Bikram Choudhury

Bikram Choudhury ( born February 10, 1946 in Calcutta) is one of the most famous and successful yoga master of the modern era and the founder of the eponymous Bikram yoga.

Life

Bikram Choudhury was born in 1946 in Calcutta and started practicing yoga as a small boy and was Bishnu Charan Ghosh, a disciple of. At 13 he was Indian yoga master and held the title for three years. In 1966 he suffered a serious knee injury when lifting weights. After healing, he went to Mumbai and developed his Bikram yoga with a fixed sequence of 26 asanas and two breathing exercises there.

Bikram Choudhury in 1973 went to California, where he Bikram Yoga College of India founded in Los Angeles. His 1978 book published Bikram ' Beginning Yoga Class, he said it " would be a permanent Seller, as the Bible is ." When he patented his asana sequence, he retired to sharp criticism of the yoga scene, which led to a lawsuit in 2004.

There are now in the U.S. and in Europe more than 1200 Bikram yoga schools, yoga teachers and only be admitted who had appropriate training in one of its schools.

Bishnu Charan Ghosh Yoga Asana Championship

Bikram Choudhury also initiated a yoga competition at his school in Los Angeles, which he calls by his teacher Bishnu Charan Ghosh Yoga Asana Championship. Participants must demonstrate five Pflichtasanas and two asanas of free choice, is evaluated according to body type, clothes, style and design of the asanas. Bikram Choudhury is currently negotiating with the International Olympic Committee, so yoga will be an Olympic discipline.

Criticism

Bikram Choudhury is a controversial figure in the yoga scene. He is criticized not only because he patented his asana sequence, but also because his competition with assessments by external features did not correspond to the yoga philosophy.

In addition, Bikram Choudhury is striking ignorant of the history of yoga. He indicates Patanjali would have lived over 4000 years ago and would have handed 84 asanas, although not a single asana is described in Yogasutra of Patanjali. In addition, he claims, yoga competitions have in India two thousand years of tradition.

Works

• Bikram Choudhury: Bikram 's Beginning Yoga Class. Los Angeles 1978. German: Birkam Choudhury: Bikram Yoga. The practice book. Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7787-8179-0.

• Bikram Choudhury, the way to health and inner satisfaction. Riva, 2008, ISBN 978-3-936994-93-3.