What is Yoga?

The obvious textbook answer to this question is the connection between mind, body and spirit. Bikram's definition is an hour and a half longer than that....YOGA IS EVERYTHING! It is the physical, mental, emotional, astronomical, etc. aspects of our being.  In other words, it's the exchange of philosophies on life. In every fraction of a second, you are doing yoga.

For those of you who are not as familiar with Bikram Yoga, it is the practice of 26 postures taught in the same exact order and temperature every time, no exceptions. Just like the alphabet has 26 letters, if you practice "A to Z" you work out everything. The minute you change the sequence, even by one hair, you lose all the benefits of the practice.

Fact: Yoga maintains youth and immunity to diseases. Bikram made an interesting comparison to prove his point last night. Professional athletes who do more sports (think boxing, football, running, everything) actually die sooner through excessive wear and tear on the body. While the more yoga you do, enables you to live longer. For all of you financial gurus out there, let me put it this way: if your life/your being is the Principal, then we're all just living on the Interest.  YOGA IS THE INTEREST in bank accounts of life.

HATHA YOGA is everything to do with the human body.

The maximum influence on our lives and bodies is called PRANA, which is the union of the sun (right side) and moon (left side) that creates life force as we know it. Too much sun and the world is cooked. Too much moon, we freeze in darkness.  Prana protects all of us.

This is my yoga and what it looks like daily.

Bikram has helped millions of people recover from injuries and terminal illnesses when Western medicine fails. He sighted really interesting celebrity examples, and one very personally moving example of someone with Leukemia (cancer of the blood), which he was able to flush out of the person's system in 60 days with Bikram Yoga. I shed a tear over this story last night, wondering if my dad had known about Bikram or had the resources to work with him privately, if yoga could have saved his precious life from an untimely death. We will never know for sure. My mom swears he was too sick for alternative treatments and I remember feeling the same way 18 years ago, but let's just say this...I'm not taking any chances!! Why would you? When the world economy was down 45% last year and the Bikram Yoga business was up 65%, having it's best year ever, those are stats I am not going to challenge (and neither would my financial advisor!!)