Bikram Yoga is the hottest weight loss trend to hit the tropical island of Singapore. You can register for a free class on any holiday and discover it's a great therapeutic activity to wind down from Singapore's retail therapy, before you indulge more in Singapore's infamous food therapy!
Located in the middle of shoppers' delight near Singapore's Orchard Road, at Pacific Plaza on Scotts Rd, Bikram Original Hot Yoga is a heated yogic activity where 26 Hatha postures, and two breathing exercises, are twice performed under remedial temperatures of 41 degrees. Hot? Yes. Benefits? Plenty. In a 90-minute class you will burn approx 900 calories by working on strength, balance, flexibility, and definitely on focus. Forget issues of bad flexibility, this is a beginner class. Bendy or not, Bikram yoga is an activity that will help everyone remember they are alive.
Walking in to the Pacific Plaza studio it's hard not to be drawn to a large wall adorned with pictures of the inventor of Bikram style yoga, Bikram Choudry, greeting international celebs (watch out for my fave David Beckham.) The pamphlet handed to you by friendly reception staff also highlights a strong celebrity following: Madonna, Julia Roberts, Jessica Simpson, Sharon Stone, Matthew Mcconaughey, Elle Macpherson, George Clooney...Google this and the list goes on.
There's good reason celebs are into Bikram yoga - the results of regular classes give you an incredibly toned body - just take a look at any instructor if you're in doubt of its effectiveness. Throw a few classes into your holiday schedule and devouring that extra Singaporean chili crab is a guilt-free luxury.
During class, instructors recite consistent dialogue of the poses, peppered with details of the multiple health benefits. Rapid weight loss, body toning, and strengthening of muscles are yours in the making. Spine strengthening is benefitting muscular and skeletal problems. Your body is helped to regulate diabetes, heart disease, asthma, insomnia, chronic indigestion, blood pressure, and the benefits go on. This is the kind of practice that will keep you healthy well into old age. A class worth trying...
The Bikram Original Hot Yoga studio at Pacific Plaza makes it easy to pop in for a class, then shower, change and continue your tourist day. No need to take a towel or mat, these are provided. Just turn up with water bottle (or buy one there) and clothes easy to move and sweat in. Don't eat food at least three hours prior, or your tummy may feel funny when stretching.
If you arrive early, the studio boasts a chill-out lounge to relax in with mags and international articles on all things Bikram. With two studios, Bikram Original Hot Yoga offer up to 70 classes a week. The huge locker rooms are quite deluxe for a fitness centre and the lockers generously-sized. There are large private showers, with complementary shampoos and soaps, to complete the rejuvenation feeling after class. Plenty of mirrors and the use of hair dryers ensure you leave in as good a condition as when you arrived.
On my visits I liked to arrive early to allow time to meditate in the heat and let my body acclimatize - not hard when it‘s hotter outdoors. As I waited for the evening class to begin, watching the amazing sunset filtering through skyscrapers, I considered stressed-out workers nearby who could truly do with a dose of this ‘escapism' yoga - it really does take your mind somewhere else completely - out of the city and into you!