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| - I bought a 10 class (60day expiration) Groupon so I could finally give Bikram a chance. I am an avid Yoga enthusiast (Astanga, Ying/Yang, Flow, etc) but I only decided to pursue the sweat box that is Bikram when I got a leg injury that prevented me from doing basically any other cardio.
If you are new or unknown to the Bikram world, let me just give you a tiny idea: its extremely standardized, 26 poses done twice each, in the exact same order every single time, done in a room with approx 105F, 55% humidity and where the instructor does not perform the poses with you but instead talks you through the motions and postures for the entire 90mins. You WILL sweat, ache and (if you don't eat enough) risk passing out, getting tunnel vision, faint.
Oh, and then there is the mat hierarchy. Since the class isn't taught by demonstration, the 3 rows of mats get separated by most experienced (Front row) and n00bs (back row) so that the front rowers can show everyone else how its done. I say F to this hierarchy. As soon as I learned the poses, I went to the front. I don't need to get there 20mins before class start so I can get shoved to the back by someone who has done yoga for 10 years and still can't lock her knee. I encourage you to do whatever feels right and tell whoever sends you back to go jump of a bridge. :)
So if Bikram is so damn standard, how do you set aside a good experience/studio from a bad one? Simple. The teacher, the environment, the staff and (most importantly) the hygiene and smells. Remember: you are in a sweat box with 30 people and not all of them sweat like roses and lemons when working out. My first time at BYC, I was struck but the nasty smell of sweat when I entered the locker rooms. Freaking disgusting. Luckily, I never smelled that shit every again, which is why I kept returning - trust me, I could not have finished my Groupon if I had to smell the scent of a decaying corpse every time i went to put on my sports bra.
The teachers, like any other studio, range from amazing to crappy. My favorite teacher is Alison. She is in AMAZING shape, she is kind but she doesn't pick favorites, she doesn't yell into the microphone throughout her class AND she is great at correcting you, doing demos and ensuring you are getting the full benefit of the pose. She notices her returning students and points out when they are getting better, which is just the positive reinforcement you need when you are trying to get into a new yoga field.
And then there's the not-so-great teachers. One of them (Who shall not be named), was overweight, in her late 50s, yelled into the microphone, wore a tiny-weenie-itsy-bitty-floral bikini (and let ALLL her jiggly parts hang out like poorly wrapped tamale). She would come over to you during Savasana and put her feet on top of yours. She wouldn't even ask, she would just do it. As she is doing that, HER SWEAT IS FALLING ON YOU. "Oh dear god", i thought, "if she comes near me, i'm going to puke". I put my feet up in the air so she couldn't step on me and pass to the next person. I don't ever want to have class with a lady like her again. Yeeeeh.
So, why the 4 stars? Because after doing Bikram at other studios, I have come to compare and appreciate my experience at BYC. Most of the teachers really are fantastic. The yoga rooms RARELY smell sweaty (which is a big deterrent from those non-bikram doers btw), the admin staff at the front desk are a joy to be around, the classes aren't too full and the people are very friendly and courteous to each other. Their bathrooms are not crammed, their waiting area is nicely decorated and you get a great community feel that is not easily found elsewhere. Maybe its time for people to stop comparing themselves and bond over the fact that they are all struggling through the sweat-induced pain of holding their leg in the air for 60 seconds. Right? Right. Namaste.
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