|
10 Day Mini Challenge |
|
Have you wanted to do a Bikram Challenge, but were nervous that 30 days was a little too much to start off with? Well PBY has a solution for you. We are offering a mini challenge for 10 lessons to be done in a 10 day period starting any day in Februaury. Now we know you can do that! |
|
Earn Free Classes at PBY! |
|
PBY will give you free classes! For everyone that finishes the challenge whether it is the 10 day, 30 day, 60 day or 101 day - you will receive a free class for every 30 days completed! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
PBY Posture Clinics |
|
PBY hosted a Standing Series Posture Clinic on January 16th and a Floor Series Posture Clinic on January 23rd. Both clinics were well attended. The format was that the dialogue would be given for each posture, and the participants would exhibit their postures while teachers walked around making corrections. Once the posture was finished, the teachers and participants would discuss the corrections aloud to the entire class so that all could benefit. Teachers and students demonstrated
postures and shared simple shifts that would allow the correct posture to be attained. This allowed many of the participants the ability to get into a posture that may have been eluding them prior, sometimes for years. That was a big victory for many! It was remarkable how much chatter and discussion there was about the simplest of shifts. Participants
included practitioners who have just begun their yoga practice; those who have been practicing for many, many years and those who have been away for quite some time. While the participants were all keen that the Standing Series Posture Clinic would definitely offer them an advantage in their practice, the participants of the Floor Series Posture Clinic were happily surprised that their practice was equally enhanced by the Floor Series Posture Clinic. Students remarked that they were surprised at how much they gained from the Clinics. The general consensus was to have the Clinics offered on a regular basis. PBY is committed to offering our practitioners exactly what they need to get the most out of their yoga. See you next time!
"The workshop was excellent, I enjoyed it very much and learned each pose correctly. We should have it every so often. This helps the members perform yoga correctly to get full benefit. " ~ Christy
"It was nice to have all the instructors share their knowledge and techniques. It makes it easier and more enjoyable to go practice when you
know you are getting the benefits of your practice."
~ Maggie |
|
Zen Corner
|
As most of you are now living your life, there is a lie built into every promise. The lie is that you can know how you will feel about a thing, and what you will want to do about that thing, on any given tomorrow. You cannot know this if you are living your life as a reactive being - which most of you are. Only if you are living your life as a creative being can your promise not contain a lie.
Creative beings can know how they are going to feel about a thing at any time in the future, because creative beings create their feelings, rather than experiencing them.
~ Conversations with God, Book 3, Neale Donald Walsch _________________________ |
|
Here's a new take on Locust Pose! |
|
| |
 |
 Namaste ,
Valentine's Day is a wonderful reminder to spread the love. Don't forget that love starts with self love! Sweating out all of those unnecessary toxins in our hot room is a good way to make space for the things in life that matter - like the joy of a valentine. You may also wish to gift your Valentine with a PBY gift card.
_________________________________________________________ |
|
 |
"O" Magazine Article: Bikram Yoga
January, 2010 Edition |
She's 80 pounds overweight, divorced, out of work, and deeply in debt. She needs a physical and spiritual overhaul. Can 60 days in a Bikram hot-yoga studio really undo years of damage?
The teacher wants me to make a Japanese ham sandwich. To my knowledge, I've never seen a Japanese ham sandwich, but as I understand it, I'm to stand bent with my face to my shins and chest to my thighs in perfect vertical union - I am the sandwich.
I would say I look more like a jelly roll. My flabby abdomen won't let my forehead anywhere near my knees, and my legs tremble as I try contorting myself into a position my body neither recognizes nor endorses. The goal is to concentrate on stretching and breathing, but I'm fixating on my unpedicured toenails. And the neon paleness of my legs. And the fact that I probably should have shaved.
The students around me are tanned and toned and very nearly nude. Every body glistens. We're in a Bikram yoga studio, after all, where the heat is set to 105 degrees and the humidity to 40 percent, to facilitate flexibility. The men wear nothing but shorts; the women rock hot pants and halters. Because I'd rather lick the sweat-soaked carpet than bare my wretched flesh, I have on the hot-yoga equivalent of a snowsuit: calf-length sweatpants, a jog bra, and a T-shirt. I'm huffing harder than a serial killer. And we're only on posture number one.
Posture number one of class one of day one. Assuming I survive, I'll make the ham sandwich and about two dozen other postures every single day for the next two months, for the notorious 60-day Bikram challenge. I'm subjecting myself to "Bikram's torture chamber," as founder Bikram Choudhury himself calls this insanely intense regimen, because the program promises renewal from the inside out - because suffering inside this hot room may be my surest path to survival out in the world.
I need to change so many things about my life, it's hard to know where to start. I need physical and spiritual transformation, from the mental to the muscular to the molecular. I need to stop treating my body like a landfill. I need stability, which I haven't seen in so long, I've forgotten how it feels. I need a reset button.
This won't be easy. As I start the challenge, I'm divorced, in debt, and 80 pounds overweight. Wellbutrin and Lexapro, in their little amber bottles, rattle around in my life like maracas. My career? Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. One minute I'm winning the magazine industry's top honor for feature writing, the next I'm taking a new job out West, and the next I'm losing that job, moving all my stuff into storage, and living back home with my mother, in Mississippi.
"Do this yoga for 60 days and it will change your body, your mind, and your life," says Choudhury, a former Indian yoga champion who lives in Los Angeles and who is, depending on your viewpoint, either a beloved lifesaving guru or just a really flexible guy who got lucky, and rich, with an idea and a persona. Bikram students believe, and I hope they're right, that Choudhury's heat-centric, copyrighted sequence of ancient hatha yoga postures is a transformative agent like no other; testimonials the world over suggest this yoga eases the symptoms of a range of maladies - depression, diabetes, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, migraines, arthritis, back pain, and heart disease, for instance-while relaxing the mind and slimming the body.
"Can't you just do all that by, like, running every day for 60 days?" a friend asks. Good question, but the answer doesn't interest me. None of my past fitness activities-racquet sports, cycling, jogging, gym circuit training, kickboxing-seem catalytic enough for the depth of change I'm after.
I'm not a renovation; I'm a teardown. And I'm hoping Bikram is my bulldozer.
|
 |
Student of the Month: Elizabeth |
Back in September, I attended my first Bikram Yoga class and fell in love with it. I had spent a few months trying different things, swimming, jogging, aerobics and I went to every gym in Pearland inquiring about memberships and nothing took my interest enough to make it a part of my every day. The experience at Bikram Yoga is completely unlike anything I had ever tried.....quiet and challenging and time just for me with no judgment from myself or anyone else.
We all have our own issues that we have to deal with day in and day out, some of us deal with things that are much worse than others, but either way it is a part of life and we all need to find our own way to cope. Bikram Yoga is how I cope. The last couple of months have brought some life changing experiences our way. I know that I am able to cope and get through because of my yoga practice. It gives me the physiological strength and emotional strength to deal with whatever comes my way. The flexibilty in my muscles has dramatically increased and I find that things that were a challenge before, are things I do now without even a thought. I have had poor circulation all my life and have noticed that I don't have cold hands and feet nearly as often as in the past. I could go on, but you get the idea....it's great and I love it!
Practicing my yoga four or five days a week can bring a challenge in itself, 90 minutes a day for yoga??!! Well, I have found that because I love going so much and feel cheated at the end of the day if I haven't made it, even though my intention was to go, it has forced me to take control of the other aspects of my life. If I want to go to yoga, I have to be orgaznized and be aware of my time. Practicing my yoga makes me feel like I have a handle on things and that they aren't going to swallow me up and overwhelm me. Just by taking the time out to practice my yoga everyday I find I have even more energy to get things done that I would otherwise have put off for another day.
We are relocating to Washington state at the end of the month and I have already found my Bikram Yoga studio there and made contact. It has become an integral part of my life and I know that it will continue to be. Thank you to all of you at the studio who are there for us everyday and push us when we need it and let us slide by when we need it. I will miss all of your smiling faces and thank you for your guidance.
|
 |
Posture of the Month: Eagle Pose
Garurasana |
Eagle is the third posture in the standing series. These first three postures and Pranayama Deep Breathing are designed to warm up your body completely. By the time you reach Eagle you should have a nice bit of sweat going on. Good for you! The sweat is going to help you out tremendously in this next posture. First things first, look at your body and identify your right from your left. This is important because you are going to be twisting and squeezing your body in this posture and it is easy to get confused. Make sure your feet are still together and touching and your toes are on the line. Bring your arms over your head and then swing your right arm under your left. It is helpful if you can get a little momentum going here because you actually are going to cross your arms and then twist them like ropes so that you can bring your palms together. If your knuckles are what are in contact you haven't twisted enough. Your goal is to get your palms together in a prayer position. For most beginners this is very difficult so it is perfectly ok to clasp your fingers together. Do not bend your wrists though. With time and practice you will eventually get the hands together in prayer position below the nose. Just be patient, and in every class try to go a little further. What is important here is to pull your elbows down and get your fingertips below your nose. As you continue to look at yourself in the mirror your hands will begin to look like an eagle beak as you continue to pull your elbows down. At this point you will be feeling any tightness you may have in your shoulders. Keep pulling down. The tightness will start to loosen up. Keep looking at yourself in the mirror and sit down until your hips touch that imaginary chair - be careful of sitting down too low. Here comes the fun part! Lift your right leg up and over your left leg and then put your right foot under your left calf muscle. Aren't you glad you remembered the difference between right and left! The key is to get your right leg up high on your left leg because that will make it easier to cross and wrap. If your toes are no where close to wrapping around do not despair. This is not a pose that happens without a lot of focus, determination, and work. It helps if you remember to keep your standing knee bent and to point your toes down towards the mat. Eventually you will be able to slide your toes down even further and close the gap between your ankle and calf. No worries if you are a little wobbly, just lean back a bit. Keep your focus on yourself in the mirror and remember to keep your breathing a nice steady flow. The goal is to have your hands, elbows, knees and ankles in one straight line which means you will need to bring your knees to the right and your upper body to the left to straighten yourself out. Keep squeezing everything together as you make these adjustments. Final adjustments are to sit down a little lower, keep your stomach sucked in and bring your upper body back. Check it out and see if you are starting to resemble an eagle surveying his universe. The benefits of this posture are numerous. First, it helps your balance. Second, it opens up the seven pairs of largest joints in your body - scapulas, deltoids, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles. Third, the posture targets your entire reproductive system helping to keep everything healthy and functioning properly. No worries if you didn't get it right the first time - you have three more opportunities every class. Always remember it is yoga practice not yoga perfect! |
|
|
 Our Valentine's gift to you is commitment, a commitment to provide you with excellence. PBY strives to always offer you the best Bikram Yoga experience possible.
Thank you for being a part of the PBY family,
Taz | |
|
|
|
