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Ray Smith, Times
Colonist
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Yoga
specialist Rajashree Choudhury leads her sweating class in a session of
Bikram yoga, also known as "hot yoga," at the University of
Victoria yesterday.
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Yoga guru offers a hot cure; Practice shown to benefit health
Times Colonist (Victoria)
Sunday,
March 16, 2008
Page: A5
Section:
Capital & Van. Isl.
Byline:
Grania Litwin
Source:
Times Colonist
Yoga
specialist Rajashree Choudhury has the figure of a 22-year-old, but is
actually 42 and a mother of two teenagers.
She is also five-time All-India Yoga champion and wife of
Bikram Choudhury, 62, the sweat-loving Calcutta-born practitioner who
founded "hot yoga" in the early 1970s and has been called Yogi to
the Stars.
Rajashree visited Victoria for the first time Saturday and
told an audience of 200 at the University of Victoria that regular practice
of hot yoga may help relieve chronic pain, high blood pressure, depression
and addictions, while also managing weight and improving overall fitness.
Bikram Yoga, commonly known as "hot yoga," is practised
in a room heated to 105°F and consists of a specific sequence of 26 yoga
postures and two breathing exercises.
"It's never too late to change your shape or improve your
alignment," Rajashree said in a recent interview.
"A lot of people think: 'Oh, I can't stretch like that,
or I can't balance like that.' But it's not about how perfect you are; it's
about how perfectly you are trying. What matters is the intensity,
consistency and dedication you have to reach your own maximum... Not mine,
but yours."
Rajashree, who started learning yoga at age three, met Bikram
at 17 and married him two years later. While they both look younger than
their years, she says interiors are more important than exteriors.
"Some people look good but feel terrible. They are aching
and paining and emotionally drained. They sit behind the wheel of a car or
in front of a computer all day, and their minds are going in every
direction."
Her antidote is 90 minutes of yoga a day, five days a week,
preferably in a hot room but if not, following a very warm shower.
"Not everyone likes heat. I grew up with monsoons and floods and
didn't want more heat," she said with a laugh. "But gradually you
acclimatize and fall in love with it."
Some critics of the program say it's easy to overdo stretches
when the body is very warm, but she argues there are always people who push
too much. "Others are lazy and don't push at all. What we are aiming
for is balance."
glitwin@tc.canwest.com
Illustration:
•
Photo: Ray Smith, Times Colonist / Yoga specialist Rajashree Choudhury
leads her sweating class in a session of Bikram
yoga, also known as "hot
yoga," at the University of Victoria yesterday.
Idnumber:
200803160021
Edition:
Final
Story
Type: News
Length:
368 words
Illustration
Type: Black & White Photo
