FOR some, Bikram Yoga is just a practice that involves doing postures inside a heated room but, for Bikram Yoga Alabang (BYA) students, it is more than that.
Ginger Diaz, BYA studio director, motivates her students to find a deeper meaning in the practice by committing to it and giving their best every class. “You see people come in here with their yoga mats and water bottles and you think this is just one of those days when they feel like they want to get fit, but it’s not just that,” she said. “It’s also about them wanting to overcome something, whether it be their desire to challenge themselves and finish even just one class per day. It gives them a sense of accomplishment and competitiveness.”
To ultimately challenge the students, BYA held another leg of its 30-Day and 4×4 Challenge. The 30-Day Challenge involves yoga practice for 30 straight days while the 4×4 Challenge requires students to complete four classes per week for four weeks. These challenges aim to push yogis to step out of their comfort zone and overcome their limitations to achieve their personal fitness goals.
Paul Diaz, a young entrepreneur, is one of the 21 successful 30-Day Challenge graduates. “I like to say that Bikram Yoga changed my life,” he said. Paul swears by the physical benefits the practice gives him in the form of a cardio and muscular workout fix. There is something empowering with challenging yourself mentally and emotionally, according to him—the reason he joined this year’s Bikram Yoga Challenge despite completing it last year.
Bikram Yoga also helps in maintaining one’s focus and clarity of mind when dealing with various roles, according to Aruba Flores. Aside from being a chief finance officer of a real-estate company, Aruba also co-owns a construction business and a couple of other small businesses. “Bikram yoga gives me a chance to relax, reset and recharge. The 30-Day Yoga Challenge also allowed me to test my limits physically, mentally and emotionally. Every time I do the challenge, I always get a chance to break those limits and come out stronger and better. No other activity gives me this fulfillment.”
Bikram Yoga is a scientifically designed 90-minute program to deliver total health through balancing and strengthening every system in the body to help prevent illness and injury, and limit the effects of aging. Regular Bikram Yoga practice also improves body posture and spine alignment, relieves back pains and headaches, strengthens muscles, reduces symptoms of chronic diseases, gives better self confidence, improves body image, improves flexibility, balance and strength, and gives a general feeling of wellness and peace.