Rip Rowan
In 1996 I was suddenly afflicted with a serious case of sciatica. Without warning or explanation, my lumbar discs began bulging and one herniated slightly. For six weeks I was unable to move. I declined surgery. After two years of physical therapy, I was able only to perform light exercise, and continuously struggled with lower back pain for the next 12 years.
At the time, my physical therapist suggested yoga, but it just didn't seem like something I would enjoy. For over a decade, therapists, doctors, chiropractors, and even a counselor suggested yoga, but I stubbornly refused. Over the course of the years, I added 40 pounds, and my body became weak and soft. I learned to be very gentle with my back to avoid re-injury. It healed a little but it never got stronger. Finally yet another person kindly suggested I try yoga, so that day, driving by the Bikram studio on Mockingbird, I impulsively walked in. John Brunei was celebrating his 1000th class, and everyone was standing around eating cake. Impressed, I thought "if he can do this, then maybe I can do this, too."
I signed up and attended my first yoga class. Immediately I could tell that this was not only an intense exercise, but also one which required a great degree of concentration and mental stillness. I could also tell that the class had the potential to improve my back injury. Of course, I couldn't do most of the postures and fumbled my way through class. The instructor said that new students should try to come back the next day, so I did. That class was harder. It was all I could do to just stay in the room for 90 minutes. After class, someone said something about a 60-day challenge, so I asked one of the instructors about the challenge, and decided to try it. I figured if I came every day for 60 days I'd either love yoga or hate it. Maybe both.
In the second month of my challenge I went on vacation for 8 days to New York City, and didn't attend a single class. As a result, when I returned, I had to make up 7 classes in my last 12 days - that's 19 classes in 12 days - and I was still a total novice in my first two months of yoga. It seemed impossible, but somehow I kept coming, and made up my classes in those 12 days.
Encouraged by my determination, I decided to try to do another 60 day challenge, and in March I finished those 60 days successfully. Now I'm curious how long I can sustain this, so I have started a third 60 day challenge. So, here at the beginning of April 2008, I've attended 140 classes in 140 days, starting from my very first yoga class ever. I feel like I am accomplishing something very positive in my life.
I have begun to learn a lot about my body from yoga. I tend to be a skeptical person, so I was pretty turned off by the many claims made about the benefits of Bikram yoga. It sounded like an infomercial. However, I have come to believe that most if not all the claims are true. In particular, this yoga does stimulate the glands (especially the thyroid) and the immune system. My sleep and energy patterns have gone through a number of dramatic changes in only a few months. I have also lost at least twenty pounds, or about six inches around my spare tire. I believe this is due as much to the stimulation of the thyroid, pituitary, and other glands as it is to the effects of the muscular exercise. My eating habits have also changed as a result of the glandular stimulation. I am hungry for entirely different foods in entirely different proportions now. Other forms of exercise never produced these kinds of changes for me, so I attribute them to the unique qualities of Bikram yoga.
I am continuously amazed by my back's ability to tolerate the extreme stretching this yoga requires. Although I am still a very long way from "flexible", I am able to move my back in ways I never imagined I would be able to. I attribute this to the heat and the specific order of the postures we perform in class. Each posture prepares you for the next, and as a person who is unusually sensitive to what my lower back tells me, I can attest that the postures and the heat definitely have a synergistic effect that allow your body to achieve much deeper and stronger stretching safely.
My back is not "healed", but it is healing. I still have lower back pain, but my back is definitely stronger and more flexible than it has been for years. Vertebrae and cartilage that have been frozen in place for a decade are starting to shift around and move for the first time. This is wonderfully encouraging. I imagine that one day my back will be fully healed, limber and mobile. I continue to see improvements every week, so I stay encouraged.
I find Bikram yoga to be a source of endless curiousities, paradoxes, and contradictions. You come for the exercise, and end up meditating. You think you're exhausted, only to discover you're invigorated. You come angry and depressed to bend your body in impossible ways in a tortuously hot room only to leave feeling happy and refreshed. It makes no sense at all. I love it. Here are some more of my insights about Bikram yoga:
"The Solution to Yoga is More Yoga"
Bikram yoga produces a unique stiffness and soreness which can only be cured by more Bikram yoga. While this is amusing, it is also telling: this yoga really is about healing as much as it is about exercising. After all, you wouldn't lift weights to help alleviate the soreness caused by lifting weights, would you? Moreover, I have yet to witness any kind of injury in class from any student, which is strong evidence to me of the safety of this yoga. By comparison, I can only imagine the number of injuries I would witness if, for example, I ran or played tennis for 90 minutes every day for four months with 30-50 other people. This evidence gives me confidence to go deeper and try harder in my yoga practice. It also demonstrates to me the power of daily yoga practice.
"The Stronger I Get, the More I Need Rest"
Curiously, the more yoga I do, the harder it is to do every day. This is the reverse of what I expected. It seems that now that I am getting stronger and better able to do the postures, I am going deeper in the stretches and working my muscles a lot harder. So when I am feeling strong, I push my body a lot harder than I used to, and it takes longer to recover. As a result I have had to start resting every few days. I find it ironic that the stronger I get, the more I need to rest after class.
(Reply from BYD) Patience Rip, your body is experiencing the healing process. It's normal to feel that your body needs extra rest during this time. It's great that you're listening to your body's needs. By maintaining a consistent regular practice and as your body heals you will feel more energized and need less sleep. As Bikram says, "it's like putting money in the bank, eventually in the future you can live off the interest".
"This Will Soon Change"
Over the past 140 days, I have been amazed by the number of "issues" that arise, then vanish only to be replaced by completely different "issues". Early on, my left hip and pelvis became very painful and stiff. Some postures became nearly impossible. I complained to the staff, who encouraged me to come to more yoga. Within a couple of weeks, this passed and was replaced shortly by a terrific stiffness and soreness in my mid-back. So I complained to the staff, who suggested I come to more yoga. Soon thereafter this problem cleared up, or, rather, moved up to my neck. So - you guessed it - I'm coming to more yoga. After all, the solution to yoga is more yoga.
When the hip problems started, I was really fearful that I was injuring myself. Now I've learned that what's happening is that my body is changing. The great thing is that when I just keep coming to more yoga, soon enough the change will take place, and whatever is bothering me will be replaced by something new and totally different. I've learned to look forward to these "issues" because they mean that part of my body is getting ready to change and improve.
"Judge Not"
I have also learned that on any given day I have no earthly idea what kind of class I will have. Some days I feel strong, but tire quickly. Other days I feel exhausted by the end of Pranayama deep breathing but finish like a rock star. So I try to just show up and do what I can, and not judge how class seems to be going.
"Surrender to Win"
One of the things I like most about Bikram yoga is the tremendous discomfort caused by the heat. It forces me to stop my monkey brain and just move through the postures with as little analytical thought as possible. The more I think about class, the more I suffer. But if I just surrender to the heat, and "just do it" without judgment or analysis, the easier it becomes. And so, meditation creeps quietly in through the back door, and without realizing it, at some point in class I begin to meditate as I do the postures. When I leave, my mind is quiet and calm.
The absurdly uncomfortable heat really is a powerful emotional and spiritual feature of this yoga. I have had a few days in which I was profoundly emotional, angry, and depressed when I came to class. I would not have been able to pay attention in any "regular" sort of exercise class because my mind was racing with dark thoughts. However, the heat literally beat me into submission, and I was forced to let go of my attachment to my emotional problems in order to survive the class. In exchange, I received the priceless gift of peace.
Finally, one of the things that must be mentioned in any testimonial on this yoga and this studio is the tremendous sense of family engendered by the staff. All of the instructors go out of their way to get to know the students and to develop a positive, encouraging rapport with them. Although I have only been doing this yoga for a very short time, the studio has come to feel like "home" and the staff like "family". They are among the most nurturing, positive people one would ever hope to meet. They are a unique asset to this studio, and have become a real asset in my life. Thanks, everyone.
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Rip Rowan
