The Bikram Method is practiced in a heated room to ease muscles and joints, prevent injury and aid the healing of existing injuries, as well as promoting detoxification through sweating. Bikram Choudhury scientifically designed this 90 minute program to deliver total health through the balancing and strengthening of every system in the body in order to prevent illness, injury and the limiting effects of ageing. Bikram specifically tailored this series to systematically move fresh oxygenated blood to 100% of the body - to every organ, bone, joint, muscle, ligament, tendon, tissue, fibre, blood vessel, nerve and gland. Bikram says: "The roots of your hair and fingernails will feel it, your teeth, your eyes, your face, All." Vibrant good health and a sense of well being will automatically follow. Of equal importance is the principal that physical exertion and relaxation operate most effectively simultaneously. The control of breathing (Pranayama) and the cantering of concentration accomplish this. Each posture is followed by a brief relaxation during which the body can process the benefits of the preceding pose. One leaves the class feeling rejuvenated, not exhausted. It is unrivalled as a means of improving body health, strength and suppleness, of releasing stress, improving concentration, balance and determination and calming the mind. How quickly you progress will depend entirely on you -- upon your natural ability to a small extent, but mostly upon the time and effort you give to Yoga. It will have little to do with how "perfectly" you can do the poses. Few of us ever do the poses "perfectly". Instead, it will have to do with how well you understand what you are trying to accomplish in each pose, how you try to accomplish your goal, and how supple your muscles and joints have become in comparison to the point at which you began. In Yoga there is no standard of comparison except yourself. To be 'Perfect' in Yoga is to do the best you can do.
