I have been practicing Bikram Yoga seven years now. It has been the one activity that I have been doing where I feel stretched, strong, detoxed, rejuvenated with mental clarity. This moving meditation not only complimented my other activities but also improved my breathing and balance. Over the past eight years, I've had major changes in my life with relocating from Florida, starting a new job, managing a family and the lost of both my parents. Bikram Yoga became my sanctuary in addition to church and family. BYR is also my 1 1/2 hour vacation place during the winter months. The hot room seems like a perfect beach getaway without the travel. The Staff at BYR are amazing and the Instructors are a top-notch quality. BYR is my second home away from home.
Bob, 30 Day Challenge
I started hot yoga classes about four years ago and found it the best to practice at least two times a week. When I first started practicing yoga, I was tired and needed to rest after each session. In the last two weeks, I noticed that my strength had increased and my recovery time lessened.
I have bursitis in my left hip, and a torn ACL in my left knee. Now, I am aware of a slight tinge in my left hip but no pain. The lack of a connected ACL in my left knee has not been a problem.
I now have completed the 30 Day Challenge and the experience has been tremendous. I feel great. It is now a confidence builder. It is my sense that continuing my yoga practice, at the level I am at now, will serve me very well in the future. I am at a higher performance level, which in turn will enable a more vigorous enjoyment of all the other things I do. In addition, my awareness/sensitivity to my environment and friends and family has been strengthened. Hot yoga is now a valuable and vital addition to my life.
Keith
Thirteen years ago I had a weak back and bad knees. My wife TV introduced me to Bikram Yoga in Rockville, after the first yoga session with Diana, I knew that yoga was for me. After taking yoga for two years, we took two weeks vavacation in Europe, I drove everyday for more than 10 hours and did not feel tired, I knew yoga was the only reason that cured my knees and my back. My concerntration has improved tremendously, and my body is now strong and more flexible than when I was 18 years old. I cannot miss yoga for more than a day. My favorite posture is head-to-knee stretching.
Attaporn
Practicing yoga has changed my life in so many ways. It helped me to understand and appreciate what’s important in life and as a result, steered me to live a happier and healthier lifestyle. In addition, as a result of practicing yoga I have learned to become more compassionate and more interested in alternative medicine along with other forms of holistic wellness such as meditation, natural diet, herbal remedies, and acupuncture.
As a massage therapist, my job is to provide healing, stress relief, and care for others. Over the years, Bikram Yoga Rockville has become my healing center and it provides me with similar benefits that I provide to others. The class energizes me to start my day and it also helps to provide restorative benefits for my body at the end of my day. All in all, I feel really fortunate and lucky to be able to practice yoga on a regular basis and now can’t imagine my life without it. See you on the mat!
Debby
After college I worked in PR but realized early on it wasn’t for me. Becoming an instructor got me to leave the 9 to 5 world behind, and I have never looked back. I find so much more satisfaction from watching a student’s practice evolve than I ever did from getting a client’s name in the newspaper! I started teaching at Bikram Yoga Rockville 9 years ago, and it has been my pleasure to meet so many kind, enthusiastic and hardworking people over the years. I had been teaching for only a year when I came to Rockville, and I am thankful for the supportive community that welcomed me and allowed me to grow as a teacher. I would also like to thank Diana and Wonjoo who have become my ‘work sister’, ‘work mom’, mentors and friends over the years. This amazing community, that we all love so much, is thanks to them!
Spencer
I started practicing bikram yoga in 2006 at the suggestion of my brother and a close friend. After establishing a regular practice I not only grew passionate about the yoga but used it to establish new hobbies and accomplish feats that I had not previously imagined like climbing Mount Rainier and surviving teacher training Spring 2008. After studying under Diana and a handful of other senior Bikram instructors I now wish to help others to believe in the more impactful self that this yoga can help us attain.
Yasmin
Teaching yoga brought many of the practical changes I expected (even though, as yoga teachers, we discourage expectations). I make my own schedule. Most days, I don’t set an alarm. I can go to Target on weekday mornings. I take on more freelance acting work. The world does not stop if I have to take a day or week off. With freedom comes responsibility, so I’ve had to learn to organize my life better. This is still a work in progress. None of my work time is filler. My work clothes are more casual (if that word can describe sweaty shorts) than my everyday clothes. I could move across the world, and still find a job and community. I make less money, but enjoy my work more – and believe in it one-hundred percent.
Here’s what I didn’t expect. Simply surviving teacher training changes your ideas of what is possible. You come out feeling everything-proof, as Bikram promised. There is no more fear of pursuing what you want in life. None of this means you really know how to teach. You feel like an inspired bad-ass when you’re one of a few hundred trainees. Then you stand in a room of people who want you to change their lives, or at least make them forget their significant discomfort. Some resent the fact that they’re even in the room. Some have injuries that you’ve never heard of. Some sway in terror. Some, you’re pretty sure, are waiting for the right moment to take you down and teach the class themselves. One is trying to do something with his foot that you’re just not sure is yoga. And the only words you can muster are “lock the knee.” This is where the unexpected changes begin.
I now listen more carefully to other teachers. I pay closer attention to my own practice – not just what I do, but why. I’ve started to address lifelong alignment problems, which is a lengthy exercise in humility and gratitude. I’ve learned more patience (except when I drive). Sometimes, I have to let go of teacher mode and just let myself be a student. But teaching and practice feed each other. Generosity in my practice allows me to be more generous as a teacher. And once I say something in the yoga room, I realize it probably applies to my own practice – and to the rest of my life.
Barb - "Bikram has made me Type B, and I've never been happier"
Barb began practicing Bikram yoga in 2009. Forty-nine years of dancing, hiking and living had taken its toll leading to chronic knee, hip and back pain. Immediately hooked as the pain disappeared, the benefits of a regular practice were realized. As a RN, Barb is a die-hard advocate of Bikram yoga as a therapy for chronic disease and all health related issues. “If it was a pill, everyone would take it.” But it is the mental benefits of a regular practice she touts even more. “I was a Type A personality. Bikram yoga has made me a Type B- and I have never been happier! Trying to lock your knee in the hot room quiets the mind and has deep, far reaching benefits into everyday life.” But be forewarned…..Bikram yoga will change the trajectory of your life! Over the last 3 years Barb has remarried, relocated, started a new career and embraced her natural hair color! She credit/blames all of this on the yoga.
In the Spring of 2012 Barb’s ¾ life crisis was in full swing as she left her job and family to head to LA for Bikram’s nine week teacher training. Upon returning to DC she was very fortunate to find Bikram Yoga Rockville to mentor and support her as she began teaching. “The BYR community is so INCREDIBLE. The staff is wise and nurturing and the practitioners are beyond compare. I am overwhelmed by the love and support I have received from this studio. It is amazing so many awesome people can be in one place."
Jeb is on his Yoga Journey
I started taking yoga classes at Rockville Bikram Yoga when I realized that the dissipating effects of middle age were outpacing my usual methods for maintaining my weight, physical condition, and general health and well-being. Through nine and a half years of regular practice multiple times per week, I have been able to keep my weight under control, to stay in good enough physical shape to remain active, and to just generally feel better. I also practice yoga so that I can eat. That is, so that I can enjoy most any type of food–in reasonable amounts. I have invested enough mentally, physically, and emotionally in my yoga practice that I do not want to lose the health and well-being that yoga helps me build.
Over the years in activities outside of yoga, I have experienced injuries where I have had to face the possibility that there will be things I like to do that I will never be able to do again. In some ways the aging process seems similar to those injuries. But to paraphrase Reinhold Niebuhr, yoga helps give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that can be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other. Can’t say that I have a complete grasp of the grace, courage, or wisdom yet, but yoga has helped me recover from shoulder surgery, nerve damage in my hand, and a number of other challenges, and it has also helped me face limits and to understand that, for better or for worse, today’s limits might not be tomorrow’s. The wonderful teachers at Rockville Bikram Yoga occasionally say, “Yoga, like life, is a journey.” Some days I’m rockin’ it, and some days I’m a puddle on the floor, but I’m still enjoying the journey.
Sheila has made Bikram a Big Part of her Life
I have been practicing Bikram yoga for 16 years consistently, through all kinds of different health challenges. I have learned to be compassionate, and mindful of my body, which in turn, teaches you to be respectfulfor your fellow human beings.
I have always felt grateful and fortunate to have a studio like BYR, that I can attend and feel the warmth of my fellow yogis. BYR has a caring environment and where people are disciplined but also know how to have fun!! Bikram Yoga Rockville Community has become a big part of my life. Balance, portion control, heart felt emotions, sensitivity and love. What else do you need?
Pauline, Work-Study
Bikram Yoga Rockville (BYR) is my home away from home. I am currently participating in their work-study program and let me start off by telling you this: the managers ROCK. Not only are they some of the best mentors I’ve ever had, they’re also some of most caring, funny, supporting people I’ve come to know. That’s something you’ll for sure notice once you start coming here. BYR is filled with genuinely kind people. You can feel it in the classroom; there’s not a soul in the room who doesn’t want to be there.
It’s the perfect place to get away for a couple hours (or an hour! they now offer 60-min classes!). The teachers and work-study staff are great and so full of character. I love how personable all the teachers are and their feedback. I never feel embarrassed when a teacher helps me. Needless to say, the teachers are awesome because they actually pay attention to the students! My fellow work-study buddie are some of the most hard-working and coolest people I know. We’re a family and we want to make BYR the safest, cleanest, and happiest place for everyone. I recommend this studio to anyone who's looking for a good workout, clean environment, and wonderful community feeling.
Monica
I began practicing yoga about 3 years ago. I took it as a class in college with two other friends. It soon became my favorite class since it challenged me in every aspect, mental, emotional, and physical. Yoga has become part of my everyday life and it's allowed me to grow closer to myself!
You truly have to embrace what yoga can do for the body, soul, and mind. Its a lifetime practice and one doesn't simply master it with how far up ones leg can go or have balanced they may be. I use yoga to keep me sane from my hectic life outside the hot room!
John, 30 Day Challenge
The “30 Day Challenge” really got my practice kick started I was very new to yoga and it really helped me to get into the grove of how the classes and teachers work. To say it was a challenge is no joke. I had to really push myself to make it all 30 days. Staying hydrated, doing my laundry and most of all fitting classes around my work schedule. When it was all said and done I had a very strong sense of accomplishment and my ability to make small adjustments in my practice astounded me. The challenge really inspired me to make healthier choices in my diet and day to day routines. When it was all said and done I felt strong in my practice and strong in my mind/spirit. 10/10 would recommend it really brought light to my life.
Jane, 30 Day Challenge
I want to start by saying that I love challenges! I love them because they test and push my dedication and willpower. I believe that we are always evolving and growing and want to make sure I am doing my part to make a difference to myself and others around me.
I started taking Bikram Yoga in April 2015 at BYR and was thrilled to partake in my first “30 Day Challenge” in October. I felt like after 6 months of practice, it was the perfect time to give it a go and take my practice to another level. Initially, I just thought this would be a great challenge and something fun that I could feel proud of completing but I gained so much more through meeting and getting to know so many wonderful people. Everyone that I have met at BYR (teachers and fellow yogi's) Community is lovely, inspiring, strong, kind, and possess great energy. The Community and my yoga practice have inspired me to eat better, drink more water, and live more simply. I realized that it's so easy to be happy if we want to be, so much is in our control. Aside from all the amazing love and support that I received, I could not have completed the challenge without the colorful smiley face stickers that I was awarded for each class taken! To Diana and everyone at the BYR studio, thank you for helping me to find and fall in love with yoga. It will forever be a part of my life.
Heidi
Ever since I attended my first class in Rockville back in May, I was hooked. I don't think I've spent more than a week not going to at least one class here. Granted, I might be biased. When you first walk in, you're asked to take off your shoes and greeted with a smile from one of the many great instructors and staff. One thing I immediately took note of was how clean the studio was - and how clean it smelled. Never have I entered into a studio that is cleaned so rigorously as this one (after every class the room and bathrooms and scrubbed down) and it definitely shows! The Bikram yoga funky smell that everyone talks about? Not at all present here - even when there are 50+ bodies sweating in one hot room.
What I love about this studio is not only its cleanliness but also its instructors and staff. Everyone is friendly and personable. And because of everyone's different personality, each class - even though they might go through same boring script each time - is unique and fun. Each instructor also makes sure they know everyone before the class starts so that they can tailor the class specifically to each individual's needs. I don't know how many times an instructor has pushed me and help me become better than I thought I could be in a posture.
I also really like the community that has come to flourish within the studio between students. Unlike other studios, where students are competitive with one another and the environment is toxic, this studio prides itself as a community of learning and sharing. Never have I had so many friendly and polite classmates in a Bikram studio who so willingly are there to teach you modifications and move their mat to help you get a better view.
While I might be back in Charlottesville for the next two semesters to finish up my Master's degree, I am excited to continue going to class whenever I'm back in the area.
Glenn
I have been practicing Bikram Hot Yoga consistently for about 3 years. Maybe it was destiny, but I discovered hot yoga quite randomly. That is, I stumbled upon the Studio while running some errands. For years, I knew the studio was there but I never seriously thought about going in. But on that chilly day in October 2012, although very uncharacteristic of me, I felt compelled to stop in. I met with Diana and quickly decided to give hot yoga a try the next day.
That next day came and, after my first practice, I can honestly say that my life changed. Hot Yoga had an incredibly strange yet positive effect on me. Hot yoga was a seriously tough but gratifying work-out. Over the years, hot yoga has dramatically impacted me both physically (e.g., I’ve lost about 30 pounds and have come off my blood-pressure meds) and mentally (e.g., I have a better attitude on life and feel I am a better person…. just ask my wife?!).
I practice yoga about 3 – 4 times a week and, although it’s a big commitment, I feel it is well worth it. Even though each session consists of the same 26 postures, I always have a different and rewarding experience at every practice. I am grateful I have made hot yoga a part of my life, and I can’t imagine my life without it. See you on the mat! Namaste - Glenn
Drew
I was an NBA free agent most of the 2013-14 Season meaning, I didn't have a job. I heard about Bikram Yoga Rockville and decided to do an intro week membership. After playing 12 seasons in the NBA, I've had my share of bumps and bruises. After the first week, I saw drastic improvements in my flexibility. I also noticed that I was able to withstand intense workouts at a higher level. I started going 3-4 times a week. I've recently signed with the Washington Wizards. After an along waited call, I was thrown in the fire and had to compete right away at a high level. So far, this is the best I felt in all my years. Bikram has definitely paid off! Thank you guys for everything!