Karma Day for Maggie's Hope - June 4th 

What an amazing success! 296 Yogis practiced at our 3 locations on June 4th and raised $1975 to directly support families of Autistic children through Maggie's Hope! What a wonderful community we have! Your gifts will change these children's lives. To learn more about Maggie's Hope, see this video: Health Edge Extra: Help for Autism or browse the Maggie's Hope website. 

Fox Fit Weekend for Maggie's Hope - June 11th

Jeff, Susannah and Donna went to Rough Hollow with the PURE Bikram Yoga Booth and participated in the Fox Fit Weekend Health Fair! Participants in the Run, Ride and Walk as well as health professionals, families and general supporters of Maggie's Hope attended the expo for health education, samples and community awareness. Your PURE staff represented our studios and did what they love to do best - talk about the amazing benefits of Bikram Yoga!

Susannah and Donna with the PURE Bikram Yoga Booth! Click to see more photos from the event!

Loriana Hernandez reports straight from Fox 7 Fit Weekend at Rough Hollow

Surprise Facebook Yoga Class! - June 26th

We announced a secret Facebook class Friday, June 24th, on the PURE Bikram Yoga Facebook wall! We asked that our fans bring a friend who was new to Bikram Yoga to receive a free class and share this great practice! We packed the house and Mardy taught a wonderful 90minutes! New students were introduced to the practice in a largely new-student class! This is a concept we can work with you to develop for your own group with Community Classes. Read on to find out more about introducing new students to PURE Bikram Yoga in a free and fun way! See, it pays to be our Facebook friend! You never know when we will surprise you again!

Bishnu Ghosh Day - July 9th

ALL STUDIOS CLOSED! Bishnu Ghosh was Bikram's Guru. He passed on July 9th 1970. In observance, many Bikram Yoga studios worldwide close their doors for a day of remembrance and thanks. 

Posture Practice - July 16th

1:45-3:00pm Downtown Studio

Kathy Durham will lead the Posture Practice! It is free and the room will not be heated. We have had an enthusiastic turn out at all Practices so far, and the attending students have had wonderful questions about the postures! Their postures are changing dramatically in class! Practice this month will focus on the SPINE!

Summer Youth Camp - July 18th-22nd

Cedar Park, 1:00-4:00pm

Read on for more information.

The Year 2011 marks the 108th anniversary of the birth of Bishnu Charan Ghosh, one of the greatest and most influential yoga masters of the past century, guru of Bikram Choudhury. In remembrance of his life, the Ghosh Yoga College Trust was established to support Ghosh's Yoga College in Kolkata.  

Ghosh, born in Lahore, India in 1903, was a celebrated physical culturist and the first to scientifically document Yoga's ability to cure chronic physical ailments and heal the body. Beginning in the 1920's, he developed a school of Yoga that provides a unique blend of spiritual inspiration and a highly disciplined physical regimen.

Ghosh came from an extraordinary family. He was initiated into the field of yogic exercise and physical education by his guru and older brother, Paramahansa Yogananda, the world renowned Yogi and spiritual master. Yogananda founded the Self Realization Fellowship Center and his book, "Autobiography of a Yogi", continues to be one of the best known and influential works of our time.

Ghosh developed a Yoga regimen that provides a unique blend of spiritual inspiration and highly disciplined physical exercise. His view of the human body as the temple of a living God has been a major force in the renaissance of Hatha Yoga in the West. In 1923, at the young age of 20, he founded the first Ghosh College of Physical Education in Calcutta and his fame quickly spread throughout India. It is now known as the Ghosh Yoga College. Other schools were opened, first in India, and then in locations around the world. With his passing, the school was left to his son, Biswanath (Bisu) Ghosh. As he passed in 2008, it is now run by Bisu's daughter, Muktamala Mitra.  

Nick-named "Tum Tum", she attended Bikram's Teacher Training in the Spring of 2010 with your PURE teachers, Tyler Tanhoff, Susannah Dowling and Gianna Purcell! Both Bikram's wife, Rajashree, and Tum Tum have studied Hatha Yoga Therapy with Prof. (Dr.) P.S. Das, author of Yoga Panacea, and student of Bishnu Ghosh.  

In 1939, Ghosh came to the United States to educate people on the subject of yoga by giving demonstrations of amazing yoga feats. He lectured at Columbia University in New York, generating a great deal of interest in the field, and was widely acknowledged and respected in the academic community. In 1968 he went to Japan with his troupe and traveled all over the country giving lectures and yogic demonstrations. Ghosh's were the first yoga exhibitions to be televised outside of India, and were seen and loved by millions of Japanese.  

In his book, Bikram Yoga, Bikram tells this story about his Guru:

"In February 1970 I left India and went to Japan, for what was supposed to be six months, to take care of some things there for my guru.  I didn't want to go - I was a king in Bombay!  But when your guru tells you to do something, you have to do it.  That's it.  You have no choice.  As I was about to get on the plane at Calcutta Airport, my guru took my hand and told me something, in English, which he never spoke.  "Promise me you will complete my incomplete job," he said.  He meant bringing yoga to the rest of the world, to the West and America.  And I replied, "Yes, I promise.  I will."  Forty years later I'm here in the United States, still performing my Karma Yoga by fixing Broken bodies and screw-loose brains.

"When Bishnu Ghosh bound me in that oath, I had no way of knowing it would be the last time we spoke.  Soon thereafter my guru talked to all his family and friends, gave them his blessings, and said that he would soon take his rest.  he then performed mahasamadhi, withdrawing his Spirit from his body and leaving this Earth at the age of 67.

"Looking back, I can't help feeling sad, mostly because I miss him every second of every day with every ounce of my heart.  But I'm also sad because I forgot to ask him how long I am supposed to continue teaching Hatha Yoga to fulfill my Karma Yoga!  Do I have to keep doing this for my entire life?  With no guru to answer me, I have to conclude that the answer is yes.  To which I say, "No problem!"

Now you know why Bikram created his series and relentlessly teaches yoga to us all. How amazing is that? 

You now know more about Bikram's own Guru, but let's go back a little bit farther. Let's see where the roots of our heated practice were seeded...

It all starts with Mahavatar Babaji, the Father of Kriya. In Sanskrit, kri means karma dhatu - action of the elements, and ya means Soul or Atma. The word Kriya indicates action of the Soul or prana karma. The first and most important action of the soul is breath. 

Babaji, an eternal master, often called the Nameless One, is regarded as a manifestation of Lord Shiva himself. He developed the ancient kriya-yoga, a discipline involving purification of the body-mind organism through breath control techniques, to aid longevity and spiritual evolution. The original Kriya tradition is Guru-Param-Para, meaning that the disciple must receive Kriya initiation personally from his or her Gurudev, or Master. In this fashion, Lahiri Mahasaya was initiated into the yogic science of Kriya Yoga.  

Mahavatar Babaji & Lahiri Mahasaya   

In India, Lahiri Mahasaya was known as Yogiraj for some time. He was unusual among Indian holy men in that he was a householder - he was married, raised a family, and even worked as an accountant for the Military Engineering Department of the British Indian Government. He lived with his family instead of in a temple or monastery. So respected by his Guru, Babaji, he was chosen to reintroduce the fading practice of Kriya Yoga to the world. Lahiri's disciples included both of Paramahansa Yogananda's parents as well as Yogananda's guru, Sri Yukteswar Giri. 

Sri Yukteswar Giri & Paramhansa Yogananda  

Sri Yukteswar Giri was an educator, astronomer, a Jyotisha (Vedic astrologer), a yogi, and a believer in the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible. He spent a great  deal of time in his Guru's presence, often visiting him in Benares. In 1894, he met Yukteswar's Guru, Babaji, who asked him to write a book comparing Hindu scriptures and the Christian Bible. He completed the book in 1894, naming it Kaivalya Darsanam, or The Holy Science. By 1903 he had established two ashrams where he taught students. In 1910, a young 17 year old Mukunda Lal Ghosh became his most well-known disciple, eventually spreading the teachings of Kriya Yoga throughout the world as Paramhansa Yogananda. Paramhansa Yogananda the older brother to Bishnu Ghosh, and Author of Autobiography of a Yogi, describes his meeting of Yukteswar,   

"We entered a oneness of silence; words seemed the rankest  superfuities. Eloquence flowed in soundless chant from heart of master to disciple. With an antenna or irrefragable insight I sensed that my guru knew God, and would lead me to Him. The obscuration of this life disappeared in a fragile dawn of prenatal memories. Dramatic time! Past, present, and future are its cycling scenes. This was not the first sun to find me at these holy feet!"

Yukteswar told Yogananda that he had been sent to him by Mahavatar Babaji for a special purpose. Special indeed. Yogananda is revered for his influence in bringing yoga to the west and throughout the world. Before his journey west, he founded a school for boys that combined modern education techniques with yoga training and ideal. Eventually, this became known as the Ranchi school, and later Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, the Indian branch of his American organization.  In 1920, he journeyed to the United States as India's delegate to an International Religious Liberal convening in Boston. That same year, he founded the Self-Realization Fellowship to disseminate worldwide his teachings on Indian ancient practices of philosophy of Yoga and its tradition of meditation. He too taught Kriya Yoga and other meditation practices to help people achieve an understanding, which he called Self-realization,  

"Self-realization is the knowing in all parts of the body, mind, and soul that  you are now in possession of the kingdom of God; that you do not have to pray that it come to you; that God's omnipresence is your omnipresence; and that all you need to do is improve your knowing."

You love yoga! Your kids can too! Susannah Dowling will lead a Day Camp for kids and teens! Susannah is an experienced teacher and counselor and has worked with children in therapeutic recreational activities. The camp will include confidence building exercises, stress reduction techniques, nutrition education and body balance and coordination through yoga practice. We will practice the postures you regularly do in your Bikram Yoga series as well as other traditional yoga asanas! Monica Rao, Tx Youth Champion, will share her experience in the championships and provide an asana demonstration! Kathy Durham and Tyler Tanhoff will lead a segment in the Synergy style incorporating flying, partner stretching, trust and unity. Special guests, Krystalle and Jeff of New Earth Foods, will contribute for a nutrition segment. This camp will move beyond poses and will encourage kids to explore the unfamiliar with open minds, enjoy movement and experience the benefit of this 5,000 year old practice. We are going to have so much fun!