Bikram Yoga History

 Who is Bikram?

• Bikram Choudhury began learning Hatha Yoga poses in his native India at the age of 3 under the study of Bishnu Ghosh, the brother of Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship.
• Bikram quickly became a yoga champion and at age eleven was the youngest contestant ever to win the National India Yoga Competition.
• At age 20, a weightlifting accident crippled Bikram. With the guidance of his guru, Bikram created this 26 posture series which restored his health.
• Through his experience, he became known as the world’s most knowledgeable yoga teacher.
• Combining the Eastern discipline with Western medicine, Bikram perfected his comprehensive system suitable for all ages and levels of fitness and brought it to the United States 1973.
• Bikram founded the Yoga College of India in Beverly Hills, California in 1974.
• Since that time, Bikram has cultivated a following as his postures have been proven to help heal our western cultural problems of stress, knee injuries, asthma, insomnia, type II diabetes and many other chronic ailments.
• Bikram teaches at his school in Beverly Hills and hosts two training courses twice a year for 9 weeks.
• Under his tutelage, several thousand yoga practitioners have become certified to teach his healing technique.
• Today over 750 schools around the globe teach the Bikram method and he frequently makes appearances bringing the benefits of his yoga to millions of individuals worldwide.
• For more about Bikram Yoga, please visit www.bikramyoga.com.