Summer 2010 Kid-Fit Yoga

Enroll your child today in a safe, fun, healthy, summer activity: Kid-Fit Yoga. Your children, ages four to ten, can learn to incorporate fitness into their lifestyles now. Our kid-centered yoga classes will be offered more info.

Yoga Fuel- Free Samples

We will are giving out samples of Yoga Fuel at the front desk!

Yoga Fuel combines time-tested herbal remedies from the East for energy and stamina with the best modern, scientific research on electrolytes from the West for proper muscle function.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Read all about 49er's safety, Tony Parrish and his Bikram Yoga practice in Sports Illustrated magazine.

Official Bikram Yoga Website

Bikram Yoga on CBS 60 Minutes Wednesday, June 8, 2005 (requires QuickTime)

Bikram Choudhury, founder of Bikram's Yoga College of India, World Headquarters, Los Angeles, California, began learning Hatha yoga at the age of three in Calcutta, India. At age five, he began studying with Bishnu Ghosh, one of the great physical culturists of our time. At the age of eleven, he was the youngest contestant ever to win the national India Yoga Competition and at fourteen he was declared "King of the Yogis." [more]

Bikram’s Yoga is a health system that provides everyone an avenue to enhance personal performance and assist to correct physical ailments. It uniquely provides the perfect marriage between the health and fitness industry as both are achieved by practicing one integrated approach. [more]

"About five years ago my daughter Jennifer, a Bikram Yoga Instructor, requested my company at a yoga session located downtown Houston, Texas. I reluctantly went with her dragging my heels most of the way. That yoga session was an extremely demanding and difficult hour and a half for someone who was in pretty poor physical condition. I made it through the full session attempting each pose to the best of my limited ability.

I was sore from head to toe for a week after my "first and last day" of Bikrim Yoga. I swore I would never set foot in a Bikrim Yoga studio for the remainder of my natural life. I found it a little difficult to talk to my daughter for several days following that "day of hell" for fear of another invitation with a similar outcome.

The following year my daughter obtained a permit to hike to the summit of Mt. Whitney, California. She asked me to hike with her and two of her friends. For those of us who are geographically challanged, Mt. Whitney is the highest peak in the lower 48 states at some 14,496.811 feet to be exact. Reports are that only a third of those who attempt the hike/climb reach the summit. I knew I wasn't up to the challenge physically so I told Jennifer I couldn't participate. I told her another time if I could get into reasonable physical condition. She didn't forget my response, and I didn't forget her request.

I had been on medication for hypertension for several years. My cardiologist had just increased my regular daily dose of 160mg of Diovan with an additional 50mg of Toprol XL. Neither one of these drugs can be considered an enhancement to manhood or the male ego. My limited experience with Toprol XL left me of the opinion that Toprol XL should only be administered to prison inmates with the minimum dose being 50mg.

During a visit to my cardiologist I was asked to loose 12 pounds over a three month period. I set the bar a little higher with a target weight loss of thirty pounds or ten pounds per week. My intention was to loose enough weight so I could get off that horrible Topral XL as fast as possible. During the three month period I lost 29 pounds and was able to eliminate the daily dose of Toprol XL. That was a beginning and the most difficult part of becoming medication free.

Not long after my weight loss Jennifer came to The Woodlands to visit early in May 2006. Still concerned about my health and overall physical condition she wanted me to practice Bikrim yoga. She was convinced that yoga was an activity that we could participate in together that would improve my health while providing the additional benefit of father daughter bonding sessions. I was in dire need of both! Jennifer bought a ten day yoga package for me at the Bikrim Yoga Studio of The Woodlands. Jennifer knows I am somewhat thrifty. She knew I wouldn't let any of those "paid in advance" yoga sessions go unused. Just not my nature to waste. I couldn't find anyone to give them so I was stuck.

I started those yoga sessions. I decided I would go daily, continuously if at all possible. It is easier if you go back the day following your first session. True for follow-on sessions as well. After three days of yoga my blood pressure dropped to an average 96/58. I reduced my medication by 50% to 80mg of Diovan to keep from getting dizzy spells. I kept close track of my blood pressures. After seven continuous days of yoga I stopped taking all medication. To provide a reference, my blood pressure when I was first prescribed medication was in the range of 160/110. While practicing yoga my blood pressure remained about 116/64 without the aid medication. I want to state that I put 110% effort in my practice always. I didn't just go through the motions. It was a "real effort with real results"!

Having such a rapid and positive response to yoga practice was amazing to me because in Bikrim's book he states that blood pressure will usually rise during the first week of yoga practice, and then begin to drop. I was excited about my results. I recorded my blood pressure randomly at least six times a day for the next two and a half months. I wanted to have a rock solid blood pressure record to show my cardiologist at my next office visit.

During that appointment with my cardiologist the nurse took my blood pressure. I think it was a little higher than "my new normal". Somewhere around 130/74. I considered that great as I have always had "white coat" blood pressure readings (higher readings at the doctor's office). After the nurse finished taking my blood pressure I told her that I had stopped all medication for both hypertension and acid reflux two and a half months prior to my office visit. She in turn noted my chart and relayed that information to my cardiologist. My cardiologist wasn't excited about my self administration and adjustment of medication without consulting her first. We made it through that troubled segment of the appointment and she finally concluded I could remain off all medication. I felt good. Now I wanted to climb that mountain!

Weeks later immediately following a yoga session where my cardiologist was present, I asked what she thought about my hiking to the summit of Mt. Whitney. (yes, my daughter got another permit) The doc wasn't as excited about the prospect of my hiking to the summit of Mt. Whitney as I, but she thought it may be alright if I ascended no more than a thousand feet a day. She wanted me to have ample time to adjust to the altitude changes during the course of the hike. At the rate of climb she proposed I figured I would either be drawing social security or dead before I reached the top of Mt. Whitney. Looking at the bright side of our conversation, I at least had an indication from my doctor that I could head west as long as it included a slow ascent. That was enough for me. I told Jennifer the climb was on! In addition to yoga I began hiking with a full backpack to get used to carrying additional weight. There were no hills in The Woodlands so I hiked the drainage ditch along roads at 45 degree angles to get a few steps up and down to simulate climbing.

Yoga built strength throughout my body. I first noticed while fly fishing in New Mexico and Colorado that I could negotiate steep banks with ease and had plenty of stamina for extended hiking and fishing. My balance was also significantly improved. It is always nice to stay upright while wading in swift water or standing in close proximity to a steep cliff.

Interestingly about three days after my last appointment with my cardiologist her nurse called and asked for the location and phone number of the yoga studio I attended. I didn't think anything more of it until I was in the yoga studio for practice one day and Arnie said, hey Jim, your cardiologist and her husband started practicing yoga the other day. I think both my personal results, and my cardiologist's interest in practicing Bikrim Yoga are quite positive yoga statements.

I did hike to the summit of Mt. Whitney with my daughter in late August 2006. It was the best outing I have ever experienced. Jennifer and I spent a total of three fantastic nights on the face of that spectacular mountain just bonding! We even did a bit of fly fishing.

Without the encouragement of my daughter, Arnie & Jen, owner's and instructor's at Bikrim Yoga of The Woodlands, and daily yoga practice I would not have been able to enjoy that most memorable adventure. Medication free too!"

– Jim