Feeing the Heat in Bikram Yoga

Oh my God. It is SO HOT IN HERE! When will it be over? I’m in a Bikram Yoga East Side class in NYC (www.bikramyogaeast.com). Yoga teacher Viraj Santini who’s barking, “Come on yoginis and yogis. PUSH! PUSH! PULL!” The room is over 100 degrees and sweat drips from my face onto my yoga mat. “Push your knees down. DON’T BE SO LAZY! You want benefits? Sometimes you’ve got to struggle to make progress. You think it’s going to come to you on a gold platter?”

Viraj Santini, New York City’s first male Bikram yoga teacher has been teaching a tough-love Bikram method for 14 years. (http://www.bikramyoga.com) But he used to be a stand-up comic, so at least he’s funny. For the first breathing exercise he says, “Open your mouth wide like you’re having a wisdom tooth taken out.” When we do Awkward Pose, a deep squat, he yells, “COME ON, BALANCE THOSE LAPTOPS!” On Triangle Pose -- arms straight out -- he says, “Spread ‘em out hard -- you shouldn’t have any cottage cheese hanging from your triceps.”

It’s hard to laugh in a room hotter than a broiling oven, but how can you not when he helps someone twist an extra inch in spinal twist and says, “I should charge you for that. I just gave you a nice adjustment. A chiropractor would charge $75.00.”

On the last breathing exercise, two rounds of exhaling 50 breaths quickly, he says to someone, “Did you have a deprived childhood? Didn’t you learn how to blow out a birthday candle?”

And then, it’s over. I can’t wait to leave. I hate this class – but I’ll be back because it works, and so far, it hasn’t killed me -- not yet.