A handful of seniors are literally bending over backwards and making yoga at Bikram Yoga Sidney part of their weekly routine.
Bruce Campbell, David Bearden and Joe Bradley (all in their 70s) have been attending hot yoga at the school on average of three times a week for the last year-and-a-half and say the benefits of practicing Bikram have come through in their everyday lives.
“I’m more flexible, I feel like my spine is straighter and I sleep better,” said Campbell. “I think a lot of my friends think I do funny things like stand on my head when I tell them I do yoga.”
He added he feels that Bikram is a serious stretch exercise.
Bikram Yoga is based on yoga-guru Bikram Choudhury’s signature series of 26 postures. The postures are done in a heated room for 90 minutes and are designed to help increase strength and flexibility.
Wendy Crowther, the school’s owner for the last three years, said the benefits of practicing Bikram yoga on a regular basis can be seen at any age.
“I would say most of our students are around middle age but we have a handful of seniors like Bruce, David and Joe that come on a consistent basis,” she said. “It’s nice because Bikram allows people to move at their own pace and do a little bit of each pose as they are able. And practicing in the heat is the safest way to stretch more inflexible, or older muscles and bones.”
Crowther said practicing Bikram hot yoga can help people achieve a balance between two essential components of a healthy lifestyle.
“We teach people to learn for themselves the balance between strength and flexibility. The balance between the two is a foundation of good health,” she said, adding Bikram is an accessible way for people of all abilities to pursue a healthy lifestyle.
“I always go back to one of Bikram’s quotes about yoga, which is that you’re never too sick, you’re never too old, it’s never too bad and it’s never too late to start from scratch with Bikram yoga. To me, that just sums it up,” she said.
For more information on Bikram Yoga Sidney and hot yoga in general, visit bikramyogasidney.com or call 250-655-9642.