Bikram Yoga Research and Publications
Research and Publications
Enhance your yoga practice with these additional resources.
The Science and Research Behind Bikram Hot Yoga
Your one-stop page for published and ongoing Bikram Yoga research. The 50-year-old, unaltered, consistent yoga sequence and method we practice is highly amenable to rigorous scientific research. In interventional, independent research, it has been found to regulate blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, depression/anxiety, and more.
Publications and Readings from Yoga Is Medicine
Hope for Autoimmune Disease: 15 Personal Stories of Living Better with Bikram Yoga (links to Amazon) – written by Ann Chrapkiewicz and Jennifer Lane
Additional & Supplemental Readings
Scroll down or click here for a growing collection of other readings on Bikram Yoga, approaches to practice, and a selection of our blog posts.
We have curated a list of outstanding books to support your practice and your understanding of you! We sell many of these at our yoga school – and we appreciate your support of our small business.
Peer-Reviewed Research Articles, Publications, and Studies:
- Randomized controlled trial of bikram yoga and aerobic exercise for depression in women: Efficacy and stress-based mechanisms. Harkness, Kate L., et al. Journal of Affective Disorders, February 2021.
- Effects of yoga interventions practised in heated and thermoneutral conditions on endothelium-dependent vasodilation: The Bikram yoga heart study. Hunter SD et al. Experimental Physiology. 2018
- Improvements in Glucose Tolerance with Bikram Yoga. Hunter SD. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapy. 2013.
- The effect of Bikram yoga on arterial stiffness in young and older adults. Hunter SD. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2013.
- Bikram Yoga reduces Depression and Anxiety. Lindsey B. Hopkins DeBoer. San Francisco VA Medical Center. Presented at Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) Conference 2015
- The Effects of Bikram Yoga on Health: Critical Review and Clinical Trial Recommendations. Evidence Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine. 2015
- E. F. Hart and B. L. Tracy, “Yoga as steadiness training: effects on motor variability in young adults,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 1659–1669, 2008.
- B. L. Tracy and C. E. F. Hart, “Bikram yoga training and physical fitness in healthy young adults,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 822–830, 2013.
- Z. L. Hewett, L. B. Ransdell, Y. Gao, L. M. Petlichkoff, and S. Lucas, “An examination of the effectiveness of an 8-week bikram yoga program on mindfulness, perceived stress, and physical fitness,” Journal of Exercise Science and Fitness, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 87–92, 2011.
- R. S. Kudesia and M. T. Bianchi, “Decreased nocturnal awakenings in young adults performing bikram yoga: a low-constraint home sleep monitoring study,” ISRN Neurology, vol. 2012, Article ID 153745, 7 pages, 2012.
- A. N. Abel, L. K. Lloyd, J. S. Williams, and B. K. Miller, “Physiological characteristics of long-term Bikram yoga practitioners,” Journal of Exercise Physiology Online, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 32–39, 2012.
- S. D. Hunter, M. S. Dhindsa, E. Cunningham et al., “The effect of bikram yoga on arterial stiffness in young and older adults,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, vol. 19, no. 12, pp. 930–934, 2013.
- S. D. Hunter, M. Dhindsa, E. Cunningham, T. Tarumi, M. Alkatan, and H. Tanaka, “Improvements in glucose tolerance with Bikram yoga in older obese adults: a pilot study,” Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 11 Bodywork and Movement Therapies, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 404–407, 2013.
- S. N. Sangiorgio, A. K. Mukherjee, N. W. Lau, A. Mukherjee, P. Mukhopadhyay, and E. Ebramzadeh, “Optimization of physical activity as a countermeasure of bone loss: a 5-year study of bikram yoga practice in females,” Health, vol. 06, no. 11, pp. 1124– 1132, 2014.
- L. Pate and M. J. Buono, “The physiological responses to Bikram yoga in novice and experienced practitioners,” Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 12–18, 2014.
- M. L. Fritz, A. M. Grossman, A. Mukherjee, S. D. Hunter, and B. L. Tracy, “Acute metabolic, cardiovascular, and thermal responses to a single session of Bikram yoga,” in Proceedings of the Rocky Mountain ACSM Annual Meeting, Denver, Colo, USA, 2013
Active Studies & Research Projects:
In-House Publications, Research Summaries, and Other Media
Bikram Yoga and Autoimmune Disease:
Hope for Autoimmune Disease: 15 Personal Stories of Living Better with Bikram Yoga
By Ann Chrapkiewicz & Jennifer Lane
Researched and written in collaboration with Bikram Yoga practitioners, teachers, and studios around the globe. This collection of stories links a regular Bikram Yoga practice and symptom-reduction in various autoimmune diseases. The 15 first-person narratives contained in this book address such themes as: onset of disease symptoms, challenges in getting diagnosed, modifications to diet, first impressions of Bikram Yoga, and finding balance with yoga and autoimmune disease.
- Bikram Yoga for Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Using Bikram Yoga to Help Reverse Rheumatoid Arthritis – with Rowena Jayne (podcast)
Bikram Yoga benefits certain cardiovascular measures both in heated and non-heated room:
- Hot Yoga’s Benefits May Not Come from the Heat at All. Forbes Magazine. 2018. (Research was done specifically on Bikram Yoga, not generic “hot yoga”.)
- Bikram Yoga doesn’t need hot room to benefit heart health. Reuters. 2018. (Note that reductions in LDL and body fat percentage were more significant in those who practiced the Bikram Yoga class in the hot room group.)
Bikram Yoga as part of Addiction Recovery:
- Teacher: Experience Needed. New York Times, March 11, 2011.
- 9 Ways Yoga Helped Me Overcome Addiction. Hip Sobriety Blog.
Other Insights and Recommended Readings & Media:
- Sitting Down In Bikram Yoga: What it Says About You.
- F*** Neoliberal Yoga: Selling Yoga and Selling Ourselves in the Digital Age – PART I
- and PART II
BYCA Blog
Curated Reading List:
- Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor
- How Yoga Works, by Michael Roach
- Healing Back Pain, by John Sarno
- Inner Engineering, by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, by Atul Gawande
- The Choice, by Edith Eger
- The Gift, by Edith Eger
- On Learning to Heal: What Medicine Doesn’t Know, by Ed Cohen