Articles by Michele Pernetta

Pure Calma

Q. You used Bikram Yoga to overcome/heal a knee injury. What brought you to yoga as a path to overcome the problem instead of opting for surgery?

A. I believed that the body had the power to heal itself. I lived in Los Angeles and someone suggested I go to the “knee guru” as Bikram is known, and with surgery as the only option I had been offered, I thought “what do I have to lose?” I was an avid martial artist, and had noimmediate inclination to try yoga, as I thought it would not offer the same intensity I was looking for at that time. How wrong I was!

Q. Apart from performing Bikram Yoga what other healthy living activities do you incorporate in your daily life?

A. I have a spiritual master, the guru Adi Da Samraj, and as a devotee of his I adhere to the disciplines he advocates which include daily meditation, puja, service, tithing and study, amongst other practises. I am also a big advocate of enjoying your food!! Happiness and life positive energy are huge health enhancers, and I also believe that hard work is good for you!!

Q. What does Bikram mean and where does this type of Yoga originate?

A. “Bikram” is the name of the creator of the system - Bikram Choudhury. He is an Indian Yoga Master, former 3 time yoga champion, and the system was developed with the help of his guru Bishnu Ghosh, so very much an Indian tradition. Bikram Yoga is Hatha Yoga but it is the sequence of the 26 postures and two Pranayama breathing exercises that make it unique. These postures are taken from the series of 84 classic asanas originating from a series codified between the 5th and 10th century AD, by the Nath sect.

In Bikrams beginners class (the one we teach at the studios) each posture prepares you for the next posture, and due to the medical testing on the poses, and the approx 90 years of it’s development through Bikram’s guru Bishnu Ghosh**, through to Bikram’s final development of the postures, an absolutely perfect sequence has been devised.
** brother of parahamsa Yogananda who started the Self Realisation Fellowship

Q. Do you believe Bikram yoga is more advantageous than other types of Yoga or do all forms complement each other?

Most forms of Hatha yoga originate from the same “alphabet” of classical yoga poses. The different styles of yoga arose via the different teachers that gave their own combination of these poses a certain focus or slant, and we now have all the various styles of Yoga. So in this sense the different styles come from the same source and can compliment each other.

Having tried most of the other systems, I believe that each person needs to make up their mind by going and trying everything else, giving each style a chance to prove its suitability for that person. You can’t judge after a few classes, you need to really do it for a while. But I do feel that the sequence of Bikram Yoga is uniquely beneficial, physically, medically and mentally, and ultimately spiritually and I feel that the uniqueness of the hot room, which allows the person to work very deeply, to allow the deep stretching and the way it helps avoid injury and the detoxification that occurs through the sweating is extremely beneficial. Many people who would not be your “normal” yoga practitioner types, come to Bikram Yoga because it is very user friendly, non threatening, and is a yoga that everyone can do safely. However it is also hailed as “the hardest class you will ever do!” This combination of it being challenging enough for an athlete, but simple and safe enough for a total beginner, make it very appealing.

Q. Can you explain the importance and relationship of breathing in relation to Bikram Yoga?

A. The Bkram series starts us with Pranayama which oxygenates the blood, calms the mind and brings our attention to the breath so we can anchor the mind to the breath at the start. Students are then reminded to breathe smooth and slow through the nose throughout the class. We do not do Ujayii breathing (the audible throat breathing that is performed in Ashtanga Yoga) as this is designed to maintain a heat in the body, which seeing as the room is heated, and the poses at the beginning of class are more strenuous, this is not necessary. Throughout the class we try to breath smoothly and calmly through the nose. Most people have sufficient work to do merely awakening the breath as a feeling, sensitive practise, during a challenging class, without any need of more technically elaborate breathing techniques. So we encourage practitioners to allow the breath to be their own personal journey, and to allow it to awaken in its own natural way without too much thinking about it. We do guide them to use their breath to bring energy before a pose, or an exhale to take them into a stretch, tonever hold the breath. This awareness of the breath brings many wonderful awakenings releases and realisations in the practitioner, and Bikram believes that the less said about it the better. It is a non-verbal experience and the less “mental” we get about it the more likely it is that the more spiritual aspects of our breath, as the connection between body, mind and emotion/feeling, will awaken. People have found for example that learning to breathe slow and smooth in a challenging class, means that they can stay calm and relaxed in the stressful situations of life.
Many people have expressed that their preference for Bikram Yoga is also based on the fact that the spiritual development that often occurs over time, is left for the person to discover on their own, just with the teachers guidance of breath, drishti, patience, commitment, bravery, deep feeling and surrender. It is not preached or imposed and is allowed to awaken in the practitioner at their own pace. Many people appreciate this and thus Bikram Yoga, although a classical hatha yoga in the Indian tradition and thus intrisically the basis and preparation for a spiritual practise, attracts people from all religions and all walks of life. We have Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Christians et al, all practising their hatha yoga together. Isn’t this wonderful?


Q. What are the ultimate aims of Bikram yoga? Is the primary element the mental fitness or physical fitness?

A. That is totally up to the practitioner. If you come to fix your knees or back, that is offered as a possibility, but perhaps it will lead you into the surrender of the ego and the 90 minute meditation that Bikram Yoga can become! I have been practising Bkram Yoga for 15 years, and I began wanting to heal my knees and get fit. I then moved into wanting to be good at the poses, and having a lot of struggle and desire, and inner criticism. Eventually I saw all that as unnecessary, and just stopped caring what I looked like in the pose, and went deeper into the moment by moment meditation, the surrender of the mind, through the breath and body, the poses becoming just a tool to anchor the mind, and surrender through. Now I may sometimes use the class as a way of purifying all the mental garbage one can accumulate during a day, and wash all that away, or just forget my “self” for 90 minutes in the simplicity of the breath, and the alignment of the body mind and feeling into that which is greater than us.

Q. How does Bikram yoga cross over from the classroom or activity centre into your everyday life?

A. As I mentioned before, the ability to breathe, stay calm and centred during challenging situations is an invaluable tool in life. This is what we learn through yoga. By learning compassion for ourselves, gentle awareness of the moment, we can thus become loving and compassionate to others. The yoga practise allows us to develop life skills, such as patience (learning to master a difficult pose), honesty (to do the pose honestly and not try to fake it, or change it so it is easier) dedication and commitment (coming to class even when we would prefer to sit on the couch), hard work (being prepared to go beyond our desire for the easy way, and submit to working hard in the poses, fearlessness (some parts of the class can bring up emotions and limitations that require bravery to move through), as well as just taking the time out of our lives to spend 90 minutes with ourselves, to get to know ourselves and all that we are, awakens us to our higher self and makes the yoga practitioner a more fulfilled and integrated human being. It also teaches us that we are responsible for ourselves, our health, our thoughts, our feelings and provides us with a tool through which we can develop this responsibility, and gives us the chance to deal with our emotions, mind forms and even pain and discomfort in a safe place, a caring environment, where we are not being asked to be anything other than what we are today. Without wanting to sound too New Age’y, Yoga teaches us to love ourselves, and this is thr first step to becoming a human being that can magnify love in the world.

Q. Happiness of the soul is a key aspect to Bikram. Does this mean that the yoga practice can help with such things as depression?

A recent study at the California Medical University showed that backward bending was the most effective thing one could do for depression! But yes, many people have used yoga as a way to bring about a change in state, for the better. Detoxification is very powerful against depression. Many neurotic thoughts can be simply a product of toxicity! Also the poses and the breath bring us into confrontation with things we have not dealt with emotionally, and through the breath and the gentle movement, we can often pass through these issues. Many poses affect the hormone balances, such as seratonin levels being boosted, which are the ‘feel-good” hormones, that leave us feeling happy and grounded.

More importantly though, is the fact that yoga brings us back to our native state. By removing the limits, the false self-image we may have, the deceptions we often have about ourselves, by removing stress, toxicity and all the layers of defense and immunization that this world can require us to develop, yoga returns us to our true state of happiness.

Q. What life changing experiences if any have you seen amongst your students practicing Bikram Yoga?

How long have you got!! Thousands and thousands. I enclose 3 emails students recently wrote to me... Testimonials are on the bikramyoga.com website also.

I have had students who have rehabilitated after chemotherapy, one of my students with this has just completed teacher training after completing his chemotherapy and rehabilitating with Bikram Yoga. Another lady got through her divorce by coming to class and letting all the stress go. Two of my male students kicked their drug habits through their Bikram Yoga pracise. Many people have been without pain for the first time in their life, just by coming to yoga.

Please see our testimonials page.