Bikram Yoga College of India Houston

Vote for "Best Yoga Studio"- Best of CitySearch

2008-05-01T22:22:00.000-07:00

Every year yoga students in Houston have an opportunity to vote for their favorite yoga studio, as well as write reviews on CitySearch. Please do us the favor of voting for us. To ensure that our votes are not divided between the two schools, please vote for the Fountain View location. As you know the two schools are co-owned, the teachers rotate between the two schools, as do the students - a vote for one is a vote for the other. If you have time, write a review. You will need to use your email address but they will not spam you, we promise! We’ve made it easy for you, just click here and it will take you right to the voting.

Special Guest Teacher This Saturday 3/29

2008-03-24T06:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Great Yogis,

At the beginning of the year we raised funds for Karma is Action with a raffle and a pot-luck dinner. Well, in true Texas fashion we raised more money for the charity than anywhere else in the country!

So as a thank you to all of us, Kathryn Banks, the founder of the charity, will be visiting us this Saturday, 3/29, and she will teach a class at each school - she will teach the 12 noon class at SB and the 4:30 class at FV. There is not a class that immediately follows either of these two classes, so there will be plenty of time after class to hang out and visit with Kathryn.

Please come, take class, and meet Kathryn. Be inspired by her love and her commitment to use her life to make a difference in the world. She is truly the embodiment of Gandhi’s teaching “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”!
:-)
joani

Good News!

2008-03-23T08:21:00.000-07:00

We have added a parking lot at our South Blvd location! It will be ready for use this Monday 3/24 - whoo hoo! It's really an extension of the existing parking lot, and once the striping is done (next weekend) there will be an additional 35 - 40 parking spaces, bringing on site parking to well over 70 spaces.

This will make a huge difference, especially with the large evening and weekend classes.... No more circling the block praying for divine intervention so you can park and get to class!

We never dreamed we would use that grassy knoll for parking. At various times we contemplated turning it into a garden / picnic area / dog park. We thought about building more staff housing, a retail space or an additional yoga room.... all great ideas, but not it's perfect use.

Who knew that adding more cement to our inner city could possibly make so many people so happy and add so much good to the world? Students, staff, neighbors, and of course Mike and I are delighted at this turn of events.... now the stress relief you receive from class will have nothing to do with where to put your car when you arrive!
:-)
joani

One student's sweaty journey to Zen

2008-03-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

HTexas Online Jan 2008
by: Robin Dupree
Bikram Yoga

Several styles of yoga have gained popularity in our health-conscious society, but few are as intense and strenuous as Bikram yoga.

Yogiraj Bikram Choudhury, founder of the Yoga College of India and Bikram yoga, has practiced yoga since the age of four. After suffering a severe knee injury from weight lifting, Choudhury retired from the sport and began practicing yoga professionally. Six months later, Choudhury, with the help of his nationally-renown teacher, Bishnu Ghosh, came to realize that yoga can cure chronic physical ailments. Bikram decided to teach his curative methods of yoga to other enthusiasts, and thus, Bikram yoga began. Read more

Johnjay and Rich, 93.7 KRQ Arizona interview Bikram

2008-03-11T09:15:00.000-07:00

Put a smile on your face and listen to this great radio interview with Bikram. This is vintage Bikram, at his very best! Bikram speaks with radio hosts and Bikram yogis Johnjay and Rich of 93.7 KRQ in Arizona. Click here to listen.

This file will open in a new browser window, and is about 15 minutes. Simply hit play and enjoy.

Another Bikram Yoga Miracle

2008-03-04T08:45:00.000-08:00

Last night after teaching, one of our long time students pulled me aside to share that the night before she had been in a serious car accident. While driving to the airport, her car hit an embankment and flipped and rolled three times. She managed to climb out of the crushed car, which was completely totalled, without any injury whatsoever. In fact, if she hadn't shared this with me, I would never have known because she took class on the front row and kicked it like she always does!

When the ambulance arrived the crew was desperate to find the driver, searching frantically in the wreckage. They literally would not believe that the driver was the woman calmly standing there in front of them without a scratch on her body.

Like the true yogini that she is, she shared that what she was most grateful for was that she had not hit another car or caused anyone else to be hurt when she crashed.

Of course she was also grateful not to have been injured herself, and credited her regular yoga practice for this. She was so flexible that her body moved with the impact and motion of the crash so she did not tear or break anything. She was so strong that she was able to climb out of the wreckage instead of being trapped by the crushed vehicle. Her mind was so steady that she was able to locate her cell phone and call for help after extricating herself from the wreck.

She said she would have been in to take her regular early morning class except it took her a while to find where her car had been towed! Thankfully her purse and other personal belongings were still in the car when she found it, and she came to class as soon as she had secured a rental car!

I love these BY miracle stories, and this is a good one!!
:-)
joani

Seminar With Raj

2008-03-04T07:01:00.000-08:00

If you've never been to The Crossings retreat center in Austin, set your intention to visit there soon. It is absolutely gorgeous in a natural, understated, hill country kind of way. I spent the weekend there assisting Rajashree with her seminar and had the most wonderful time.

Of course it's always a pleasure to spend time with Raj, and I learn something everytime I take her class or seminar, but this weekend we actually had time to relax, enjoy nature, the spa, and the company of our Bikram Yoga family from all over the country!

Hopefully this will become a yearly event. I will definitely keep you posted so you can plan to join us next time.
:-)
Joani

Fundraiser Thank You!

2008-02-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun Saturday night at our potluck! Thank you all so much for coming.

And wow - who knew yogi's were such great cooks :-) The food was outstanding! At one point we ran out of surface space and had to clear off our retail counter just to hold all the deserts. From the white chili, to the chicken kabobs, from the chocolate, chocolate brownies to the fluffy white cupcakes, there was an ocean of delicious food.

Because I'm always at our Fountain View location, I loved having the chance to meet so many students from our South Blvd location. Of couse it was also a pleasure to have unstructured time to chat and visit with the folks I see all the time, some of whom required a double-take to recognize in their gorgeous clothing, with hair and make up done.... like someone said to me after I told her she looked like a super model "I know! You've never seen me dressed before!"

And last but not least, we raised $1,700 for the charity "Karma Is Action". Can you believe it? I cried when I totaled the checks. You were generous beyond measure. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
My heart is full to overflowing.
Joani

Bikram Yoga Houston: featured Houston Chronicle

2008-01-16T17:57:00.000-08:00

Bikram Yoga College of India, as featured by the Houston Chronicle. Mike Winter, Studio Director of South Boulevard location, instructs a Bikram Yoga class and gives insight into the benefits of Bikram Yoga.

Bikram Yoga Houston: an introduction

2008-01-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

Bikram's Therapeutic Hatha/Raja Yoga is a series of 26 yoga stretching postures, and breathing (pranayama) exercises taught in a 90 minute class. Bikram Yoga, also known as hot yoga, is designed so that each pose is a challenge based on one's personal abilities. In other words Bikram Yoga is for beginners, as well as advanced students of yoga. The postures are done in the safe environment of a heated room so that deep penetration can relieve one's body resistance without risking injury. The exercises produce a training effect without pounding the spinal column, thus relieving back problems. Some of the medical benefits of Bikram's yoga series are relief from; asthma, arthritis, chronic disease, diabetes, excess weight, heart disease, and hypertension.

In addition to having the only two Bikram certified Yoga Studios in Houston; Mike Winter and Joani Nunez-Winter are Bikram's most senior instructors in Texas.