Meet Melissa, 40, of Williamston, Michigan! Melissa started practicing with us at Bikram Yoga Capital Area in March of 2014 and to date has practiced over 725 classes! Melissa wrote this super thoughtful blog as part of 2017’s Spring Yoga Buddy Challenge. I am so grateful for Melissa’s insights, her quiet strength and presence at the yoga school, her patience with my backlog of stories needing to be shared (!), and her wonderful writing.
by Ann Chrapkiewicz
Last month marked my 15th year of practicing Bikram Yoga. I was fortunate to find this healing practice when I was just about to turn 25.
This past week, I turned 40. (And I got to hear Happy Birthday in Triangle Pose – in 3 different classes! Great for the lungs, people!)
I feel so much better at 40 than I did at 24.
If you have not yet attended our Thursday evening warm class, you have yet to be part of a special treat.
Since 2016, we have regularly invited youth ages 6 and up to participate in the second half of the traditional Bikram Yoga series, and many have “graduated” to practicing the whole class now.
This month we have a few very special things to celebrate.
First: our youngest student, Summer, has been practicing regularly since mid-March, 2017.
by Ann Chrapkiewicz
Over a decade ago, one of my most influential yoga teachers at the time presented me with a quote:
It made sense to me on some levels, and I thought I could relate to not caring about the status quo. I had a history of peacefully withdrawing from certain social circles and finding my own way.
by Ann Chrapkiewicz
A few Sunday mornings ago, I was teaching* class.
It was one of those lovely classes where everyone spaced themselves so beautifully in the three rows of our practice room; people hardly took their eyes off of their focus points for the entire warm-up portion of class.
We were finishing up the standing series, on the second side of Toe Stand, when one of the great yoga lessons emerged.
by Marini Lee, Ph.D.
I’ve been practicing bikram yoga for almost 12 years now. According to the Western world (and my recovering internal body critic), I should look differently. I should be thin by now!!!! Shouldn’t I?
Well, I’m not.
First of all, being and/or getting “thin” is not (nor should be) the goal of yoga. Yoga means “union.” It is my understanding that this union is about optimal health – mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.
Meet Sarah Cook, 34, of St. John’s, Michigan. Sarah started practicing Bikram Yoga with us in the spring of 2014, upon a recommendation from her sister. As of this writing, Sarah has practiced exactly 365 classes! Sarah has had some exciting updates recently, but her whole history of benefits is very diverse, and quite exciting!
“Before I started yoga, I had gotten a bone bruise (near-fracture) close to my knee, and after 4 weeks on crutches, I was supposed to do physical therapy.
Meet John, who started practicing Bikram Yoga with us in December 2013, at age 68. Just prior to beginning Bikram Yoga, he was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease.
Against the advice of his physician, he started coming to class 4-5 times per week.
In only 3 months of this new routine, his health dramatically improved. Here are the official numbers from his diagnostic tests:
As inclusive as North American yoga wants to be, yoga in its deeper dimensions demands certain qualities.
Well, I have a yoga mat and I hydrated well. So yes, I think so.
The yoga clothing companies would like you to think you are.
–BYCA Guest Blog Post–
The author is a scientist, musician, and occasional computer programmer based in Lansing, MI.
He is a founding member of “Los Tres Yogamigos”, BYCA’s premiere yoga buddy challenge team.
I suffered from chronic back pain for fifteen years. Episodic attempts at cultivating a yoga (or Pilates, or Alexander technique, or self-medication) practice would temporarily ease this pain, but it was not until I moved to Lansing and had the opportunity to practice the 26+2 sequence daily at Bikram Yoga Capital Area (BYCA) that I was able to make the (hopefully somewhat permanent) changes to the structure of my spine that were necessary for me to sit comfortably and live without chronic pain.
by Lauren Anastos
Almost four years ago, while long-distance training, I pulled a hamstring. I continued to run on it and completed a marathon in Charlevoix in June 2013.
I struggled throughout the race due to the pain in my hamstring. Also, despite my training, around mile 14 I had trouble breathing and needed to use an inhaler. At the end of the race, the pain in my hamstring was so bad that I couldn’t bend my knee.
by Ann Chrapkiewicz
I started practicing Bikram Yoga in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2003 – shortly after returning to the United States after 2 years of living in rural Japan. I was working in the kitchen of the People’s Food Coop at the time and attended on the invitation of one of my coworkers. I do not think that either of us “liked” the first class – she did not ever return for a second class (that was hard!).
by Lindsay Gray
I started practicing Bikram Yoga six years ago and have had the pleasure of practicing in many different places. Having started in Honolulu, and then in Houston, Austin, Boston, and Berlin before ending up here at my most favorite of studios. (Aren’t we lucky!!)
I am forever indebted to a close friend of mine, a former dancer like myself, who introduced me to Bikram yoga.
by Ann Renee Chrapkiewicz
…..
Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class is truly that. A place for beginners to start the yoga process.
However, there seems to be a part of the human mind – and if I may propose, especially a noticeable portion of the American mind – that would like to believe that it is not a beginner.
It is sure that it is already an expert.