therapeutic benefits | Bikram Yoga North Brisbane

25 Jun 2020

Sticky Post By Rachel Posted in health, Uncategorized, Yoga Permalink

Savasana for Vitality!

Sticky Post By Rachel On June 25, 2020

Ever wondered why teachers say, Savasana is the most important posture of all? Perhaps you aren’t really sure what the value of this posture is. Certainly at the end of class, you enjoy fully letting go and appreciate those moments of stillness, and silence – perhaps even falling asleep (and waking yourself up with a snort – we’ve all done it!).

However, while savasana is about relaxation, it is not about falling asleep. It’s finding a state between being awake and sleep – it’s about being fully aware, while still completely surrendering. And, as you see in the Bikram series, is not just confined to the final pose.

It’s placed between each high intensity posture (and set) in the floor series to re-energise, re-vitalise and re-organise the body – to allow it to rebound back into the second set or indeed, the next posture. The ability to move from a place of high intensity to a state of complete inaction helps to train and balance the flow of the body’s energy, improves the breath, regulates stress hormones, increases cardiovascular resilience, supports muscle recovery, and restores brain activity. With consistent practice, this can help reduce the the chronic exhaustion or stress many of experience.

As we develop the capacity to remain conscious while in physiological recovery, we can greatly improve our energetic stamina.

05 Jul 2019

Sticky Post By Rachel Posted in Benefits, health, osteoporosis, Physical Fitness, Uncategorized, womans health, Yoga Permalink

Bikram Yoga Helps Improve Bone Mineral Density

Sticky Post By Rachel On July 5, 2019

In our last post, we looked at how Bikram Yoga (BY) helps with physical fitness. This week, we will discuss how BY improve bone mineral density, which is important all through out our lives, but especially as we age.

Maintaining bone mineral density (BMD) reflects the strength of bones, and is important in reducing instances of osteoporosis and falls-related fractures. Healthy lifestyle choices such as nutrition, regular exercise – especially resistance training, and impact based activities, help minimize BMD loss and reduce the risk of fractures later in life.

Yoga can be an excellent tool in helping maintain peak bone mass and slow down bone loss. We know some of the main components of the BY practice is balance, flexibility, lubrication of joints, increased range of motion, spinal alignment and a significant improvement in lower-limb strength. It’s also a weight-bearing exercise, where students use their own body weight to create resistance in the postures and torque on the bones to build bone density, much in the same way you build muscle strength (through Wolffs Law). Bones get stronger and stay strong when they are called upon to do more. Given all of this, your yoga practice helps keep you more stable and sturdy, helps reduce the risk of falls and fractures, and helps maintain BMD, especially for those who cannot engage in high-impact or more dynamic activity such as running.

A study in 2010, “Bikram Yoga as a Countermeasure of Bone Loss in Women“, clearly shows this link between BY and a higher BMD – saying that BY practitioners had above average bone mineral density at the lumbar spine, hip and in total body scores. Even more impressive, each of the subjects had a total body calcium Z-score one standard deviation above the norm for their age and ethnic cohort. Please click on the highlighted title to read the article yourself.

If you have a story you’d like to share on how BY has helped with your own body, we’d love to hear, and if possible, feature you in our newsletter or on social media! Please talk to Sherry at reception, or send your story to info@bikramyoganorthbrisbane.com.au . You can follow us on Instagram @bikrambrisbane

12 Jun 2019

Sticky Post By Rachel Posted in Benefits, health, Physical Fitness, Yoga Permalink

How Bikram Yoga helps with your Physical Fitness

Sticky Post By Rachel On June 12, 2019

Over the next weeks, we are going to explore the benefits of the Bikram Yoga series, and will begin with how Bikram Yoga helps with your physical fitness.

Physical fitness consists of five fields of health (cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, muscular strength, flexibility and body composition), and six skill-related fields (balance, reaction time, speed, agility, power and coordination). The health related fields are particular interesting as they are associated with better overall health and lower risk of chronic disease, disability and mortality.

After reading through some research performed on a group of Bikram students over an eight week period in Colorado, USA (link is at bottom of this blog), the observed recordings and data proved what we all experience in our bodies from a consistent Bikram practice. The research results showed significant increase in both upper and lower body range of motion, balance, muscular endurance and strength, coordination, and reductions in back pain, adipose tissue (body fat), inflammation, and BMI due to the increased energy expenditure. Lastly, they did note a significant improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness in individuals who were otherwise more sedentary, asthmatics and older. There were also recordings of improvements in hormonal-imbalances.

Of course how your nourish your body with food and lifestyle choices will influence your physical fitness as well, we cannot ignore that. However, the benefits of a regular Bikram practice will put you in good stead towards feeling your best and moving confidently as you age. The twenty-six postures and 2 breathing exercises systematically moves fresh, oxygenated blood to one hundred percent of your body, to each organ and fiber, stimulating each of the body’s system to perform optimally, it boosts detoxification, enhances coordination, flexibility and balance, and requires you to both use and improve your own body strength.

We love hearing from our students how their health and lives have changed since including Bikram into their routine. If you have story to share, please let us know at the studio, on our blog, or any of our social media pages. We are on instagram – @bikrambrisbane and facebook – Bikram Yoga Nundah.

We look forward to seeing you at the studio xx

You can look further at the studies here:

https://insights.ovid.com/crossref?an=00124278-201303000-00035

04 May 2015

Sticky Post By Rachel Posted in Yoga Permalink

Why Backward Bending is Good for the Spine

Sticky Post By Rachel On May 4, 2015

Understanding why and how back-bending is beneficial for the spine is a challenge for many yoga students. For many, back-bending is an emotionally charged, challenging and often uncomfortable part of practice. However despite its discomforts back-bending can be one of the most therapeutic parts of a yoga practice.

Think of all the time you spend bending forward in a day, from enjoying a coffee with a newspaper, to driving, to typing at a computer, cleaning or lounging with a friend. The reality is, we spend most of our day in an unsupported forward bend.

Internally, forward bending causes the front of vertebrae move closer together, forcing the inter-vertebral disks and spinal nerves back. Prolonged poor posture can:

cause or aggravate back and neck pain
constrict blood-flow and put pressure on vital organs and glands preventing them from functioning properly
has been shown to have negative effects on self-esteem and mood in studies

Ironically, when most people experience back pain or discomfort their first reaction is to bend forward, not knowing it is the cause of their discomfort. In reality back-bending is what is needed to counter-act the impact of continuous forward bending. This impulse is not easy to unlearn.

First it is important to recognize that back-bending is a natural range of motion for the spine. “Think of monkeys or children climbing in a tree who reach backward for a branch, the spine bends backward,” says Jeff Weisman a Toronto based Bikram Yoga teacher.

As you bend backwards you compress the posterior part of your spinal column, pushing your disks away from the spinal nerves and decompress the front of the vertebrae. This effectively counteracts the damage of hours spent forward bending.

Those concerned and intimidated by back-bending should rest assured that the controlled environment and proper progression of the Bikram Yoga series allows for back-bends to be preformed safely. For those with limitations and injuries, remember to speak to your instructor, move slowly and listen to your body.

Physical Benefits

Stimulates the sympathetic nervous system and prepares the body for action.
Helps counteract damage of bad posture.
Relieves back pain, bronchial distress, scoliotic deformities, tennis elbow, frozen shoulder.
Realigns the spine.
Promotes proper kidney function.
Helps with digestive function, eliminating constipation and flatulence.

Energetic Benefits

Stimulates all the chackras, primarily creating opening in the fourth (heart) chackra.

Emotional Benefits

Helps to break through insecurity and fear.
Relieves stress and tedium.
Opening the lower back helps to free you from insecurity and taking yourself too seriously.
Helps to build confidence and self-esteem in children.

Tips from the Pros

Drop the head back as far as it goes. The head and arms do not need to stay together. – Bikram Choudhury

Allow your exhale to lower you into your maximum depth, allow your inhale to lift you up and forward. – Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, Dr. H. David Coulter

“Lift your breastbone up as you go into backward bend, instead of jamming only the lower waistband spine.
You HAVE to have your elbows pressing IN, not bowing out before you go down.

Also, LIFT the throat, shoulders and armpits before you drop down.

Then you lift UP, OUT and OVER your waistband spine so you do not get that crimping feeling.” – Mary Jarvis for All Back-bending Heals the Spine

Do not contract the gluteal muscles until you reach your maximum expression then tighten – Rajishree Choudhury (for more read this article)

The standing back-bend is regulated by locked knees – Craig Villani

18 Apr 2015

Sticky Post By Rachel Posted in Uncategorized Permalink

Why Bikram Yoga?

Sticky Post By Rachel On April 18, 2015

Instead of asking “Why Bikram yoga?” or even “Why yoga?” – it’s important to first ask why do anything at all that makes you feel better?

Yes, a lot of people feel great with their exercise routine of running, jumping, swimming or lifting weight and following their raw, paleo or vegan diet lifestyles. They should keep doing that. However, as someone who has experienced all sorts of exercises and the injuries that come with them, Bikram yoga helped me the most.

I graduated with a degree in exercise prescription. During my work and studies, I was introduced to a variety of exercises and therapy programs. After years in the health industry, I learned about Bikram yoga and its benefits. Eventually, I made the decision to become a Bikram yoga instructor with the goal of combining my knowledge of the exercise world with yoga and providing my students with the best possible solutions throughout their healing journeys.

Here are five things that I really enjoy about the Bikram yoga practice:

The Bikram yoga routine:

As an instructor for over 10 years and a practitioner for over 12 years, I have learned that the Bikram practice increases the practitioner’s self-awareness, physical and mental strength and brings a new level of determination. Consistency is undeniably important to maintain your routine, and Bikram’s class is definitely a precise sequence. The beginner sequence always follows the same 26 postures and two breathing exercises, which allow us to deepen our practice and understand how each posture works, and how it impacts us. If we start to modify a posture instead of taking the time to do it more slowly, we can lose the therapeutic effect.

The heat in the Bikram yoga practice

If there’s one thing Bikram is known for, it is that it’s hot and sometimes really hot. The heat sometimes scares people, but it is the heat that allows people to move more easily into postures. The temperatures also helps detoxify the body.

The accessibility of the Bikram yoga practice

Bikram yoga is a practice accessible to everyone. Anyone who passes me on the street — the athlete, the elderly, the emotionally or physically broken soul, the young student or skateboarder — all of these people would be able to do Bikram’s beginning yoga series. For example, athletes may push themselves to their limits, but for someone with a bad back or bad knees this will be a very different process. The goal is to stay committed. It is a practice that everyone can work with. It stimulates the organs and the flow of oxygenated blood throughout your whole body.

Bikram yoga as a stress reliever

Bikram Choudhury scientifically designed the introductory sequence to provide a complete workout through the balancing and strengthening of every system in the body, which should prevent illnesses and injuries. The series of postures combines elements of concentration, patience, determination and self-control, which lead to increased mental clarity and reduces stress. A regular practice of Bikram yoga also improves body posture and spine alignment. It relieves back pains and headaches, strengthens muscles, reduces symptoms of chronic diseases, gives better self-confidence, improves body image, improves flexibility, balance and strength and gives a general feeling of wellness and peace. Taking the time to do yoga will rejuvenate you.

The role of Bikram yoga in one’s life

One thing that attracted me the most to Bikram was that it is pure. There are no distractions; it’s just you and your mat. When Bikram becomes your practice, you have it for life. Life is not easy and often, we are faced with difficult challenges that take away our energy, focus and ambitions. We feel as though we are on the edge, but it is in these moments that Bikram yoga provides you with the stability, clarity and motivation to start over and stay strong.

Bikram yoga works. It’s the way the series was designed … its systematic and perfect for me — and might just be for you too.

Author, Whitney Rydingsvard McCormick

Directer / Owner of Bikram Yoga U-District, Seattle

17 Mar 2015

Sticky Post By Rachel Posted in Uncategorized Permalink

What happens to my body when I do Bikram Yoga?

Sticky Post By Rachel On March 17, 2015

In the Bikram yoga room, we can clearly see how our body is moving on the outside via the aid of the mirrors. But have you ever thought or asked yourself, ‘what is happening on the inside of my body as I move through the practice’? That’s what this blog post will address! Here’s an in-depth list of what’s happening on the inside during your 90minutes in the hot room!

Muscles are contracted, developing strength at a cellular and biochemical level. When the muscles increase in strength, they become balanced. This then returns the skeleton to its original balanced position. We all loose this through age, bad posture, injury or sports.
Lipids and proteins are re-organised optimally in stretching, promoting better circulation.
Joint mobility is increased, reducing the risk of arthritis, aches and pains.
Blood and calcium are brought to the bones; by working against gravity they become strengthened, without additional weight and stress.
Lymph nodes are massaged, pumping lymph into the body and helping the lymphatic system to work more efficiently.
Organs of the immune system are boosted.
Circulation to the nervous system is improved.
Endocrine glands are encouraged to secrete appropriate hormones.
Communication of hormones amongst various glands and systems of the body are enhanced.
The thymus gland, spleen, appendix and intestines are massaged through compression and extension.
Toxins are flushed out and waste excreted.
Lungs, heart and arteries are flushed out by increased blood circulation.
The brain is stimulated by increased circulation and varying blood pressure.
Nerves are stimulated by compression and extension, supplying fresh blood, oxygen and nutrients to the body.
Strength develops as the body’s own resistance is used against gravity.

Does this give you some inspiration to come in and stretch your body? See you in the hot room soon!