helpful hints for bikram yoga
- Make sure you don’t eat for at least 2 hours before the class.
- Make very sure that you drink plenty, at least 1 liter of clean water half an hour before the class. It will help you sweat and make you feel much better in the heated room.
- Bring a sticky yoga mat and a large towel to lie down on. A bottle of water is also a good idea, you might want to drink a bit during the class. But most of the water should be consumed before and after the class.
- Wear as little as you can, your skin needs to sweat out the toxins freely.
- Once you are in the classroom, please do not talk. Lie down, make yourself comfortable as you wait for the class to start.
- Remember, the heat is your ally in making you feel stronger, healthier, more flexible and ultimately happier. Stay in the room for the whole class.
- Sweating is a good thing, don’t keep wiping your face after each pose. It is just a distraction. You are meditating in motion, you need to focus on your yoga, not on your itchy skin, stingy eyes. Blink it out, and enjoy your glow on your skin!
- Feeling dizzy, nauseated, lightheaded is perfectly normal for the first few times. Nothing wrong with you or the class. Detoxification happening on a cellular level. Lots of bad stuff is being dumped into your bloodstream, and it can make you feel sick. It usually doesn’t last long, goes away after a few minutes, you’ll feel better, then, comes back again sometimes a few more times. Just try to ride it out, don’t run away from it. Don’t leave the room, but sit down on your towel, breathe evenly, and the feeling should subside. When you feel a bit better, get back up and join the group in the current pose. Don’t worry if you need to skip every second set, or every second pose even. We all cope with the detoxification differently. You cannot rush it, you have to ride it a bit. If you leave the room, you give up a chance to get rid of the very element that is making you sick in the heat.
- Remember also that you are a very unique being, and such, you cannot compare yourself to anybody in the room. You are the most important person in the room. It is your practice in a supporting group.
- Move together with the group the best you can. If you cannot do a certain pose, just watch for a while, then join in, and try your very best. It is a beginner’s class, all poses are designed for anybody to do. Some do it better than others. We all have to start out somewhere in this process of loosening the body, opening the joints, creating more space for our organs to function, and above all, making your spine flexible and healthy.
- A healthy spine is the key to a healthy nervous system, thus you’ll feel better, cope with stress better, and you’ll be able to love better, and be loved more. What more can you ask for?
ENJOY YOUR BIKRAM EXPERIENCE!