Bikram Yoga Guarantee

The text below about the guarantee is an excerpt from "Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class" by Bikram Choudhury...

You may be wondering what Bikram means when he says he can "cure" people with his yoga. In reality, there is no such thing as a cure. Doctors say they have cured a patient when they have removed the symptoms of a particular problem. But if you are cured of the flu on Monday, no one in the world can guarantee that on Friday you won't get the flu again. And so when Bikram speaks (in this book) of curing chronic diseases such as arthritis or slipped disc, he is saying that if you faithfully follow his directions, you will be relieved of your symptoms of discomfort. That is the only "cure" anyone can offer. However, Bikram Yoga offers two guarantees with the cure.

• Guarantee one: If you continue Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class™ regularly (all twenty-six poses exactly as directed) then the chronic symptoms will not return.
• Guarantee two: If you don't continue your yoga practice faithfully, fully, or as directed, then your symptoms will return.

It is for this reason that the Benefits of each separate exercise are not given any great emphasis in the body of the Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class™ book. Bikram does not wish to tempt readers to laziness or half measures. For instance those poses marked as good for slipped disc are, it is true, specifically good for correcting that condition. Done alone, however, they will not cure slipped disc. It is Bikram's complete series of exercises that "cures."

To read testimonials about how Bikram Yoga has helped others, please visit: https://www.bikramyoga.com/community/testimonials/. The dramatic improvements you'll read about in these testimonials can be attributed to causes in addition to the yoga itself: a deep desire to get well, the effort of going to yoga day after day, even when in pain, a desire to overcome fear of the unknown, and the confidence the instructor has in the ability of Bikram Yoga to bring healing to the situation. All these are important components of the healing process and should not be underestimated along with the yoga itself that helps produce these results.

Growth and progression is an individual standard

To be 'perfect' in Yoga is to do the best you can do. There is no standard of comparison except you, for instance, how:

• supple your muscles and joints have become compared to when you began
• well you understand what you are trying to accomplish in each pose

Few of us ever do the poses "perfectly." The reality is that our state of mind and condition of the body create challenges to do the pose. How quickly you progress depends upon your natural ability to a small extent but, mostly upon the time and effort you give to your yoga practice. You'll learn skills of persistence, dedication, concentration, and determination in your yoga practice. Ultimately, to enhance mind and body, relax, strengthen, reshape, and heal yourself in 90 minutes, one class at a time.