How Bikram Yoga Changed my Life

Years ago, I was in a car accident and injured my back. At the time I was young and walked away with some achy muscles in my neck and upper back. A few years and a kid later, things got worse. Before I was pregnant, long distance running helped work out the kinks. Once pregnant, things were great for 8 months, and then in my last month things got bad. I couldn’t sleep on my side (or any position) without suffering excruciating pain in my neck and back. Sound normal pregnant ladies? Well, unfortunately for me, this wasn’t normal pregnancy back pain. I couldn’t even sleep for one hour. I finally resorted to sleeping in my car. The pain worsened once my son, Gabe, was born. By the time he was four months, I couldn’t even hold him without having painful muscle spasms in my back and locked up muscles. I was on Tylenol with codeine, numerous muscle relaxers, and became extremely depressed. I would wake up at 2am with muscle spasms, and sit and cry feeling like the loneliest person in the world. We exhausted my husband, Kevin’s, sick time, and our finances hiring baby sitters and paying for physical therapists, chiropractors, and pain management specialists (think steriod injections in my back) and even "Yoga for back" classes. At one point my father-in-law came out and stayed with us to help with Gabe. This was extremely difficult for me because had I quit my job to be a stay at home mom, so not being able to take care of my own kid was a blow to my heart and ego along with my back. I started to improve slightly when Gabe turned 6 months and I could get back to the gym (6 months is the minimum age for gym day care). I started strengthening my back but was still in a lot of pain. Finally, I got an MRI and discovered that I have disk bulges in several locations in my cervical spine and disk degeneration.

Enter Bikram yoga. A neighbor encouraged me to take a class. My experience with yoga in the past was this: I am not a flexible person by nature – so I wasn’t good at it and I’ve never taken a class that didn’t make me feel like I tweaked something. Now don’t get me wrong, before I was pregnant, I was a strong lady. I ran marathons, swam and lifted weights 3-4 times a week. But yoga…just wasn’t for me. I attended a class at the Bikram School of Yoga – Kearny Mesa with the idea that, if I left without feeling worse, I would go back. I also researched Bikram and found out it has done wonders for others with back issues.

Now Bikram Yoga isn’t your ordinary yoga class. Bikram is taught in a heated room, at least 105 degrees Fahrenheit and 40% humidity. There are 26 postures, performed in sets of two. The postures and order of the postures do not change, no matter who teaches it or what Bikram school you attend, anywhere in the world. The instructor does not do the poses, but talks students through them and watches the class to make sure they are using proper form. The goal is to restore the body to its best, original state. The practice is focused on flexibility, strength building, and cardio. And it’s tough. My first class…I could barely do a single pose. I was encouraged to stay in the room and lay on the floor in Savasana when I couldn’t hold (or even get into) a pose. I thought I was going to burst into tears a couple of times. After the class, the instructor encouraged me to drink a lot of water to help reduce/prevent soreness. I rushed out to my car, took a muscle relaxer, went home and iced my back. I drank tons of water and at the end of the day, I didn’t feel any worse. I started going 2-3 days a week for about 6 months. At my prime, I attended 4-5 days a week and now try to go every other day.

A year later, I can sleep on my side (something I couldn’t do for a year after my son was born), and feel stronger than I have felt in a long time. I occasionally have (very) minor back pain, but then my job is to lift a 35lb kid throughout the day. I don’t have soreness and haven’t had muscle spasms or “pulled muscles” in over a year (or muscle relaxers!). I still struggle with the backbend poses, but I will get there eventually. I will practice Bikram Yoga for the rest of my life and encourage others out there suffering from back pain (or even those lucky healthy people) to give it a try. If you chose to stick with it, it will change your life too.