Fitness

The 26 Bikram Yoga Poses

Bikram yoga is popular with celebrities including Madonna, Lady Gaga and Ashton Kutcher. If you want to get familiar with Bikram Yoga and maybe try it out – we are bringing you all 26 postures you should do in every class. Check them out.

Bikram Choudhury derived Bikram yoga from the traditional hatha yoga and popularized it in the 1970s. Every class of Bikram yoga consists of 90 minutes and exactly 26 different poses done in a preferably heated room:

1. Standing Deep Breathing – Pranayama

You need to start every Bikram Yoga session with this particular posture. It is good for your breathing and it relaxes you and prepares you for the postures that follow.

2. Half Moon Pose – Ardha-Chandrasana

This pose strengthens the muscles in your body and is particularly good for your abdomen and your back. It also helps with problems of pain in your back and neck and in cases of frozen shoulder.

3. Hands to Feet Pose – Pada-Hasthasana

A hand to feet pose stretches your back and your spine and it is similar to the half moon pose. Both poses help with problems in your lower body as they stretch muscles and tendons in your legs, helping with bad circulation.

4. Awkward Pose – Utkatasana

This pose is particularly good for strengthening your legs. It also relieves cold feet, leg arthritis and rheumatism and even menstrual cramps.

5. Eagle Pose – Garurasana

Garurasana improves your kidney function and sexual function. It opens 14 major joints in your body and improves flexibility of your hips, knees and ankles.

6. Standing Head to Knee – Dandayamana-Janushirasana

This pose works all major muscle groups and is good for your internal organs too. It improves your concentration and mental strength.

7. Standing Bow Pose – Dandayamana-Dhanurasana

If you want to move your blood from one part of the body to another, this is the right posture. It’s great for improving your balance, cardio-vascular state and elasticity of your spine.

8. Balancing Stick – Tuladandasana

Clean your veins and arteries, improve your balance and concentration with this posture. It has a positive influence on your pancreas, spleen and liver.

9. Standing Separate Leg Stretching Pose – Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Paschimotthanasana

Strengthen sciatic nerves and tendons in your legs, improve flexibility of your pelvis and give your internal organs, especially your intestines, a unique massage with this pose.

10. Triangle Pose – Trikanasana

Trikanasana strengthens every single muscle in your body and has a positive influence on all of your internal organs.

11. Standing Separate Leg Head to Knee Pose – Dandayamana-Bibhaktapada-Janushirasana

Work your abdomen and help conditions like diabetes, depression or memory loss. This pose influences your thyroid gland and improves your immune system and metabolism.

12. Tree Pose – Tadasana

Tadasana prevents hernia and improves your posture and your balance. It is good for arthritis and rheumatism as well as with blood circulation problems.

13. Toe Stand – Padangustasana

If you want to strengthen your knees, hips and ankles or battle hemorrhoids, Toe Stand is the right pose. Of course, it is good for balance as well.

14. Dead Body Pose – Savasana

This pose was basically created to relax your body and your mind and prepare you for a set of postures that are done on the floor.

15. Wind-Removing Pose – Pavanamuktasana

This pose massages your colon and your digestive organs. It normalizes the amount of hydrochloric acid in your stomach and helps with constipation. It also stretches your arms, thighs and hips and improves flexibility of your hip joints.

16. Cobra Pose – Bhujangasana

Bikram Yoga Cobra Pose  Bhujangasana
Apart from being amazingly great for lumbar region of your spine, the cobra pose furthermore improves digestion and appetite and brings relief from asthma and menstrual pains.

17. Locust Pose – Salabhasana

This pose has all of the benefits of Cobra pose plus it can help with varicose veins in legs, and tennis elbow in arms.

18. Full Locust Pose – Poorna-Salabhasana

Increases strength of your middle spine and the elasticity of your rib cage. It strengthens your leg and arm muscles.

19. Bow Pose – Dhanurasana

Bikram Yoga Bow Pose Dhanurasana

The Bow pose of Bikram Yoga helps with back problems by strengthening your back muscles. Plus, it helps you breathe by opening your rib cage and lungs and lets them inhale more air.

20. Fixed Firm Pose – Supta-Vajrasana

This pose helps prevent hernia, strengthens your thigh muscles and improves circulation in your legs. It also improves flexibility of your spine, hips and knees.

21. Half Tortoise Pose – Ardha-Kurmasana

It stretches your neck and shoulder muscles and improves blood flow to your brain. It is said that this particular Bikram Yoga pose can help with respiratory problems and can help you live longer.

22. Camel Pose – Ustrasana

Brings maximal compression of the spine and improves flexibility of your neck, shoulders and spine. Helps to eliminate toxins from your body and brings relief with respiratory problems.

23. Rabbit Pose – Sasangasana

This pose brings maximum extension of your spine. It stretches your neck, shoulders and back and can help with problems with sinuses and diabetes, depression or insomnia.

24. Head to Knee Pose and Stretching Pose – Janushirasana and Paschimotthanasana

Apart from stretching your back and leg muscles, this pose is particularly good for your immune and lymphatic system. It can improve digestion and helps with allergies and chronicdiarrhea.

25. Spine-Twisting Pose – Ardha-Matsyendrasana

Bikram Yoga Spine-Twisting Pose – Ardha-Matsyendrasana

This pose calms your nervous system. It’s the only pose that twists and stretches your back from your first to your last vertebrae, thus bringing more blood to your spinal nerves and improving the elasticity of your spine.

26. Blowing in Firm Pose – Kapalbhati in Vajrasana

Finish every Bikram Yoga class with this pose. Deep breaths bring more oxygen to your lungs and relax your whole body. It will improve your circulation and bring new positive energy to your body, concluding the session of Bikram Yoga and leaving you in a relaxed and cleansed state.

Check out this video, and see 26 Bikram Yoga poses in 2 minutes.

Namaste.

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About the author

Sarah

I’m a free spirit who likes to travel, cook and fly. Licensed paraglider pilot, I spend all my spare time flying. In the meantime, I like to share my recipes and travel experiences.

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