My Bikram Yoga Path from Computer IT "geek" to Bikram Yoga Instructor

At thirty three years of age I was looking for a better way to exercise after completing my first marathon. During the run my knees began to hurt terribly and only became worse for the last four or five miles and it took about three months for the pain to go away. I continued to run on regular basis for a number of years after that about six miles at a time, but I knew that I needed to find something better to maintain a fit lifestyle.

That day was after I completed my first Bikram Yoga class in November of 2006, I knew that I had found that something far superior. Bikram yoga felt amazing and I started attending regularly, in a few months I was practicing three plus times a week. Soon I knew that I had found the most therapeutic exercise ever, and that I wanted to do this the rest of my life, and more than that, I wanted to become a teacher and share what I had found, I committed to attending teacher training within one year (Spring of 2008 at forty four years of age) and practiced nearly every day for my first few years.

It took most of two years for my lower back, hamstring, hips, knees and ankles to stop hurting from the process of healing my body during this time. I can say that Bikram yoga healed me of carpal tunnel syndrome in both of my arms from fifteen years of forty plus hours a week computer IT work. Although I had always lifted weights and could bench press over two hundred sixty pounds my spine was week and would hurt my back turning my head to look for traffic while driving. When this would happen it required me to set regular chiropractic visits for four to six weeks. Bikram completely changed this, my spine is strong and flexible life is easier and without pain, My neck had a limited range of motion since playing high school football and was restored in that first couple of years. The tension in my shoulders and neck was also removed.

My goal every class I teach Bikram is to provide the most enjoyable class as possible setting a good pace and rhythm while staying true to the Bikram dialog of precise and direct commands and instructions. Teaching Bikram Yoga has also been amazing for my personal growth, starting as a slightly introverted computer technology guy and today receiving personal satisfaction from the interactions with, and benefits received by everyone I am blessed to connect with in this “Bikram community” of “super therapy” for the body mind and soul.

Many find this practice incredibly rewarding from the “type A” person, or if you are like me and suffering from life's bumps and bruises. I'm loving that you will be inspired by my personal Bikram yoga story. I always say if you have never done Bikram “just do one class”, then to anyone that completes their first class “commit to an intro package” and you will know the same as I do today, “ten years later, twenty years younger”.

Looking forward to seeing you on the mat!

Will