Yoga Blog 3

         This week I decided to write about our class with Diane Polli.  Our zoom class with Diane was much different than other forms of yoga I have tried.  Diane taught us a class of Bikram yoga.  Diane has been practicing Bikram yoga for most of her lifetime, and has practiced all over the world in places such as Bali, India, New York, Los Angelos, and Texas.  Bikram yoga consists of 26 distinct yoga poses, taught in cycles for sixty minutes.  It is typically only used as a form of exercise and breathing practice.

        Bikram yoga typically does not incorporate any spiritual aspect of yoga from my understanding, but Diane Polli incorporated a small spiritual relaxation at the end of our practice.  I've done multiple types of yoga before, in which have all included basic poses like a downward facing dog or pigeon pose.  The Bikram yoga class I took part in did not use a lot of basic poses that are very common in yoga.  Diane explained how 360 degree poses were most important. 

        Bikram yoga reminded me of strength and conditioning classes I used to take at my dance studio for conditioning before the competition season started.  We would use a variety of yoga poses to strengthen and stretch our bodies, but there was no spiritual aspect of it, just a lot of constant movement, like Bikram yoga.  I think the practice space can "empower" you even just as a form of exercise, as opposed to Zumba for example, because yoga incorporates breathing exercises to keep the body calm and holds poses for much longer.