Tony Sinclair
I started practicing Bikram yoga in 2000. I hated my first class, I was in pain and my body was like a steel rod, a result of doing years of running and weights. Lucky they give you the 10 day pass so I had a little incentive to go back. Over time my body started to open up and my postures continually improved. The greatest improvement I got out of bikram yoga is the mental side and challenge.
Before bikram I would have considered myself to be quite an introvert, lacking confidence and holding onto quite a lot of old emotional baggage. I never thought I would ever have found the courage to get up and teach a class, shy me… no way. The subject of teacher training kept on coming up, and I just decided one day to go… best thing I have ever done! What I have received from Bikram yoga on a personal level is invaluable, and to be able to teach, and see the people around me getting results is amazing and very rewarding. And now I am lucky enough to have a studio in Noosa Heads, funny where life leads you… Woohoo!
Manyia Vale
I have been practicing Bikram Yoga for the passed thirteen years and I feel very blessed to have found it. My life has always been busy as I come from a sporting back ground, from a young age competing in cross country running to half marathons, triathlons and marathons. I had a lot of eating issues and spent most of my twenties obsessed with dieting either starving myself or binging on food. So although I was full of life I had a few lose screws. At the age of twenty nine I gained a hip injury that stopped me from running and almost walking at one stage. I was advised to have a hip replacement and it was then a friend of mine told me about Bikram Yoga. Which at the time was ‘just’ starting up.
I had always been one to think that yoga was for the older generation. My very first class was a shock, I felt humbled and totally out of my comfort zone. Not being able to most of the balance poses and with little flexibility I walked out hating it… but I also felt compelled to go back. My hip felt more agile and I had never cried so hard in my life. Within a few weeks I hardly noticed my hip injury, my life was also a lot more positive. I decided to do the teacher training which I completed in June 2000.
Life has never been better, I have travelled all over the world teaching and my dream was to one day open my own Bikram Studio so I can share the wonderful healing from this amazing system of hot yoga.
Barbara Pickova
I grew up surrounded by my sporty family, and lucky enough I’ve always been active and enjoyed sports. I wasn’t until I tried bikram yoga that I truly found myself. I found something that makes me feel good from the inside out… and the best thing is ’that’ great feeling doesn‘t stop… it stays with you. I’ve been practicing bikram daily for the last three years. I completed the Bikram Yoga teacher training in spring 2007 and taught an Singapore for the last two years.
I feel that I’m on a new journey here in Noosa, and the great community here has helped in so many ways as everyone is so friendly. Students have taken me out for my first surf and there are always something happening… it’s a new life journey that I’m really enjoying. I love the atmosphere in our studio, we are continually creating a ’feel good’ vibe and everyone is connecting with each other, ego’s and worries are left aside as we go about forming a yoga family. I could never see teaching Bikram as a ‘job’, its my ’daily’ passion and I’m blessed to be teaching something I love and share it also with others around me.
Sarah Naples
A native of Buffalo, NY, I was fortunate to experience a well-rounded, beautiful life growing up. I come from a healthy-minded family and have always thought of being active as a part of life. I have always been a physical person through various sports, lover of natural beauty and the outdoors. I have been practicing Bikram Yoga since 2004, and as my devotion to this yoga grows, my life experience heightens as well.
Bikram Yoga is a powerful tool to discover the untapped, unlimited potential that every being possesses. It has opened my mind and heart to an abundance of Love, strength, health and happiness. It is the only activity where I have experienced such a fantastic change in my overall well-being. The continuous practice of Bikram Yoga has formed a permanent smile on my face. Practicing Bikram Yoga builds 5 mental qualities: Faith, Self-Control, Determination, Concentration and Patience. I find myself to be a more positive and balanced person by incorporating these attributes in my daily life. I graduated from the Spring 2007 teacher training in Honolulu, HI.
Simone Cameron
On a cold, dark and wet winter's night in 2000 I found my self driving after work to take a 'Bikram Yoga' class. I don't quite remember much of my first class other than that the walls were pale blue and the lines on the carpet yellow!! or even how I discovered Bikram?? I remember that I did attempt some postures, not quite sure what, but I do know that I felt good after class and so I went back there a couple of times a week until I left Sydney in 2002 and moved to Noosa. It was the one exercise where sweating actually felt good. I continued my practice in Noosa between having my 2 children and found that Bikram helped keep me ME. I have also practiced over the years, on and off, Vinyasa, Iyengar and Power yoga. Before my yoga days, Equestrian, my first long time passion.
In April 2007, almost 2 years after the birth of my second son, my practice having wavered somewhat, I felt something was missing from my life...soo, 72 hours later I was on a plane to Hawaii to launch myself into a Bikram Teacher Training Program. I guess you could say I was flying blind, not having 'prepared' myself for the challenge, but my time and experience at Teachers Training was unbelievable. A journey I will forever hold dear to my heart. Bikram connects me on so many levels, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually and scientifically. As a Science teacher, I knew from the moment I was with Bikram that I needed to go back home with what I had learned from him, combine it with what I knew about the body and impart this amazing technique onto many others, hopefully inspiring them in the process.
What I love most about the Bikram Yoga sequence is that it just makes sense, and everytime I practice, my class is different. It helps me stay present and focused. I have learnt to approach each challenge as it arises, whether in the classroom or in life, with a sense of calm and lack of judgment, and to just listen. To take the leap of faith, as I did 9 years ago, is to move in the right direction. Remember we all have so much to give if we only knew how! Bikram has helped me find 'my smiling happy face' :)
See you in class. Namaste