Five Keys to Improve Your Practice

By Stephen Rumpp

Determination

 - To start!  And if necessary, to start again!  To keep coming to class especially on those days you don't want to!  To make up your mind to stay your course!  To let nothing get in your way.  To make room for your daily yoga practice!  To stay close!

Focus

- To discover new edges in your practice!  To experience your improved ability to breathe while working hard!  To cultivate a tuned mind-body connection and improved alignment in your body!  To allow yourself to go places you did not think possible in your practice (and in your life)!

Patience

 - To stick to a plan!  To give your body time to transform!  To have bad days!  To have breakthrough days!  To work through injury and experience the healing!  To have your friends and family join you when they are ready!  To build a stronger foundation each time you practice!  To keep going no matter what!

Self Control

 - To manage your expectations and your thoughts!  To love yourself!  To surrender to life's power! To manage your response to things out of your control!  To avoid drama!  To make appropriate life choices!  To pause, breathe and then respond to upsets!  To surround yourself with people who lift you up!

Concentration

- To try the right way!  To start again when things don't go your way!  To breathe evenly!  To stay in the moment while practicing!  To connect with your compassion!  To make adjustments!  To know good pain from bad pain!  To Self Realize!

Never, Ever, Ever Give Up!!!!

Student Spotlight: Bob

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I was having a conversation with a client and she mentioned Bikram Yoga, I had never heard of it before. Ironically, as I was driving home that day I noticed the Bikram sign when the studio was across the street. I stopped in to check it out and met my first instructor, Lora; the next day was my first class and I was hooked (Bob has been practicing Bikram Yoga for over 6 years now!). Before practicing Bikram Yoga I was involved with Martial Arts and Weight Training. It seemed I was always recovering from the sessions and occasionally in a healing mode.

Bikram Yoga is teaching me to work on realigning the balance between my body & mind, to apply the peace we learn during class in our daily lives. To –“ Let No One Steal your Peace”. The yoga has helped me through the expected and unexpected lows that life presents to all of us at one time or another. When I was 17 I was in a motorcycle accident. I dislocated my hip & shoulder. I have had chronic, neck & back issues since. I tried the chiropractor when I was younger, then went to Physical Therapy & different exercise programs. Bikram Yoga has helped me not only control the symptoms but also I see improved flexibility and mobility. I attended Nicole’s Boot Camp last fall and am working on my alignment for each posture; it’s amazing how the slightest change can have such a direct effect. I would say Balancing Stick is my favorite posture. I feel that’s the one out of 26 that I might actually be doing right – only 25 more to go.

My advice to new students is strive for consistency in your practice. I have to tell myself this one as well. I sometimes will do a challenge and end up then taking off several weeks. It’s like starting all over again. Learn to focus on yourself, it’s your practice, your time, let it happen. Also - Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate - I have seen my life flash before my eyes several times on my mat over the years when I don’t pay attention to hydration.

I love Bikram Yoga for many reasons. The two that stand out are: The Teachers & The Studio. I have probably experienced close to 100 different BY instructor’s classes over the years. And while the 26 postures are a constant, it’s the individual teacher’s passion that makes each class unique. Through their own personality they are always encouraging you to do your best, pointing out subtle changes that will make a difference in your posture. They are the energy conduit that makes you want to practice to the best of your ability, to try to not only find your edge but to see what’s on the other side. I always share my BY experience whenever I can with other people. I let them know what an amazing collection of people practice Bikram Yoga. People from all walks of life sharing and experiencing a common goal together. It’s a cross-section of the world in many ways. It’s the realization that thousands of people are doing the same thing, for the same reason, every day.

Perfection is a Direction, Not a Destination

By Jessica Frent

Before the holidays I had surgery and was forced to take a break from our beloved “hot room”. For almost two months I wasn’t able to practice and with every passing day I worried that my postures, which I had worked so hard to “perfect” wouldn’t look the same. I worried that my back bends wouldn’t be as deep, my balance would be lost, and my strength to hold triangle would be less than it once was. My first practice back, I was so concerned with how others may perceive my imperfections I went to the 5:30am, practiced in the back of the room, and hoped no one would notice me. I realized quickly I was the only one critiquing my postures with such precision and that perfection is a direction, not a destination. You can always go deeper, hold longer, or achieve a more graceful strength. It has been almost six weeks since that 1st day back while my practice isn’t the same it’s in some ways stronger than it was before. The “perfection” I was so worried about losing wasn’t lost it just shifted.

For those of you perfections out there like me, remember what the wise words we have all heard before "bikram yoga is a practice, not a perfect" and if you want to receive the full benefits it’s important to allow yourself to be vulnerable, learn something new each day, and not let your own ego make you afraid to step into the room after a break.

5 Ways Bikram Yoga Can Change Your World

By Nicole Deacon

Our new tag line at Bikram Yoga AZ is CHANGE YOUR WORLD! We believe in Gandhi's message… "be the change you wish to see." When you make changes in your life there is a ripple effect that goes out. You feel better, you treat people better, they feel better, they treat people better and on and on this cycle goes. There are so many things that go on that we have no control over, but we do have control over ourselves. As we change… the whole world can start to change.

Here are 5 ways that doing this yoga can CHANGE YOUR WORLD:

5. Meet Great People... You may even fall in love! -- There is an amazing community of people who do this yoga. By practicing and being around the studios you meet a variety of different people who are absolutely inspiring and incredible to be around. You meet people from all over the world and from all walks of life. We've had more than a couple of weddings happen from yoga studio romance. Maybe you are next. :)

4. Do the things you love!  -- Whether you love sewing, rugby, running or tennis... this yoga allows you to do the things that can be hard on your body.  We recently had someone with such bad arthritis they couldn't do the thing they loved, sewing... but after just one class could do the thing they loved again!  We have many athletes from all sports that can continue doing the thing they love even though it is hard on their body.  What do you love to do?  This yoga can keep you doing it even in to old old age!

3. Live Forever -- okay, okay not forever. But when you practice yoga, you keep your body young. You heal old injuries, prevent diseases, gain strength, become more flexible, have less stress, and overall just feel better. Click here for the article on how this yoga is the fountain of youth!

2. Belief in your self also known as Self-Confidence -- you lose weight, tone up and start to feel great! But even beyond that… this yoga is challenging and the more you do it, the more you feel like you can do anything. By overcoming the challenges in the hot room you realize how much you can do on and off the mat.

1. Peace -- When you practice yoga you start to develop a relationship with your self. You develop the power to connect within and external circumstances don't bother you as much. You can be in any situation, around any person, and nothing can steal your peace away from you. How can we have a more peaceful world? It starts with us. We start with peace in our own heart and in our soul.

Has Bikram Yoga changed your world? Leave a comment and tell us how! We would love to know your story. :)

Student Spotlight: Lynn

By Lynn Jacobsen

I have been practicing yoga in some form on and off since 1997. I started with Iyengar and changed to Hatha when I moved to Phoenix. As I got a "little" older, I found myself sitting out longer and longer portions of class as others were doing head stands and poses I was not comfortable attempting due to neck and frozen shoulder issues. (Yes, those early sports injuries may come back to haunt you some day and I had promised my orthopedic surgeon I would not do any more head stands after a not so beautiful attempt resulted in compressing some discs in my neck.) I quit yoga altogether for a year or so. Then about seven years ago a friend convinced me to go to a Bikram class with her. At first I was going once a week, which felt like the first time every time. Then I decided I should go twice a week and now I feel like a slacker if I don't go at least four or five times a week.

Lynn

The 26 poses, not particularly easy for someone who has hip flexors and hamstrings made of steel, do not jar me nor do they put unnecessary pressure on my neck and spine. When I miss class for more than three or four days, my muscles get cranky and rebellious. As someone who grew up in the Twiggy era (google her if you are under oh, say, 55 or so) when girls wanted to resemble slouchy models devoid of all muscle tone and who basically looked unhealthy, the stretching and muscle and core strengthening from Bikram yoga has helped me become more aware of and improve my posture. The balancing series also is so important as we get older. People much younger than I am have been amazed I can stand on one foot to put on socks! Imagine if they saw an entire class doing the balancing series!

That being said, one of my favorite poses is my own pre-class savasana. I love to get to class about 10 or 15 minutes early to just lie in the warm room with no demands on my time and no one able to reach me. This small bit of the day that is mine alone is how I trick myself into getting to class. Since I'm basically lazy, if I let myself think of the exertion I'm going to expend or how sweaty I'm going to get in the next 90 minutes or that I'm going to have to do my hair AGAIN, I would talk myself out of coming more often than not.

I also have a couple of postures I like even though they require movement. I love half tortoise just because it is the most exquisite stretch through the arms, shoulders and spine. Call me crazy, but I really like camel, too. The back bend feels so good and the release of the muscles after makes me feel alive. I also like triangle and I am determined that someday it will eventually open up my hips.

I've had two injuries that Bikram yoga has helped. The first one is a frozen shoulder from a skiing injury. When I first started yoga, my arm literally would freeze in place during certain poses. Somehow over time it just quit happening. I still have the frozen shoulder but it is much more manageable than it has been in 25 years. My other injury happened about a year and a half ago when I developed two bulging discs in my lower spine. The hardest part of the injury and recovery was not being able to come to yoga for almost a year. I finally couldn't stay away. No one can say how I hurt myself, but as a result I am much more aware of the dialogue and setting up the poses to avoid hurting myself again. I have to be really careful of the forward bends but other than that, I am close to doing a fairly decent version of most poses again.

My advice to new students is when they say come back tomorrow, come back tomorrow. Don't wait a week like I did. You have a superb built-in support group in your fellow yogis and you'll get used to the heat. And don't eat a hamburger and fries an hour before class! That, you will regret.

My favorite quote is: "Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one." -Dr. Suess