Comments on: Why People Think Bikram Yoga is Harmful

By: John Bigler

John Bigler — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:30:57 +0000

Update. I’ve been resting for 4 days. It took longer than I expected for my vitals to return to near-normal readings — almost 4 days. I’m hydrating and will have ice in my water bottles when I return to a Bikram class… hopefully, later today… and I doubt that I’ll be doing any doubles to catch up…

By: John Bigler

John Bigler — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:27:03 +0000

Same experience here! I’m not new to yoga or Bikram, but after 12 days of the 60-day challenge, doing a couple doubles to make up lost days, the dizziness and nausea, even resting at home at night, caused me to check my vitals — my blood pressure and pulse were both sky high, compared to my normal! I always hydrate before/during/after… but I notice in class that more sweat is running off me than anyone else. I enjoy the Bikram practice when I do 2-3 classes a week, mixing it up with Anusara, Jivamukti, Kundalini, Baptiste and vinyasa practice, but Bikram every day seems to be too much for my body.

By: Ammie

Ammie — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 05:30:08 +0000

I went to a hot yoga class today, then had a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. To my great surprise, my BP was 134/101. My diastolic is usually in the 70s. It only got worse as we checked it a second and third time. It didn’t help that my anxiety kept creeping up there with every “bad” reading. Is this a hot yoga phenomena? Of course you can’t feel if your BP is high, and i have trouble knowing if I feel hydrated. I think I’m drinking enough water and I don’t feel thirsty. How many people think to check their BP later in the day after a yoga class?

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:51:30 +0000

First of all please do not go back to hot yoga without talking to a doctor. At least do more research first. Dehydration is dangerous even for healthy people but it can cause both low and high blood pressure. When you lose blood volume due to dehydration the vascular system contracts to compensate often causing higher blood pressures. Your dizziness is also very disturbing. Again see a doctor. Hot yoga is a short cut. Just because very healthy people can survive it does not make it a good idea. I hope you find something else that works for you. Please be careful.

By: Char

Char — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 07:09:08 +0000

I have tried Bikram yoga twice, yes I made it through both times. It was pleasing, as a former athlete, to push myself without the amount of physical exertion normally required to make myself sweat and work that hard. I never believed I could have the exhiliration of maximum effort without being a completely toned extreme athlete ever again. This little discrepancy of effort vs. intensity also prevents uncountable injuries to someone like me with fibromyalgia, obesity and diabetes. My only problem is that after my second session, I was able to do less, and by the fourth day my blood pressure skyrocketed so high (at home, at rest) that I am so dizzy that I can hardly stand or move without falling over. I am not dehydrated. I have been dehydrated before, and that involves hyponatriemia and low blood pressure, not high blood pressure–and certainly not while at rest and at home in the late evenings. So far thisw has lasted 24 hours or so with symptoms just now starting to ease off. Once the symptoms are at bay and I think I can go somewhere without passing out, I’ll go back and rechallenge myself at the Bikram Yoga place, maybe a different one, because the one I go to is heated to 110 and sometimes beyond–I’ve seen the temp gauge at the beginning of the class at 110F. When a full class gets going I’m sure it is much hotter than this. My guess is probably 5 to 10 degrees more with all the exercising bodies and no circulation of air. An educated guess is 115 to 120F. I am going to try a couple of other studios to see if they stick to the 105 which would be far more comfy, and see if my blood pressure soars and my dizziness makes it impossible to stand or do anything when it is HIGH rather than low. Any ideas?

By: jeff moffat

jeff moffat — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 04:21:20 +0000

I am also a long time Bikram devotee, and have never heard of anyone dying from this practice.
I beleive you need to check your facts.

By: David Geller

David Geller — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 22:29:05 +0000

You state that practitioners of Bikram yoga have been known to die. I’ve been practicing Bikram for over 6 years and have never heard of such a thing. Google has not heard of it either. Could you please clarify or edit your statement?