‘How little time do I have to spend in order to get maximum benefits’ seems to be the burning question these days. Guidelines from government health organisations seem to lower each year. Taking the stairs instead of the lift now counts as a daily activity and then there is HIIT (3minutes).
The realization that ‘more’ people are ‘less’ mobile than previous generations seems to be driver for the lowered standards and I am sure there is plenty of science to back it up. Anything that will motivate people who don’t move into moving in ANY way is good. All very much focused on the physical (altho’ I recognise for some it will take real mental determination to use the stairs – after all, there is no elevator to success even here). Of course there will be important mental benefits for those following the gov guidelines. The measures being met will bring victory and improved self esteem. All important. All good.
Bikram Yoga is 90 minutes. Long. You might think it makes it a real hard sell in today’s fast moving world and official guidelines. Occasionally someone rocks up to YM who thinks the class is 1 hour and their face drops when they realise 90 minutes is the deal. The first 45 minutes is just a warm up!
YOGA brings vast benefits that EVERYONE is entitled to and deserving of. Benefits more than worth the investment of time, effort, class fee. I may appear biased but it is my firm belief that this stuff simply cannot be limited to 30 minutes or even one hour; that’s just maintenance. Regular practitioners will know you only begin to get into the bare bones of it about an hour in; this is the point where many (new) will find they start resisting mentally and must PUSH against that to find their true potential. You cannot limit yourself out of this game! Don’t sell yourself short. Nothing less than 90 minutes would do it really. And Yoga is cumulative. You are not just maintaining a standard of physical fitness; you invest more time and effort you get more AND MORE back.
Yogasana is just a medium, a tool for the real stuff. The relentless instructions, the heat, the humidity, the moving of the body – these are just tools. The real Yoga happens between your ears and just think about the opportunities opening to you here – expanding your potential to reach the ULTIMATE benefit. The Yogis knew all this millennia before us; Whilst the west was working to conquer peoples and acquire lands; the Indians were looking to conquer the mind and attain bliss state. In the last 100 or so years we have slowly turned our heads in India’s direction to gaze and start to wonder and (say) in last 30 years alone we have really started to examine and ‘get it’. The Yoga tool is freely available to us. The Indian’s refined it and gifted it to the world. THANK YOU INDIA! And we are receiving it well I am pleased to say.
Why do you think the Challengers are investing so much right now? Many of them have done a Challenge before but many of them have not. They have made sacrifices in order to be able to work hard in the hot room; some might even say the sacrifices made to just get to each class was the hardest part of the Challenge for them (see previous post – the Hidden Challenges of Doing a Challenge). ALL of them either know or believe it is going to be worth their effort. ALL of these strong people know there is no such thing as a free lunch. A Bikram Yogi is a person who wants more and will give more to get more. A Bikram Yogi is person who knows THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS.
Om Om Om DON’T WISH FOR IT. WORK FOR IT.
Namaste ~ Trisha