🌡️All Levels

Bikram / Hot Yoga

26 postures, 40°C heat, and total transformation.

Bikram Choudhury

1970s · Beverly Hills, USA

About Bikram / Hot Yoga

Bikram Yoga consists of a fixed sequence of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises performed over 90 minutes in a room heated to 95–104°F (35–40°C). The heat promotes muscle flexibility, deep stretching and profuse sweating to flush toxins.

✓ Exceptional gains in full-body flexibility✓ Cardiovascular conditioning from sustained effort in heat✓ Deep tissue detoxification through profuse sweating✓ Builds mental resilience and heat tolerance✓ Suitable for rehabilitation and injury recovery

Yoga Wheel Scores

🤸Flexibility

3/5

The heat dramatically increases muscle and connective tissue pliability, enabling far deeper stretching than in normal conditions.

⚡Strength

3/5

Many of the 26 postures engage core and leg muscles isometrically, building functional endurance strength.

⚖️Balance

3/5

Standing series includes challenging one-leg balance postures that develop proprioception.

🌬️Breath

2/5

Two specific pranayama exercises bookend the practice; the heat also teaches conscious breath regulation.

🧠Mind

2/5

The repetitive fixed sequence lowers cognitive load, but the heat environment is mentally challenging to endure.

History & Origins

Founder

Bikram Choudhury

Period

1970s

Origin

Beverly Hills, USA

Bikram Choudhury developed his sequence in India and brought it to the United States in the early 1970s, opening his first studio in Beverly Hills. It rapidly became one of the most commercially successful yoga styles in the West. Following controversies around Choudhury in the 2010s, many studios rebranded as simply 'Hot Yoga' while retaining the same 26-posture sequence or variations of it.