Bikram Yoga

Bikram Yoga – Hot, New Energy Source
By Jolene Schwartz

As people search for curative and restorative effects to combat the impact of a chaotic world, Yoga has become very popular in our culture. Yoga is for everyone and can be done by every body. Yoga is the only exercise from which you gain energy instead of burning it and it doesn't matter how well you do each of the postures, only that you do it the right way. Traditional cardio exercise works on 3-10% of the body, Yoga exercises 100% of the body, from bone to the skin, from head to the toes, and to every organ, gland, tissue and cell.

Bikram Yoga is practiced in a 105 degree heated room and consists of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises ... "So what does the heat do," you wonder? 105 degrees enhances Vasodilatation, and the capillaries surrounding the muscles respond to heat by dilating and the greater volume of blood brings more oxygen, helping in the removal of waste carbon dioxide and lactic acid. When blood passes through warm muscles, oxygen releases more easily from the hemoglobin, blood passing through cold muscles releases much less oxygen.

Warmer muscle tissue temperatures produce a fluid-like stretch that allows greater elasticity and range of motion. Cold muscles don't absorb shock or impact as well, so they tend to be injured more easily.

Heat speeds up the breakdown of fatty acids and glucose, and burns fat faster and more easily. The stress of intense exercise drops a deluge of fatty acids into the bloodstream. If you exercise with cold muscles they can't use the fatty acids as efficiently and they end up in places they aren't wanted ... such as in the lining of the arteries.

Muscles are not the only beneficiaries of heat, higher temperatures improve the nervous system function, meaning messages are carried more rapidly to and from the brain by the spinal cord and other neural transmitters and receptors.

Day by day as Yoga gains popularity, people sweat, strain, laugh and do more for their body, health, and well being than they could ever have imagined with Bikram Hot Yoga.

© 2005 Jolene Schwartz

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