If you have never tried bikram yoga , it may be the perfect time to do so. Yoga, in general, helps improve our well-being, but bikram yoga, also known as hot yoga, is really fantastic for mental and physical health .
The benefits of bikram yoga are many, all of which will make you feel much better. It’s about breathing well, using your strength, increasing flexibility, and sweating like you’re near a volcano . Together, these aspects work to make your body healthier than you ever imagined. Let’s talk about what exactly bikram yoga is and how it can help you achieve a healthier lifestyle.
What is Bikram Yoga?
Bikram yoga is a specific type of hot yoga, a type of yoga, created by Bikram Choudhury of India , that is performed in a room at 42º with 40% humidity .
Up to 26 different postures, stretches, and various breathing exercises are done in this yoga class, all of which help you improve your strength and overall health. Yoga is known to enhance balance, coordination, flexibility and much more , abilities that are better developed when the temperature is increased.
Benefits of bikram yoga
Bikram yoga is slightly different from regular hot yoga in that it is done in a slightly warmer environment, plus the poses in hot yoga are a bit more fluid and dance-like. However, the benefits of hot yoga and bikram yoga are practically the same .
detoxifies the body
One of the biggest benefits of bikram yoga is that the heat helps detoxify your body of toxins and chemicals . The high level of heat inside a class makes you sweat like never before.
Sweating is beneficial for the body because you don’t just lose water when you sweat. Along with water, you also flush out a lot of toxins, chemicals, and other unwanted compounds that shouldn’t be in your body. Next time, instead of going on a detox diet when you want to detox, you could do some bikram yoga sessions.
Increases flexibility
Another really interesting part of bikram yoga, or yoga in general for that matter, is that it helps to increase flexibility considerably. All the different poses and stretches you do in this type of yoga help increase your flexibility by slowly stretching your muscles to make them more flexible.
Having more flexible muscles also helps prevent injuries like pulled muscles. Also, a type of hot yoga like bikram yoga is great for flexibility because the hotter your muscles are, the more flexible they become , making it easier to perform the various poses while also reducing the chances of injury.
Heat makes your muscles more elastic by warming them up and delivering more oxygen to them . Being more flexible is not only good for successfully completing a yoga class, but it will also make your daily routine activities easier, not to mention that it can also help with sports performance.
It is a form of strength training
Bikram Yoga uses 26 different postures, all of which work to make you stronger. Virtually all postures force you to activate your muscles to maintain a certain position .
It is a form of bodyweight training, because you use your muscles to maintain your own bodyweight . Looking at some of the poses, it may seem like they don’t train your muscles that much, but they really don’t.
It takes a lot of strength to hold some of the positions for an extended period of time, especially when your body is sweaty, hot, and slippery . This type of yoga also works great for training all the major muscle groups in your body, giving you a great full-body workout that will leave your muscles tired from top to bottom. Some people even say that Bikram Yoga is a pretty decent substitute for lifting weights!
It is low impact
Another thing bikram yoga is good for is your joints, especially if you suffer from sore knees and weak ankles . High-impact activities like running can strengthen joints, but this does not improve joints that are already injured or in pain because the impact can cause more damage.
This type of yoga does not include high-impact movements and is therefore a great way to get fit and burn calories without putting undue stress on your joints. Without a doubt, it is an excellent alternative to other forms of exercise.
It is a good cardiovascular exercise
Another thing bikram yoga is great for is exercising your cardiovascular system. The high level of heat combined with the intensity makes your heart race . It may not seem like it, but this type of yoga is quite intense and will definitely train both your heart and lungs to be stronger and more efficient.
Of course, having good cardiovascular health is really important because a strong heart requires less effort to pump blood throughout the body, which lowers the chances of high blood pressure . A healthy heart and moderate blood pressure are important in preventing heart disease, artery disease, stroke, and other serious illnesses.
A healthy heart also makes daily life much easier and helps improve sports performance . A stronger heart and lungs mean your muscles get more oxygen, allowing them to do more for longer.
Helps lose weight
Because bikram yoga takes place in a hot environment and is physically intense, it can help you burn a lot of calories. A single 90-minute session can help you burn up to 1,000 calories , just like other forms of cardio. The various postures that you are forced to maintain, as well as the muscular contractions that are part of this type of yoga, get your heart pumping and that translates into significant weight loss.
Also, the various postures that are performed in bikram yoga make your digestive system more efficient and also increase your metabolic rate . A faster metabolism means you can burn more calories and keep those same calories from turning into body fat. If you want to lose weight, bikram yoga is definitely a good option.
