Category: Philosophy

Is Bikram Yoga Only Focused on the Physical?

Ethnography and Culture, Healing, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice
bikram yoga toe stand pose asana original hot yoga sedona arizona cathedral rock

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

Question: Is Bikram Yoga too focused on the Physical?  Is it a dominantly physical practice?

Answer: Well….some people do say, “Yes.”

I have heard it over and over.  Things like: “They are so focused on their bodies.”   Or: “those mirrors – they are so vain.”  “Competitive”.  Or: “You can’t possibly go within when you have all of that heat and sweat and light.”

My response to these answers is that 1) they are coming from the outside looking in, making a judgment without experience. 

This Body is the Earth | Bikram Yoga as a Tool for Reconnection | Happy Earth Day!

Ethnography and Culture, Healing, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice
Pranayama Deep Breathing Bikram Yoga Red Rock Crossing Sedona Arizona

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

For those of us who have been raised in civilizations of extractive capitalism, tools for healing and reconnection are needed.   Badly.  By all of us.

Disconnection, alienation, and estrangement from the earth (including our living, breathing bodies) is pretty much par for the course.

So on this Earth Day 2021 and all going forward, I want to include our human bodies as part of the earth that we celebrate, connect with, protect, love, and heal.

How to Set Up Your Mind for Bikram Yoga Online

Mental Benefits, Online Classes, Philosophy, Physical Benefits, Practice
bikram yoga original hot yoga mindset triangle pose east lansing michigan

How to Set Up Your Mind for Bikram Yoga Online

Back in the summer of 2020, I shared some tips on our blog here for How to Set Up Your Hot Room (or not-so-hot room) for practicing Bikram Yoga at home.

Since then, many of my (seriously amazing) students have given me very helpful feedback.  They have shared the best tools for the job: which space heater is best, which humidifier the most efficient, and other great little tips to help our home practices be nice and sweaty.

“Required” Reading! | First BYCA Book Club Meeting | Breath by James Nestor

Athletes, Ethnography and Culture, Event Announcements, Healing, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Physical Benefits, Studies
breath the new science of a lost art, book by james nestor

How to Breathe: Announcing our first BYCA Book Club Meeting!

You are invited!!

I have recommended and shared with you many book suggestions over the years.  But never have I felt that a book should be required reading for anyone involved in a traditional yoga practice.

This one is SO good, so relevant, and so immediately practical for your daily life!

side note: I actually think it should be required for all physicians, teachers, and health practitioners of any kind. 

How to Get Kids on a Therapeutic Yoga Path

Ethnography and Culture, Healing, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Physical Benefits, Practice
youth kids free yoga bikram hot yoga

At BYCA we have a very strong youth program, with many youth attending weekly now for several years!  You can read about some of our long-term regular youth practitioners here.

At the same time, we have a lot of parents who would like their kids to take up yoga, but who feel stuck.  Lately I had a few people ask me directly ,”How do I get my kids to do yoga?”

Framing “Yoga” Differently

In over 15 years of practice, I have found that the answer lies almost entirely found in how the parent views yoga, how the parent speaks about yoga, and how the parent uses yoga.   

Flattery and Criticism: An Introduction

Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice, True Stories

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

Over a decade ago, one of my most influential yoga teachers at the time presented me with a quote:

“To the Yogi, criticism and flattery are no different.”

It made sense to me on some levels, and I thought I could relate to not caring about the status quo.  I had a history of peacefully withdrawing from certain social circles and finding my own way.

Leaving the Prison of Pain and Nothingness

Ethnography and Culture, Philosophy
backbend lunge skeleton yoga

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

Would I rather feel Pain?  Or Nothingness?

This is the broad choice I have been given, the dominant set of options I was born into.  Not just me, personally, but I, the human of 20th and 21st century North America, and probably many other places and times.

Whether I am experiencing emotional pain and choosing alcohol…
In the process of childbirth and being pressured to get an epidural….

There is No Such Thing as Monday

Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice, Teaching and Coaching
Toe Stand - Original Hot Yoga - Bikram Yoga

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

A few Sunday mornings ago, I was teaching* class.

It was one of those lovely classes where everyone spaced themselves so beautifully in the three rows of our practice room; people hardly took their eyes off of their focus points for the entire warm-up portion of class.

We were finishing up the standing series, on the second side of Toe Stand, when one of the great yoga lessons emerged.

Big Girls Bend: My (Ongoing) Journey as a Fat Yogi

Guest Blogs, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Physical Benefits, Practice, Student Highlights, Testimonials

by Marini Lee, Ph.D.

I’ve been practicing bikram yoga for almost 12 years now. According to the Western world (and my recovering internal body critic), I should look differently. I should be thin by now!!!! Shouldn’t I?

Well, I’m not.

First of all, being and/or getting “thin” is not (nor should be) the goal of yoga. Yoga means “union.” It is my understanding that this union is about optimal health – mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.

No, YOU! YOU are ready for yoga!

Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice, Teaching and Coaching, True Stories
all ages full locust bikram yoga
by Ann Chrapkiewicz

Are you ready for yoga?

As inclusive as North American yoga wants to be, yoga in its deeper dimensions demands certain qualities.

Are you ready for yoga?

Well, I have a yoga mat and I hydrated well.  So yes, I think so.

But the question again: are you ready for yoga?

The yoga clothing companies would like you to think you are.  

USA Yoga Participant Bio – Ann Chrapkiewicz

Event Announcements, Guest Blogs, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Student Highlights
Ann Half Spine Twist Cropped 2017 Mid West Chicago

by Ann Chrapkiewicz

My practice history

I started practicing Bikram Yoga in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2003 – shortly after returning to the United States after 2 years of living in rural Japan.  I was working in the kitchen of the People’s Food Coop at the time and attended on the invitation of one of my coworkers.  I do not think that either of us “liked” the first class – she did not ever return for a second class (that was hard!).  

USA Yoga Participant Bio – Lindsay Gray

Event Announcements, Guest Blogs, Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Student Highlights
Lindsay working on Toe Stand

by Lindsay Gray

My practice history

I started practicing Bikram Yoga six years ago and have had the pleasure of practicing in many different places.  Having started in Honolulu, and then in Houston, Austin, Boston, and Berlin before ending up here at my most favorite of studios. (Aren’t we lucky!!)

I am forever indebted to a close friend of mine, a former dancer like myself, who introduced me to Bikram yoga. 

Physical Meditation

Mental Benefits, Philosophy, Practice

Bikram Yoga is often referred to as a “90-minute moving meditation”.

Lately I have started to prefer the term “physical meditation” over “moving meditation”.  It is true that we move our bodies, but the emphasis of class is always on stillness.

Physical Meditation as the Beginning Point

Physical Meditation is a term that makes sense for me because it describes the heart of how anyone can practice, just by stepping in the room, and regardless of any flexibility or ability.  

When is this going to be easy?

Philosophy, Practice
by Ann Chrapkiewicz

In my 14th year of practice in this amazing yoga lineage, I continue to love and appreciate the steadiness and auditory meditation that comes from the near-constant instruction from the teacher.  I enjoy the rhythm of the “dialogue” – which truly is a two-way exchange of information between student and teacher! – and its phrases, or the flow of an expert teacher using his or her own tremendous experience and unique instructions to guide us.  

26 Impossible Things Before Lunch

Philosophy, Practice
Alice and the White Queen Impossible Things
by Ann Chrapkiewicz

The weekday morning classes here are indescribably special.  I love every single class I teach and practice – evenings and weekends included – but the 9:30 am classes have this special energy that dedicated, regular, curious students create.  The average age is probably 55, with many of my 70+ students attending regularly at that time.

9:30 am Class Bow Pose

This past Tuesday’s “warm” 9:30 class – practiced about 10 degrees cooler than the usual 105F – was an all-front-row class with the kind of calm, deep focus that leaves you floating the rest of the day.