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Greetings!
"Give me a fever and I can cure anything."
-Hippocrates
We agree. We've got Bikram fever and it's getting us all hot and steamy! Er...wait, maybe it's just the Texas heat making us sweat? Either way, a little fever is a good thing. Remember, in the yoga room, the high temperature is there to:
- Keep the body from overheating (contrary to popular misconception)
- Protect the muscles to allow for deeper stretching
- Detoxify the body (open pores to let toxins out)
- Thin the blood to clear the circulatory system
- Increase heart rate for better cardiovascular workout
- Improve strength by putting muscle tissue in optimal state for reorganization
- Reorganize the lipids (fat) in the muscular structure
Bikram fever is highly contagious, and in this case, it's more of a cure all than a nuisance. Let the fever spread! Yes, it's okay to share this fever with your friends! Read on to find out about our Karma Classes. They are a great way to introduce friends to this practice. In this issue of PURE News, you'll also see how one of our students is sparking a fever in others in the classroom!
We are always giving updates, banter, feedback and fun on our PURE Bikram Yoga page! If you haven't joined the fun yet, be our fan!
PURE Bikram Yoga is also on Twitter!
Check out our YouTube Channel full of Bikram Yoga videos! 
Don't forget, our web page is continuously being updated with Press, Testimonials, and Special Events! Take a look around!
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Recent Events
Keep reading for important schedule changes, specials, happenings and celebrations!
May
Posture Practice
Another great Posture Practice at the Downtown studio! Kathy led students through the finer details and pinpointed tips of Standing Head to Knee, Standing Bow Pulling, and Balancing Stick Postures. If you missed out, make sure to come to the next one to improve your postures and understanding of the practice!
June
LA Visit
Mardy and Susannah are in LA right now checking in on our 4 Teacher Trainees and cheering on PURE Teacher, Afton, as she competes in the International Yoga Asana Championship! Updates from LA after the results come in!
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Upcoming Events
June
International Yoga Asana Championship - June 9th & 10th
Support USA Yoga Asana Champion, Afton Carraway, and James Gossett as they compete at Internationals!
Synergy Kids - June 11th-14th
LAST CHANCE TO SIGN UP!
Downtown Studio 9:30am-1:30pm
Pricing: $150 per child, $10 Discount for additional siblings
Register at any PURE Front Desk
Read on for more information.
Spring Teacher Training Graduation - June 15th
Welcome back Blanca, Emilyanne, Shelby, & Jim!
Synergy Weekend - June 16th & 17th
Canceled
 PURE Kids - Beginning June 19th Downtown Studio 10:15 -11:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays 1 Drop in class $10 5 Classes $40 Read on for more information. July Independence Day - July 4th LIMITED CLASSES! Cedar Park: 9:30am ONLY Downtown: 8am & 10am ONLY (NO BABYSITTING) South: 9am ONLY Westlake: 9:30am ONLY 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 gratitude. August Bikram Yoga Women's Retreat - August 9th-12th
Early Bird Registration (valid through June 16th) Single Occupancy $1075 Double Occupancy $825 Triple Occupancy $725 Commuter Rate $475 (limited to the first 50 registrants)
PURE Bikram Yoga, Austin, Texas, is proud to host the 6th Annual Bikram Yoga Women's Retreat on August 9 to 12, 2012 in Austin, Texas (Thursday to Sunday). This year the Retreat will be a 4-day, 3-night stay at Barton Creek Resort & Spa, providing ample time for yoga, relaxation, and shared time with Rajashree Choudhury and Emmy Cleaves. The weekend will conclude with the 10th Annual Texas Yoga Asana Championships, judged by Rajashree and Emmy!
Why the middle of August? Because it is HOT outside (2011 averaged over 100 degrees during most days in August), and the Resort will accommodate yoga for 250 people under an outdoor, glass enclosed, covered Pavilion. In other words, be prepared to sweat!
Want more information? Contact us at 1(888) 406-9642 or
yogawomensretreat@gmail.com
Interested in sponsoring the event? Check out the sponsorship page or email susannah@purebikramyoga.com
Texas Yoga Asana Championship - August 12th 
Immediately following the Retreat, on Sunday, August 12, Austin will host the 10th Annual Texas Yoga Asana Championships at Barton Creek Resort & Spa.
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Synergy Kids Camp
June 11th-14th
LAST CHANCE TO SIGN UP!
Downtown Studio 9:30am-1:30pm
Pricing: $150 per child, $10 Discount for additional siblings
Register at any PURE Front Desk
Healthy kids are happy kids. Introduce your child to yoga. Mary and Gianna teach asana practice, awaken creative movement, provide healthy snacks, play games, and foster communication at this summer's synergy kids camp. Allow your child the opportunity to learn the hobby you love. Your child will benefit from stimulation of the right and left brain, acquiring stress reduction mechanisms, and increasing bone density. The emphasis is on healthy fun! Yoga is more than asana practice. Kids will work on art projects, creating a yoga journal, and enjoy music.
The camp starts June 11th through 14th, 2012, located at the Pure Downtown Studio: 507 Pressler. Drop your kids off at 9:30 and pick up at 1:30 (and hey, you're already at the studio- so go ahead and take the 10am!). Early registration just $120. After June 1st, $150. Every extra sibling is $10 off. We recommend kids be ages 7 and older.
If you have questions, please email info@purebikramyoga.com
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NEW Karma Class
Every Saturday - 4pm at the South Studio
South Studio Saturdays 4pm
This is a donation-based class benefiting PURE Action. Give what you can and what you'd like. Your donations will directly support PURE Action's community efforts in the Austin area. It is a great opportunity for new students to try a class and for you to give back and support a good cause.
If you have questions, please email info@purebikramyoga.com
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PURE Kids
Downtown Studio 10:15 -11:15 on Tuesdays and Thursdays
1 Drop in class $10
5 Classes $40
PURE Kids is a preparation class for the beginning Bikram series. We will introduce heat, balance, and discipline in a kid friendly environment. Though kids are already allowed in the Beginning Series, by taking the kids class each child will get special attention. The goal is to learn the practice in a language and environment that is exciting for kids. Therefore, each child will be ready to go into the Beginning Series with confidence. Ages 8 and older recommended. For more information, email info@purebikramyoga.com.
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Bikram Yoga Women's Retreat
Last Chance for Early Bird Pricing!
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The Yoga Team
PURE Bikram Yoga |
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PURE Student, Rianne Sykes, uses Bikram Yoga as Inspiration for a Persuasive College Essay!
I'm sure you have heard of yoga, but Bikram Yoga is the real deal! In the late 1970's Bikram Choudhury invented a type of yoga that works not only in the calming of the mind, but the healing of the aches and pains of your treacherous lifestyle. Bikram consists of twenty-six postures, and two breathing exercises within a ninety minute time span in a room heated to one hundred and five degrees.
I know what you're thinking. Why would you want to be in a room that's one hundred and five degrees when it is already hotter than hell in Texas? I will tell you why, and when I'm done you will be running to the nearest Bikram Yoga location to sweat out the bad stuff.
I had been working out at the gym six days a week, a minimum of an hour each day. I had become a "gym rat." I was determined to have a body of a sixteen year old Olympian gymnast. I was running a mile on the treadmill, a mile on the elliptical, abdominal work-outs, and lifting weights like I was Mark McGwire on HGH. I had completely changed my diet; you would have thought I was a Bugs Bunny. I was eating vegetables all day long, soups and salads became a staple. I was cutting carbohydrates, cleansing my colon, anything to trim the gut that I had acquired over the holiday season.
Two months had gone by and I had barely noticed a difference. I was depriving my body of sweets, fried goodness, and anything else that would inhibit my goals of a sexy summer swimsuit body. I had noticed my coworker had very nice arms, I asked her what her secret was, wanting to have arms that toned. "Bikram Yoga!" she exclaimed. I found out when she was going to her next class and I joined her, not knowing I would be hooked. My life would be forever changed in just ninety minutes in a smelly, sweaty room full of yogi's making awkward panting sounds similar to a mating call of a jaguar, and folding my body in ways I thought were only possible by professional acrobats in the circus! There was no way I would ever be able to do make it through a class, let alone complete all twenty-six of these crazy body-morphing movements, and be completely silent throughout the class! They were asking entirely too much from this ADD, mind-racing, extremely inflexible individual.
My first class I went in thinking, "I've been working out so much it shouldn't be too bad" well, I did not complete all twenty-six postures, but they encouraged me to stay in the room throughout the entire class. If I could not do the posture I just sat there quietly and endured the torture of the sauna. I was dizzy, my body was shaking, and I couldn't do half the postures. After the ninety minutes of torture I left the room and realized that I had not had one thought outside of listening to the instructor tell me what to do step by step. My mind was completely silent for the entire class! No racing thoughts of how much homework I had to do, or how long it would take me to get home in the patience-testing Austin rush hour traffic, nothing. Somehow, someway, for the first time in my obsessive, perfecting, manic twenty-four years of life on this planet we call Earth, my mind was silent. I was sold! They encouraged me to return within twenty-four hours to reap the most benefits, and I willingly took orders. I was awake with the birds the next morning, something that hadn't happened in over six years, and headed to my second Bikram Yoga class at eight o'clock in the morning.
Not that I needed anymore energy to add to my insanely spontaneous behavior, I was wide awake that morning ready to conquer the world, I felt like Columbus, exploring new territory. The second class was much better than the first. I was able to attempt every posture without a necessary break. The heat in the room loosened my joints and muscles to stretch farther than I had the day prior. I felt like I was a professional yogi! I went about my normal routine that day. Visited my chiropractor later that day and he had already noticed a sense of extra limberness and a wider range of motion in my hips, which have been chronically displaced for years, requiring routine adjustments, and stretching techniques. In twenty-four years of my life I have never been able to touch my toes, one month after beginning my practice I touched my toes for the first time in my life!! What an emotional moment it was, you would have thought I had won the gold medal!
Each posture focuses on a certain part of the body, working from the nucleus of the cell all the way through to the skin. The breathing technique at the beginning of class is used to expand the use of your lungs. Bikram says that most people only use fifty percent of their lung's capacity. This technique requires you to exhale as much as you can and using your shoulders, stomach and arms to create an open passage to inhale as much as you can, eventually using the entire one hundred percent of the lung's capacity. During the standing portion of the class in the eagle pose, your arms are completely twisted in front of you with elbows bent and your hands are in prayer position with your thumbs below your nose, as if that part isn't tricky enough. Next you bend your knees as if you were sitting in an imaginary chair then cross one leg over the other and bring the foot behind the calf, creating a complete twisted rope out of your body, very good for the women's reproductive organs. I thought I would never be able to not only get everything twisted correctly, but be able to balance on the one foot.
I couldn't even balance on one foot standing. But yet I did and I have noticed many bodily changes and detoxification because of these compression postures. Another posture that was impossible for me to fathom was the standing bow. You must pull one leg behind your body while balancing on the opposite leg and extend the free arm out in front of you simulating a bow and arrow. This looked like something a ballerina practiced all her life to perfect. I wanted to look like a ballerina! In one short month I pulled it off, I was a bow! That was another moment when I was reassured that I was hooked. Every practice I learn something new.
I have always had a problem with keeping my skin moisturized. No matter what kind of lotion, oil, even Vaseline, I couldn't keep my elbows, knees, and feet from looking like the Sahara Desert. After just a few classes my skin was so moisturized I don't even need moisturizer. It's like the dead skin just peeled away leaving a glimmering silky smooth body. Because your body is sweating so much, it requires you to drink more water. Most people don't drink enough, and the Bikram helps to enforce that. Your body just craves the hydration and next thing you have drunk two to three liters. We all know more water means more weight loss, even Dr. Oz says so! Not only am I more hydrated, I sleep better too. My body is actually revitalizing in my sleep like it is supposed to, rather than using all my energy to simply operate normally.
If I can achieve progress, and gain benefits from Bikram yoga, anyone can. Bikram changed my life and I will never forget that first day of silence in the sweaty torture chamber. I was so hooked, I went home called Time Warner to cancel my cable so I could put my money towards Bikram. Can you live without Sons of Anarchy?
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Testimonials. 
Your change is bigger than just you. No story is too big or too small, worthy or unworthy. You all practice this yoga for a reason. Tell us. Share it. Inspire someone.
Testimonials can be submitted through susannah@purebikramyoga.com. |
 | | VIDEO: USA Yoga Competition - Rajashree Choudhury |
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 | | Afton Carraway - 1st Place Women USA Yoga Asana Championship 2012 |
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 | | James Gossett - 3rd Place Men USA Yoga Asana Championship 2012 |
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Massage/Body Work Need it? We have a massage room on Oakland Ave. and 4 wonderful therapists who also happen to be Bikram Yogis! Treat yourself. Call for rates and to schedule an appointment: Edy Bailey (512) 633-7421 Carrie Peruchi (512) 563-8496 Andrea Carlisle (817) 312-0422 Cesar Rivera (512) 499-0490 |
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