Just Sweat it Out, it’s the Hot Celebrity Workout
Not only is this workout literally hot, but this newly rediscovered yoga allows one to feel euphoria lasting throughout the day. Â It’s the new preferred workout of many of today’s top celebrities.
Enter into a World of Bliss?
Imagine a room heated to over 105 degrees with humidity around 50%, stretching your body to its fullest capacity.  These 26 powerful poses along with pranayama breathing – breathing techniques where your lungs are completely emptied before breathing resumes, which does more than calm your mind and balances your body – are done over the course of 90 minutes.  This is Bikram yoga, not for the faint-hearted, created by the brilliance of Bikram Choudurry in the 1970’s.
Bikram Yoga with Lady Gaga – Above
This is what celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Jim Carrey and Lady Gaga are raving about.  In an interview with Men’s Health Magazine, Ashton Kutcher explained that he pretends he’s in the desert with no water while going through a Bikram Yoga session.  Jim Carrey loves what it has done for himself and especially what it has done for his wife, Jenny McCarthy, who now has a nice booty due to this unique yoga.
Revel in the Hot Air
The heat accomplishes more than make anyone who enters the room sweat.  The heat and humidity make it so that your lungs only work at 50%, pushing your lungs and heart to work harder, strengthening your organs.  With this, the body uses the oxygen more efficiently and allows your internal organs to breath.  It is claimed that the organs are in a sense, purified.  Toxins are pushed out of your internal organs and through your sweat making your body healthier.  The added sweat and heat makes your muscles more limber, allowing them to achieve deeper stretching and avoid injury.
Before embarking on the challenge of Bikram yoga, eat good nutrition on a daily basis but don’t eat for at least two hours before doing the yoga.  Since it is extremely hot and the body will lose a lot of fluid due to sweat, the most important thing to remember is hydration.  Drinking more than the recommended 8 glasses of water daily helps the body endure this intense workout.
I have been going to Bikram for almost 2 years now. It is an awesome workout! Your body will get adjusted to the heat. Everyone should give it a try!
I love Bikram yoga. I feel so high on life after I do it in the morning. It brightens my whole day.
Carrey was NEVER married to Jenny McCarthy!
I wanted to try Bikram too. It seems fun and really revitalizes your whole body. No wonder Jim Carey is in it.
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Lady Gaga is my hero. Anyone who can do Bikram in heels like that deserves a shout out.
But her standing leg is not locked, and in that posture locking your standing leg is everything.
Originally published in OM Yoga Magazine
It’s been dubbed the fastest growing yoga in the world, so what’s so great about Bikram?
It’s grueling, it’s punishing, and most of all, it’s hot! Yet everyone wants a piece of Bikram yoga right now. The rise in popularity in yoga in the UK during 2010 was no more evident than the surge in demand for hot yoga sessions up and down the country. These sessions – based on a series of postures repeated in a hot, sauna-like studio – are based around the work of yoga pioneer Bikram
Choudhury, an Indian who moved out to the grandeur of Beverley Hills in the seventies. Bikram has been around for a while – Beatle George Harrison was among his first Western students – but the growing number of converts this year suggests this popular hybrid has really hit a nerve among yogis and keep fit enthusiasts.
According to Claire Dunphy of Breeze: The Urban Yoga Company (www.breezeyoga.co.uk) in Beckenham,
Kent (UK) it has helped trigger a migration of people from the gym to the yoga studio.
“If you’re looking to take your yoga practice or fitness training to a whole new dimension, and you enjoy a
challenge that will ultimately lead you to reap the many benefits of this unique and rewarding activity, then
hot yoga is for you,†she says.
But there’s a whole lot more to hot yoga than blood, sweat, tears and toil as Winston Churchill might say.
As well as the life-affirming buzz you get when you walk out the door there is also an important meditative
slant. Bikram leads you to a place with stronger mind control, which has multiple benefits beyond the studio,
creating calm and certainty and connectedness. It helps you believe in yourself and relate more to others. And despite all the hustle and bustle it requires just as much inner focus. “During a session, your mind will inevitably start to chatter and try to distract you until you get used to the routine,†says another Bikram convert. “But you will learn to focus on your breathing, or on an affirmation, or a positive thought, and you’ll soon stop your mind’s chatter with practice.â€
Feeling hot, hot, hot
What is Bikram yoga?
A series of carefully researched poses practised in a heated studio. The poses enhance strength, encourage weight loss,
detoxify the body, and encourage a dramatic increase in tone and flexibility.
Who is Bikram?
The legend that is Bikram Choudhury is shrouded in controversy. Born in Calcutta, India in 1946, he founded the Yoga College of
India in Beverly Hills in 1974. More recently, Choudhury was involved in a lawsuit over his attempt to copyright his series of 26 poses done in a hot room.
Why is it so darn hot in here?
According to Bikram, the warm room keeps the body from overheating (contrary to popular misconception) and protects muscles
during deep stretching. It also boosts the detox effect and helps provide a good cardiovascular workout.
Who else is doing this?
Seemingly everyone. Apart from sports stars like David Beckham, celebrities from the world of music, film and television are also joining in.
Even Prince Harry is a fan. “Bikram yoga is the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life. I’m addicted, I want to do it every
day,†the posh prince was quoted as saying in the Daily Star.
Superstar sportsmen like Scots tennis ace Andy Murray and footie star David Beckham are among those sweating it out in the studio to prepare for big matches around the world.
It’s not quite the calm, meditative practice preferred by some, but those who do it swear by its feel-good benefits. Expect to sweat a lot, they say.
“The hotter the room the better you will feel afterwards because you detox more, and a warm body makes you more flexible,†says one enthusiast. In fact, it’s the dynamic, active, sweaty side – the feeling that you must be working out and doing your body some good – that appeals to such a large audience.
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I’ve heard about this…but I’ve yet to try yoga!
Hey SallyAnn, I’ve tried Bikram Yoga on a few different occasions. It’s actually a great work–I was somewhat surprised.