TESTIMONIALS

Marianne Johnson

I am often asked as a former resident of Los Angeles if I miss California.  My honest response leaves most people downright puzzled.  I have come to decide that the thing I missed most upon moving back to Tennessee was Bikram.  Bikram Yoga is life altering, moreso than any activity one elects to do.  If adversity is the greatest architect of character, discomfort is his draftsman tool of choice.  What I mean to say is that you absolutely learn the most about yourself when you are uncomfortable.  My daughter who continued her Bikram practice in Memphis, TN has a teacher who says that if you set out to live your life to avoid discomfort, good luck with that.  Bikram Yoga studios are a tiny microcosm in which you learn to face discomfort and deal with it for 90 minutes a day.  Your natural impulses will surprise you, but over time you learn not to panic, not to wipe the sweat from your brow, not to guzzle water in an effort to mitigate the discomfort.  You learn to be with the discomfort and accept that it is okay to be uncomfortable, a concept this pill popping, consumeristic society of ours would not have you believe.  You learn mind over matter.  And when you take this skillset into the real world, it translates beautifully.  You take Bikram with you onto 65 North during 5 o'clock traffic.  You are suddenly aware of a tendency for a road rage that would have consumed you before you even felt it coming on P.B. (Pre Bikram) and you breathe deeply and find you are the master of your own emotions. What power!  In the process of honing your yoga practice, there are unimaginable physical benefits as well which are unique only to Bikram.  Your very spine is strengthened, your lungs are expanded, and over time, you may be so lucky as to experience postural realignment...things that jazzercise just can't touch.  I am a true believer and if you give yourself a chance, you will be too.

Bikram Yoga – and, in particular, the community at Bikram CoolSprings – has changed my life by giving me the tools to improve my health and the love and support to get outside my comfort zone and stay motivated to do something I’ve never succeeded at in the past.  In 2008, I was diagnosed with (adult-onset) Type I diabetes and began to make dramatic lifestyle changes to address this life-altering disease.  After several months of changes to my diet, I began to lose weight… and I recognized that to feel even better I wanted to exercise.  But this was no easy decision to make.  Despite yo-yo dieting for most of my 20s (let’s not talk about the 30s…), I had never been able to commit to any form of exercise.  When you grow up being the heaviest person in the room your entire life, it’s difficult to be motivated to join a group of spandex-clad genetically-blessed beauties.  And despite sincere attempts at the individual pursuits of walking and cycling…  well…  no success there, either.

Tonya Long

Then 2008.........and Now Dec 2009

When I began to research what exercise might fit my particular likes/dislikes/style, the low-impact low-callisthenic element of yoga was intriguing to me and thank God for an old friend from California who intervened and insisted that I try Bikram Yoga.  (And even all the way from California, she easily found the Bikram CoolSprings website… and I was on my way!)  There’s not just one thing I love about Bikram – there’s a list!  As my friend from California knew, I’m an adrenaline junkie.  I would have been very bored, I now realize, with more traditional (less-strenuous) forms of yoga.  When I finish a Bikram practice, I know I’ve just invested 90 minutes of effort that benefit both my mental and physical health.  After a practice, I’m both wiped out AND ready to take on the world – all at the same time!  Within the first 4-6 weeks of beginning my practice, I began to have episodes of low blood sugar…  my Endocrinologist laughed (good naturedly) as she told me that all this exercise was lowering my glucose levels and my prescribed insulin dosages were now too high.  She then reduced my daily insulin intake by half.  The ‘body benefits’ continue – a recent trek to the doctor revealed I’d lost another 11 pounds in the last 90 days.  I believe there have also been mental benefits – and I credit my steady yoga practice with keeping me grounded during some tough times in the workplace during the last six months.

Last but not least, I must acknowledge the family of yogis who practice at Bikram CoolSprings.  From soccer moms to ex-Titans, Olympic-bound ice skaters to businessmen and school teachers, from people who hung up their ballet shoes long ago to people (like me) who only watched from the sidelines until now… everyone is there to make themselves healthier, to push themselves farther than last time.  It’s not a “chant-y” (meditative) group and not an overly-chatty group (except for me)…  Everyone has a genuine interest in each other and in improving themselves each day.  There’s no snitty cliques or competitive one-upmanship…  just a group of highly-inclusive people that will accept anyone who joins them for 90 minutes of intense postures in a very hot studio.  From the first day, I have never felt awkward or self-conscious.  No one seems to notice when I continue to fall out of my balancing series poses – they’re all focused on holding their own postures!  And I now realize that those “genetically-blessed” folks I mentioned steering clear of earlier may not be all that enviable after all; they may have just discovered sooner in life what it took me 39 years to find… exercise I love, with people I adore, in an environment that makes me happy.  Thank you Sandra and my ‘peeps’ at Bikram CoolSprings – I’m looking forward to turning 40 in the spring and realize I have a better chance at good health in the next 40 years with Bikram than I had in the first 40 without it…