There are many types of hot yoga which originated from Bikram Yoga. These include Moksha Yoga, Barkan Method, etc

Ted Grand, a Bikram trained teacher, founded Moksha Hot Yoga in Canada. Moksha Yoga follows similar pricicples, however, has some major differences. In Moksha Yoga, the room is not as hot or humid as Bikram Yoga; it is not a consistant length of time; it doesn't follow a script; it doesn't follow a prescribe series of postures and the training for Moksah Yoga teachers is much shorter than the 9 week training Bikram Yoga teachers are required to attend in order to become a certified Bikram Yoga Teacher.

Moksha Yoga is a form of hot yoga that is ideal for the yoga beginner as well as the seasoned practitioner. Every Moksha Yoga class takes you through a series of strengthening and toning postures in the detoxifying calm of a heated studio. There are Moksha Yoga studios across Canada and abroad.

Jimmy Barkan, creator of the Barkan Method, a hot vinyasa series of postures. The Barkan Method also shares it roots in Bikram Yoga. Jimmy Barkan began as a Bikram Yoga certified teacher before moving on.

The Barkan Method is a style of Hatha Yoga that originated from a lineage in Calcutta, India. The Barkan Method finds its roots from this lineage in Calcutta, but also integrates postures from other styles of Yoga to create variations and even greater range of motion. The yoga classes are practiced in a heated room to stretch and strengthen various areas of the body. The practice brings vital balance and restores all systems to optimal health. Consistency will create a physical, mental and spiritual harmony that will be felt in all areas of the practitioner's life.

Top 10 Benefits of Bikram Hot Yoga

1) Increased Vitality
If you want to gain more spring in your step and recover the “vim and vigor” of youth, the Bikram series practiced in a heated room is a great form of yoga. It has the potential to reverse the elements of aging, giving you the ability to take much deeper breaths to navigate your way through a hectic modern world or simply run up a flight of stairs! Keep up with a consistent practice and you’re guaranteed to look and feel younger.

2) Weight Loss/Body Shaping
Practicing Bikram Yogain a heated room creates a much safer approach to your yoga practice as it allows you to stretch deeper with a reduced risk of injury. This is turn leads to stronger flexibility in the muscles which burns fat. As every fitness trainer knows, building muscle burns fat — doing the Bikram sequence in a hot room jump-starts this process.

Additionally, one of the overall effects of Bikram yoga is a general improvement in diet as the body craves healthier food. As the practice itself sharpens our perception of the mind-body connection, so does our overall awareness of what the body needs, reinvigorating the body’s natural processes to long for healthier food.

3) Detoxify Your Body
The massive elimination of toxins from the body occurs during hot yoga, primarily thru sweat. It’s possible to drop up to 10 pounds of sweat (which includes oil, salts and water) during a class. As water rushes out during the course of a 90 minute class, this creates immense benefits such as super clean skin and the detoxification of pores in the body’s largest organ — the skin.

4) Increase Your Mental Clarity
As the body is cleansed, the mind is sharpened. Regular Bikram practice leads to  improved mental clarity, clearing out the “fuzz in brain” caused by the modern world’s list of negative stimuli — traffic, stress, bad food, pollution, etc.

In addition, poses with significant time spent in forward bends sends blood rushing to the head, which is a fantastic way to “clear out the mental cobwebs.”

5) Reduce Stress
Perhaps one of the most significant Bikram Yoga benefits is the increased connectivity with the body, gained from regular practice. The intense focus in the sequence causes the chatter of the mind to decrease, leaving one less mentally preoccupied, both in and out of the class. Also, with consistent practice, the muscle memory of taking deeper breaths carries over into daily life, automatically providing instant relief to the temporary stressors that plague our modern world.

6) Tone and Strengthen Your Muscles
Yoga poses use all the muscles in your body and help you increase your strength level from head to toe. The benefits of yoga and daily exercises will help you strengthen your muscles close to the bones, which increase the support of your skeletal system as well.

7) Reduce Risk of Injury when Participating in Other Sports
Yoga postures (asanas) are perhaps the best type of exercises you can do to improve flexibility. Flexibility is essential for avoiding injuries as well as for the health of the joints, tendons and muscles.

8) Increase the Power of Your Body to Heal Itself
The power of Yoga to heal ailments and cure diseases is becoming more and more an integral part of mainstream medical practice and treatment methods. This ability of Yoga to heal also promotes longevity.

9) Expand Your Lung Capacity and Strengthen Your Heart
Improve the amount of oxygen taken in during the daily exercises. Yoga will help improve your body's circulation. In turn, with daily exercises, you will see the benefits of yoga with lowered blood pressure and pulse rates.

10) Pain Relief
Daily exercises of yoga can help ease the aches and pains of the body. Many people with very serious diseases have reported less pain after these daily exercises, such as asanas or meditation.

A bonus benefit
11) Live Longer...
with an increased quality of life.

 

Why 40.5º C?

Yoga changes the construction of the body from the inside out, from bones to skin and from fingertips to toes. So before you change it, you have to heat it up to soften it, because a warm body is a flexible body. Then you can reshape the body any way you want.

Hatha Yoga flushes away the waste products, the toxins of all the glands and organs of your body. It provides a natural irrigation of the body through the circulatory system, with the help of the respiratory system. It brings nourishments to every cell of your body so that each one can perform its function and keep your body healthy. Bikram Yoga also employs heat to further that cleaning process: When you sweat, impurities are flushed out of the body through the skin.

Practicing yoga not only increases our supplies of oxygen, but it also teaches us how to use that oxygen properly – we learn to control the breath through pranayama.

26 Postures and 2 Breathing Exercises:

Bikram Yoga's twenty-six posture exercises systematically move fresh, oxygenated blood to one hundred percent of your body, to each organ and fiber, restoring all systems to healthy working order, just as Nature intended. Proper weight, muscle tone, vibrant good health, and a sense of well being will automatically follow.

Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class is a twenty-six asana series designed to scientifically warm and stretch muscles, ligaments and tendons, in the order in which they should be stretched. Below is the list of 26 hatha yoga postures and their benefits.

Standing Deep Breathing
Pranayama(Sanskrit)

• helps prevent respiratory problems such as bronchitis, emphysema and shortness of breath
• helps with mental relaxation
• helps high blood pressure
• relieves irritability
• good for detoxification
• exercises nervous, respiratory and circulatory systems

Half Moon Pose
Ardha-Chandrasana(Sanskrit)

• strengthens every muscle in the body's core, especially in the abdomen, and flexes and strengthens the latissimus dorsi, oblique, deltoid and trapezious muscles
• increases the flexibility of the spine comprehensively, from coccyx to neck; promotes proper kidney function; and helps to cure enlargement of the liver and spleen
• firms and trims the waistline, hips, abdomen, buttocks and thighs

Awkward Pose
Utkatasana(Sanskrit)

• stretches the spine and increases flexibility, as does Half Moon
• both poses firm and trim the lower body, where many problem areas, especially for women, reside
• works the muscles, ligaments and tendons of the legs and improves circulation there as well

Eagle Pose
Garurasana(Sanskrit)

• tone and shape your legs
• heals chronically cold feet
• helps relieve rheumatism and arthritis in the legs, and helps to cure slipped discs and other problems in the lower spine
  

Standing Head to Knee
Dandayamana-Janushirasana(Sanskrit)

• opens up the 14 largest joints in the skeletal system.
• beyond improving flexibilities in the hips, knees, ankles and the rest, Eagle Pose also supplies fresh blood to the reproductive system and sex organs, plus the kidneys, which increases sexual vitality and helps clear up reproductive problems
  

Standing Bow Pose
Dandayamana-Dhanurasana(Sanskrit)

• moves all the blood from one side of the body to the other, then back again
• develops balance, increases the size and elasticity of the rib cage, firms the abdominal wall and upper thighs
• improves the flexibility and strength of the lower spine
• builds patience, determination and concentration
  

Balancing Stick
Tuladandasana(Sanskrit)

• the forward tilt of your torso sends high-speed blood pouring into the heart, especially the neglected region, cleaning out the veins and all the arteries, strengthening the heart muscle.
• the same rejuvenating flood rushes into the brain as well.
• strengthens your powers of concentration
  

Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose
Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Paschimotthanasana(Sanskrit)

• like kryptonite for sciatica! That's because it stretches and strengthens those poor crushed and shriveled sciatic nerves, as well as all the tendons in the legs.
• also messages the internal abdominal organs and the small and large intestines, and gives you added flexibility in the pelvis, ankles, hip joints and especially in the last five vertebrae of the spine
  

Triangle Pose
Trikanasana(Sanskrit)

• improves every single bone, muscle, joint, tendon and internal organ, and it revitalizes nerves, veins and tissues.
• flexing and strengthening the last five vertebrae in this posture can alleviate crooked spines, as well as rheumatism and lower back pain.
• also benefits the heart and lungs, forcing them to work together
  

Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee Pose
Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Janushirasana(Sanskrit)

• trims the abdomen, waistline, hips, buttocks and thighs.
• messages and compresses the thyroid gland, which helps to regulate the metabolism and the immune system
  
  

Tree Pose
Tadasana(Sanskrit)

• improves posture and balance and increses the flexibility of the ankles and knees as well as the hip joints
• by strethening the internal oblique muscles, it prevents hernia
  

Toe Stand
Padangustasana(Sanskrit)

• strengthens the knees and is therapeutic for rheumatism of the knees, ankles, and feet
• opens up the knee and hip joints, and helps cure hemorrhoid problems
• develops mental strength
  

Dead Body Pose
Savasana(Sanskrit)

• facilitates powerful blood flow, then lets circulation return to normal, creating internal cleansing and greatly magnifying the benefits of the postures that precede it
• we begin to learn relaxation
  

Wind-Removing Pose
Pavanamuktasana(Sanskrit)

• compresses and messages the ascending colon and descending colon
• also messages the transverse colon and compresses the entire digestive system
• strengthens the arms, prevents flatulence, improves hip flexibility, and firms the abdomen and thighs
  

Sit Up - Hands to Feet
Pada-Hasthasana(Sanskrit)

• strengthens and tightens the abdomen
• open mouth exhalation stimulates diaphragm and eliminates toxins from lungs
  
  

Cobra Pose
Bhujangasana(Sanskrit)

• has many of the same benefits as Cobra, but it is even better for slipped discs and sciatica
• strengthens the upper spine, and the uncomfortable stretching of the arms can actually relieve tennis elbow
• helps with varicose veins in the legs

Locust Pose
Salabhasana(Sanskrit)

• many of the same benefits as Cobra, but it is even better for slipped discs and sciatica
• strengthens the upper spine, and the uncomfortable stretching of the arms can actually relieve tennis elbow.
• helps with varicose veins in the legs

Full Locust Pose
Poorna-Salabhasana(Sanskrit)

• increases strength in the middle spine; it is good for scoliosis, kyphosis, spondylosis and slipped discs
• opens up the rib cage and increases elasticity there
• firms the abdominal muscles, upper arms, hips and thighs

Bow Pose
Dhanurasana(Sanskrit)

• opens up the rib cage, which allows the lungs to expand more fully
• this 360-degree flexion of the spine revitalizes all the spinal nerves by increasing circulation, and strengthens the spine along its entire length
• besides helping with all manner of back problems, Bow Pose aids digestion, fights constipation, and combats bronchitis and diabetes while improving the functioning of the large and small intestines, the liver, kidneys and spleen

Fixed Firm Pose
Supta-Vajrasana(Sanskrit)

• strengthens and improves the flexibility of the lower spine, hips, knees and ankle joints.
• increases circulation to the lower limbs, and is therapeutic for lower back pain, sciatica, rheumatism and varicose veins.
• helps prevent hernias

Half Tortoise Pose
Ardha-Kurmasana(Sanskrit)

• can actually help us to live longer.
• great for tense necks and shoulders.
• increases blood flow to the brain, which enhances memory and mental clarity.
• stretches the lower part of the lungs, which is therapeutic for asthma, and counter indigestion, flatulence, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome

Camel Pose
Ustrasana(Sanskrit)

• creates maximum compression of the spine, which stimulates the nervous system.
• also improves flexibility of the neck and spine, relieves backache, and helps degenerative spinal problems such as kyphoscoliotic deformities and cervical spondylosis.
• by stretching the abdominal organs, Camel helps constipation, and it also stretches the throat and thyroid and parathyroid glands

Rabbit Pose
Sasangasana(Sanskrit)

• aximum extension of the spine increases its mobility and elasticity, and does the same for the back muscles.
• spines stretching also expedites the feeding of the nervous system with fresh blood and oxygen.
• relieves tension in the neck, shoulders and back.
• helps alleviate colds, sinus problems, and chronic tonsillitis and, through compression of thyroid and parathyroid, rejuvenates those glands as well.
• can also be therapeutic for insomnia, diabetes and depression

Head to Knee Pose and Stretching Pose
Janushirasana and Paschimotthanasana(Sanskrit)

• excellent for the immune and lymphatic systems, increases circulation to the liver, pancreas, thyroid, thymus and intestines.
• improves digestion and is good for allergies and arthritis.
• It also relieves chronic diarrhea by improving the circulation in the bowels

Spine-Twisting Pose
Ardha-Matsyendrasana(Sanskrit)

• the only posture that twists the spine from top to bottom, which increases circulation to all the spinal nerves, veins, and tissues, and improves the elasticity of the spine.
• relieves lower back pain and helps prevent slipped discs, rheumatism of the spine, kyphosis, scoliosis, cervical spondylosis and arthritis.
• calms the nervous system

Blowing in Firm Pose
Kapalbhati in Vajrasana(Sanskrit)

• improves digestion and circulation, and increases the elasticity of the lungs with every forceful exhale.
• you generate prana, and push out every ounce of carbon dioxide, replacing it with life-giving oxygen.
• strengthens the abdominal organs and increases circulation to them.
• blowing in Firm stimulates the digestive system as well

 

You can fully enjoy the benefits of this Yoga series only in the Bikram's approved Studios. These Bikram Yoga Studios are situated throughout the world. These studios are built in such a way that you always get the proper heating (40.5º C) which help you to do your postures optimally. Bikram calls these studios as "Torture Chambers".

Only Bikram certified Teachers can teach class in these studios. Thus you always learn the pure, clean and original Bikram Yoga.

Numerous studies have been made throughout the world about the benefits of yoga. It is high time that you should find a nearest Bikram Yoga Studio and enroll today!