8 Health Benefits of Bikram Yoga

Bikram Yoga is practiced in a room heated to 105 °F (41 °C) with a humidity of 40%. Typical Bikram yoga beginning series classes run for 90 minutes and stick with a specific set of 26 postures – 24 asanas plus two breathing exercises. Picking proper yoga wear is crucial for practicing Bikram yoga.

What makes Bikram yoga so special?

There are many benefits of Bikram yoga, some of which are similar to other yoga styles, and some of which are unique to Bikram yoga due to the high temperatures themselves. Read on to acknowledge 8 health benefits of Bikram yoga.

1. Allow you to stretch more deeply

One of the first things people discover when they start practicing hot yoga is that they become more able to stretch deeper into poses than during other yoga classes performed in a cooler temperature. Because the heat makes soft tissues more relaxed and elastic and based on that fact, stretching in warm room enhance your flexibility and achieve a greater range of motion. 

2. Remove toxins from your body

Due to the higher temperature, you sweat a lot during Bikram yoga, and sweating is an effective way of removing certain toxins for the body.

3. Improve lung capacity

The emphasised thoracic, abdominal, and clavicular breathing exercises in Bikram yoga help to increase oxygen intake. Having more oxygen in your blood flow helps to increase your lungs capacity, especially helpful for aged people. 

4. Increase circulation of the body

Doing Bikram yoga increases blood flow due to the body’s natural response to the high temperatures. And as long as blood carries vital oxygen and nutrients, the more blood flow that your tissues and organs receive, the better oxygenated and nourished they will be.

5. Boost immune system

Hot yoga improves your immune system by stimulating the lymphatic system, which plays a key role in keeping you healthy and fighting illnesses because your lymphatic system circulates immune cells throughout the body.

6. Increase bone density

Supporting your weight during a yoga pose can help build bone density, while striking different yoga poses in high heat present a more challenging workout than doing the same poses in a lower temperature.

7. Help with weight loss by burning more calories

A hot yoga workout will burn more calories than traditional yoga. Traditional yoga can burn around 183 calories per hour. During a hot yoga session, the calorie burn can reach up to 330 for women and 460 for men.

8. Reduce stress and anxiety

Bikram yoga is a low impact and low intensity workout that boost relaxation, practicers are required to focus on breathing and asanas, the process helps yogi to temporarily get away from real life problems and reduce stress and anxiety.

At the same time, doing Bikram yoga improves their health-related quality of life, as well as their self efficacy – the belief that you have control over your behavior and social environment helps with stress relief as well.