This is my first yoga experience. I started when one of my friends would not stop raving about how awesome bikram yoga is. Although I was initially skeptical (rather scared) about exercising in 100 degrees and increased humidity, I decided to give it a try and purchased a groupon offer. I have to say the practice itself far exceeded my expectations. I am quite athletic and had stayed away from yoga so far because it didn't seem challenging enough. I did learn my lesson (in a good way) with bikram yoga. Every session is an intense workout for each and every muscle in the body but also very relaxing and detoxifying afterwards. The best part for me was that I had been suffering from back pain for 1.5 years (sometimes so bad I couldn't fall asleep without using back patches) and it just disappeared after the first class to never came back.
As for the studio, I was very surprised at some of the negative reviews. Quite a few of them mentioned the carpeting, and people not wearing much. The carpeting is a necessity or people would be slipping and sliding all over. As for the clothes, it is 100+ degrees in there as it should be and people dress accordingly. This is like complaining that people wear bikinis to a beach. I was especially surprised by the few negative reviews mentioning the instructors. I took classes with every single instructor and they were all very supportive (and I do drink water and wipe my sweat off every class) and kind. They learn everyone's names in a few classes and despite the number of people taking the classes, there is attention paid to every student. Not only do they correct you kindly so you don't injure yourself but they also recognize out loud when you are doing a posture well. I was doing at least one thing wrong with at least half the postures when I started out (I am terrible at synchronizing what I hear with what I do) and in a couple of weeks, I got all the postures down right thanks to the instructors.
I have been having a great experience with bikram yoga in this studio. I feel refreshed and stronger after every class. Not to mention how I had a free fix to my back pain. I will definitely continue practicing here after my groupon expires.