09.197+01:00Tiger skins were de rigeur it seems, the manduka o...Tiger skins were de rigeur it seems, the manduka of their day.Krishnamacharya writes in Yoga Makaranda<br />'spread a seat of grass on the ground in a clean space not facing the frount door. Over that spread a tiger skin or deer skin and over that put a white blanket or a clean white cloth'. <br /><br />This is after cleaning the space with cow dung.<br /><br />I notice with Bikram he calls it Yoga asana championships rather than yoga championships. Hell,l if it gets people interested....Grimmlyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00301656317399292135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-90974062995419047852010-03-16T00:40:21.520+01:002010-03-16T00:40:21.520+01:00It looks like those dudes are humping tigers.
Tha...It looks like those dudes are humping tigers.<br /><br />That IS disturbing! :-DKaivalyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08706519542278960007noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6418358680523005996.post-17963968539721850952010-03-16T00:34:37.992+01:002010-03-16T00:34:37.992+01:00Bahaha!!!!!! I would have LOVED a photo of you in ...Bahaha!!!!!! I would have LOVED a photo of you in the mirror with the three creepy photos!! I loved your description of the lady-like pose!!<br /><br />I watched Yoga Inc and was seriously disturbed. I had no idea Bikram was such a creep. Sorry, I make no excuses. He's a CREEP. Sure, hot yoga probably has some benefits, but he's a little too Jim Jones for me. <br /><br />Gateway yoga is the perfect way to describe it- I know many people who started with Bikram, so putting it that way makes me want to hurl a little bit less.Lizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11185066123168375209noreply@blogger.com