Bikram Yoga & Toxins

A Bikram yoga classroom has temperatures at or higher than 105 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity levels of at least 40 percent. Unlike other styles of yoga, the environment of a Bikram yoga studio is as – if not more – important than the poses, or asanas, students access. The end result, say yogis, is a cleanse unlike any other.

  1. How It Works

    • Bikram Yoga founder Bikram Choudhury designed his unique style of yoga to work every part of your body, including your circulatory and lymphatic systems and different muscle groups. Your instructor will call for a pose, ask you to hold it for a specific period of time, and then tell you when to release it. When you release a pose, your body flushes away toxins in the part of your body you just used. “Your body is like a sponge,” Radha Garcia, owner of Bikram’s Yoga College of India in Boulder, Colorado, told “Yoga Journal” in 2011. “To cleanse it, you need to wring it out to allow fresh blood and oxygen to circulate and keep your immune system running smoothly.”

    Hydration

    • You won’t sweat out any toxins unless you drink enough water, says Michael Eldert, a board-certified emergency registered nurse and emergency medical technician. “We need to flush [toxins] out of our body somehow,” he says. “Drink plenty of water to achieve this. No sense spending all that time stressing out your body and working out just to keep those toxins bottled up.” If you don’t drink enough, he says, the toxins will linger longer in your muscles and cause cramps. Exercise physiologist and yoga instructor Leslie Funk, in an interview with “Yoga Journal,” separately agreed. She recommends drinking at least 16 ounces of water two hours before class, drinking often during class, and drinking between 20 and 40 ounces of water after class for every hour you practiced. If your class lasts 90 minutes, aim to drink between 30 and 60 ounces of water after class.

    Potential Side Effects

    • Despite its host of benefits, Bikram yoga can cause some negative side effects, says “Yoga Journal.” The more you sweat, the higher your risk for dehydration and other heat-related issues, such as cramps, exhaustion and heatstroke. Yogis new to Bikram should let their bodies acclimate to the heat, according to Funk. She recommends spending parts of your first class just sitting still, so you can get used to the heat, and during your next few classes, hold poses for shorter periods of time than your teacher recommends.

    Keep In Mind

    • Yogis new to Bikram yoga should talk to their doctors first. Dr. Randell Wexler, assistant professor of clinical family medicine at Ohio State University, told “Yoga Journal” that your risk for developing a heat-related problem may go up if you have diabetes, cardiovascular or respiratory diseases, are overweight or have a history of contracting heat-related illnesses. He also suggests that pregnant women talk to their OB/GYN before trying a Bikram yoga class.