What Students are Saying

"Student of the month"

Student of the Month
Derek Stout
My life is blessed by a practice of Bikram Yoga. My life has been doubly blessed by finding a kind and welcoming place to develop my practice at Bikram Yoga North Dallas. I thank Bikram and the staff of BYND for showing me a path to optimal health and a route to understanding the power of human consciousness. Elizabeth and Erin are fantastic teachers, and we are lucky to have them as our mentors.

I landed in Bikram Yoga after hearing a Madonna radio interview. I liked the idea of heat and sweating and Madonna—so I went—and felt unbelievable after my first class. That was 5 years ago. Since then I have moved almost ten times and found as many opportunities to practice as I could. It wasn’t until coming full circle back to Dallas when I began a regular practice at BYND just over 1 year ago. Now, Bikram Yoga is taking me to Los Angeles in April for Bikram’s 9 week two-class-a-day teacher training program and I couldn’t be more excited!

I am especially excited because I was a morbidly obese kid. I started overeating and under-exercising as soon as my hands could reach the fridge and TV remote. The teasing and jeering from kids was awful. When I was 15 I spent some time in Europe backpacking around. Magically, rationally, through activity, all those years of weight just started to come off. I began to feel like a whole person. For the first 15 years of my life a staircase was a fright because going up it meant an elevated heart rate, perspiration, and breathlessness. Funny, though, since those symptoms come naturally in Bikram Yoga! I am thrilled to be able to share and teach this awesome practice of physical development with others and see the results occur with time and persistence.

Derek Stout



Student of the Month February 2006
David High
I started Bikram Yoga about a year ago as a way to exercise through the winter.

I had been walking 5 miles a day for several years except during the winter months. From sometime around Thanksgiving through March I would get out of the habit of walking because of the weather. Practicing yoga in a heated room sounded like a good way to continue exercising through this period and I originally intended to do this just for a few months until the weather turned nice again.

I didn't take long for me to get hooked. During the first few class I though I was going to pass out but I began to get used to the heat. Then I started to like it. Bikram yoga is a complete workout that works every part of the body from the inside out. It leaves me feeling, relaxed yet at the same time energized. Another benefit is restoring flexibility through out my body but especially in my left ankle. I broke my ankle about 15 years ago and now have post traumatic arthritis. Practicing Bikram yoga has restored a lot of the flexibility in my ankle that I lost because of this injury.

Bikram yoga is now my primary form of exercise and the cornerstone of a healthier over all life style which includes a vegetarian diet. Between the diet and yoga I have been able to reduce my total cholesterol to a level that is low enough to allow me to stop taking Lipitor. I am not sure how large of a role the yoga plays in this but I do know it is a very good aerobic workout and that exercise does play an important role in helping the body control cholesterol levels.

David High



I landed in Bikram Yoga after a biking accident on 2003. After the accident I had surgery on my elbow and 2 pins put in to try and put my arm back together. After about 3 months of rehab my surgeon told me it would probably NEVER be straight and to expect the onset of arthritis. Well…I am for sure not a girl who wants to be crooked anywhere…so I found Bikram. After 6 months…and lots of frustration I was finally able to wrap my arms around my legs for “wind removing” pose and actually hold onto my elbows. I was so excited about my elbow I hadn’t noticed the other changes in my body, mind and spirit….Bikram became a life change at that point and I was up to doing 4 classes a week and back on my bike on the weekends…what more could I ask for!!!

Well…Erin made me sign up for the challenge and there was more change in store for me. I must admit the first 15 days were difficult…but in hindsight it was my brain getting in the way of my body…after I got to day 16 I craved class. I finished the challenge feeling better than I had in years..all of me!! So thank you Erin for making me do it…and really believing that I could.

The very best part of Bikram for me is knowing that my body is in a different place every day and accepting that…and giving all I can on that day…never feeling failure. There is a true sense of peace attached to that acceptance that I never got from running, biking or the gym.

The constant encouragement that is given every class by the staff at Bikram North will always keep me coming back. By the way….my elbow is perfectly straight!!!

Thanks,

Cindy Kender

If you're hoping to find the most consistent practicer of yoga, that is not me. But I have been doing Bikram yoga for almost eight years.  I taught myself the practice at home using the book. The program was recommended to me by a friend who has a very admirable physique, so I wanted to give this a try.  I read every word of the book many times, and kept referring to it as I would practice.  I set a goal to stay consistent with practice for two months like the book says.  After each session I would have that overall good, "well worked-out" feeling.  I knew what Bikram wrote about his yoga working 100% of the body was true.  Then as I continued,  I thought, "this can't be me in the mirror!  I've never looked better and I have NOT been pumping iron!" 

You can expect your flexibility to increase from doing yoga, but many people never imagine that this practice will strengthen, tone and reshape your body like no other form of exercise can.  I often tell people it is so thorough that you will tone areas of the body that would be ignored in a regular gym workout using all the machines man has ever invented. That alone would have been enough to make me fall in love with Bikram yoga.

But then a traumatic and stressful event happened in my life.  I was left feeling dead inside, angry, bewildered and literally sick.  I had put aside my yoga practice for about a year and a half, but now I turned to it just to feel human.  I started practice again, and I used my 'dead body pose' periods for simple meditations, sometimes prayer.  After each session I felt revived, my mind no longer obsessing.  I found myself walking out of my heated bedroom feeling an exhilarating peace and calm.  With so many things being beyond my control, my practice took on new meaning, becoming a tool for survival....regardless of whatever might come my way!  It was then that Bikram yoga, which began as a workout alternative for me, revealed itself as a true healer of body, mind and soul.  I'm very grateful that Bikram yoga came into my life, and it will always be with me.
 
Thanks for the opportunity to share this,
Sincerely,
Greg Walker

"Surprisingly, while I began attending yoga classes at Bikram Yoga North Dallas to become more fit and tone my body, Bikram yoga has benefited me as much mentally as it has physically.  The emphasis on breathing and mentally being in the room has carried over into other areas of my life helping me focus on where I am and what I am doing at that exact moment. 
 
Finally, I am a 44 year old woman who has exercised fairly regularly since the age of 26 (swimming, bicycling, fast-walking, and weight-lifting).  Practicing Bikram Yoga, my core body strength, balance, and flexibility have improved.  My posture has never been better and my stomach has never been flatter...all good things."
 
Jamie Gaines


I started taking Bikram yoga at the end of September 2005. I was burnt out from going to the gym-- the noise and the crowds were far from a pleasant workout experience. I was also suffering from an under active Thyroid and had done research suggesting that yoga may help alleviate some of the symptoms in that area. I also wanted to make a change that would not only help me physically, but mentally and emotionally as well.

Since starting Bikram yoga, the changes in me have been noticed by just about everyone I know. Physically, my body has gotten stronger, more toned, and I have lost weight. I feel so much better mentally, so much clearer and less stressed out. I feel like my body is healing from the inside out. I also notice that I have a much more positive outlook on things than I used to and it has been noticed by those around me. The 90 minutes of class time is MY time, time to let things go, meditate, and just work through the hectic day to day stress that I encounter.

The first class was tough. I wasn't sure what to expect, and it was hard but I knew I liked how I felt afterwards. So I kept coming back and now I am addicted. I try to attend at least 5 days a week and I feel great. Some days I find class much harder than others, and the day to day differences make it challenging. But the overall changes are so worth it. I feel so much better about myself and have stopped letting the little things get to me. My thyroid problem is gone, I am off medication and my levels are all back to normal. I feel wonderful and I highly recommend anyone to try Bikram yoga, get through the first class and come back. You will not regret it.

Jessica Birchard

When I started yoga, I wanted a form of exercise that I could continue to do as a very old lady one day and not have any of my ability compromised due to age, very much like my sport - scuba diving.  Yoga continues to challenge me, regardless of the level I am at at any point in time. With yoga, I am only competing against one challenger -myself, and this challenger will always be there for me.   I also enjoy the calming effect yoga has on me so much so that I often find it worthwhile to get up at 5AM for a 5:30AM yoga class.  As a late night person, this is indeed a great accomplishment for me. 
 
Rather simple stuff, but true and difficult for me to do, but I still do it!
 
Olga Spetsieri

There are three main areas that I have noticed the most benefit since I’ve started practicing Bikram Yoga.

1. Energy. The first few classes were difficult to catch my breath and my heart was pounding from beginning to end.  As I started to learn how to control my breathing and got used to class, I was able to recover much easier.  My heart still pounds, but I am never gasping for breath now.  I believe that the extra cardio benefit is one big reason I continue to take class regularly.
 
2. Strength. My scoliosis has made gaining core strength a high priority as I get older.  One thing I have noticed after just a few months of practicing is the subtle increase in strength in my back.  I have noticed that I can go into positions in class now that I never thought were possible in the beginning.  Also, I am starting to notice the small of my back becoming more pronounced.
 
3. Stress. One of the immediate effects I found that kept me coming back was the stress reduction.  The postures you do in class are like treating your body like a sponge; twisting, squeezing and wringing all the stress and atrophy right out of your body.  Working up a big sweat at the same time makes the whole process very cleansing after a hard day's work.

Tom Laney