Part I : Bikram Pitfall #1 - Lock The Knee! Or Die Trying! by Peter Sklivas

Peter Sklivas has been a guest on The G-ZONE a number of times discussing his novel and Yoga techniques. Peter is at BEA right now and later this summer will discuss his experience there and much more as he returns to The G-ZONE!

Please enjoy Part I of a to part guest post!

Bikram Pitfall #1 – Lock the Knee! Or Die Trying! By Peter Sklivas

1.            Bikram Teachers are Obsessed with Pushing the Kneecap Back! It’s such a HUGE deal that I know expert yogis who’ve been handed their money back after taking a Bikram class & told never to return. Why? Because they were micro-bending their knees in standing asanas. In the fitness world you’d be hard-pressed to find a professional trainer who will guide clients to repeatedly hyper-extend their knees. Bikram teachers claim that by engaging the quadriceps and locking the knee, you strengthen the leg. If you look at the knee joint in profile, when someone hyper-extends versus bending their knee slightly, isn’t it obvious that hyper-extension is a prescription for overstretching the soft tissue of knee ligaments and tendons? What’s more, if you look at the hips and spine of someone hyper-extending their knee is a 1-legged standing pose, you will not see corelift in the spine. What you will see are sloppy body mechanics.

Look at this woman's left Knee as she seeks greater depth. This progression is typical of advanced Bikram Yoga practitioners. Can you see how her weight is collapsing into the back of her knee? While the pose looks superficially impressive, she is over-stretching the back of knee. Does her knee look healthy?

2.            Why on Earth do Bikram yogis hyper-extend their knees while making claims of health benefits? The first thing is that many people who practice Bikram Yoga have experienced genuine miraculous healings in the joints. So these people think, “Bikram & his teachers must know what they are talking about.” Right? Well, not so fast. The heat provides a tremendous rehab environment. So here’s a typical cycle for newcomers in the Bikram world.

3.            Bikram Cycle - The Bikram Hot Yoga practice which heals thousands of injuries in the first 2 years of practice frequently ends up re-injuring the body in the 3rd & 4th years of practice. And the practitioner gets confused. Why is Bikram Yoga not working anymore? Answer: Because your body mechanics suck!

And no one corrected you because too often the teachers do NOT understand proper body mechanics.

4.            Don’t Get Seduced by the Heat – Don’t get me wrong! I LOVE THE HEAT. It provides an ideal rehab environment for soft tissue injuries. But .. and this is a huge BUT … if you think you can defy the laws of gravity just cuz you’re in a HOT room, you are drinking Bikram’s coolaid! If you decide to push your physical edge in a challenging HOT Yoga practice on a regular basis, at first, you will get away with it. You’ll get a fantastic workout. Your brain will produce yummy feel-good chemicals: endorphins, dopamine, etc. Your muscle tone will improve. And your body fat will likely decrease. Organs & glands will realign to their proper balance. But if your body mechanics are poor, you will develop bad habits of collapsing into the soft tissue of your joints. Three years into your practice you may be scratching your head wondering how on earth did I overstretch the back of my knees? The very practice which miraculously healed your body three years ago is suddenly betraying you. Now how do you heal yourself?

Peter Sklivas – Creator of HotCore Yoga & author of the yoga romance novel ‘The Secret of Enduring Love: Yoga Romance of Damayanti & Nala.’ Located in Beverly Farms, MA, Peter teaches classes in his yoga studio & leads workshops on Tantra and HotCore Yoga.  www.hotcoreyoga.com  & www.hotcoreyogapress.com