Bikram: Environmental Foe?
By Jenn (TinyChoices.com) | June 12, 2008
What better time to start a Bikram Yoga (aka “hot yoga”) practice than during the first heatwave of the year? Sometimes I question my own sanity, but when my friend Valerie and I decided to get off our cubicled butts and commit to a 3x-per-week-for-a-month Bikram practice in order to get our bodies moving again, we began, heatwave be damned.
First observation: it’s freakin HOT in that studio. Like, wring-out-your-clothing hot, stand-in-a-puddle-of-your-own-sweat hot. So, yea– hot. And when you sweat that much there’s a whole lot of washing to be done after each class– your body, your clothing, your towels, and your mat. And in order to heat the studio to the required 105 degree F temperature, you can bet our (mostly) coal-fired powerplants are working overtime. Also, I have no idea what cleaners they use in the studio in order to keep mold at bay, and I’m just going to assume that they’re naturalish, but they must go through bucketloads because HOOOOBOYYYYY does that place reek– in Valerie’s words, like “curdled cat litter cheese.” The studio also sells endless numbers of disposable SmartWater and VitaminWater bottles, in order for students to rehydrate/replace electrolytes– but I find it insane that they don’t just install a sinktop water filter and push the packets of EmergenC powder instead. This would accomplish the same health goals with a 1000x time smaller footprint.
Anyway. So I find it crazy that in order to practice something as simple as a particular form of yoga, there’s so much negative impact on the environment. With most styles of yoga, all you need is a mat, rug or other non-slip surface to practice on– and everything else, such as props and fancy pretty yoga pants, is optional. In order to practice Bikram yoga you need a highly heated room, a towel to absorb the dripping sweat, a washing machine (for your clothes, towel and mat), and a shower immediately afterwards + another towel. Once I realized how resource-intensive this practice is I got kind of confused, and sad.
I’m not sure if I’ll continue on with Bikram after the month is up– in addition to the eco-nightmare, I also don’t personally get much spiritual benefit from it, so now that I’m moving again I’ll probably switch back to some variation of Hatha.
Do you participate in any heavy-on-the-earth recreational activities? Or, have you stopped doing any specifically due to their environmental impact?
[Image of Bikram Choudry by my friend yanivnord via Creative Commons]
Topics: Yoga & Fitness | 29 Comments »
Sometimes I feel this way about going to the movies, especially in the summer with the A/C on full blast, everything from the refreshment stand resulting in wasted food and endless trash… last time I was there I picked up an empty water bottle from the overflowing trash counter and recycled it when I got home, but it such a small effort that hardly offsets anything at all… though better than doing nothing I suppose.
Hey Nicole– good point about refreshingly icy-cold movie theaters… they’re such a relief when it’s too hot to move outside, but I can’t even imagine how high their energy bills must be. And, three cheers for taking that water bottle home. It might not have really made much of an impact on their garbage output, but, like all tiny choices, it kept you engaged in the process of making a conscious eco-choice.
i wonder if some studios–in like california, maybe?–do address this phenom with filtered water, solar power, etc. or, if like everything else in bikram, it’s so regimented that there’s no room for improvement even if it means, well, improvement.
Hey Valerie– I searched for solar Bikram studios, to no avail– but perhaps they’re lurking out there, flying under the watchful gaze of Comrade Chodhury?
There is a new solar-powered yoga studio that offers Bikram classes in NAPA, California.
I’ve done bikram yoga a few times, and I have to say I never thought of it in terms of being wasteful, but you have a good point. Keeping that studio blasting can’t be cheap & I’m sure it uses a lot of energy. Perhaps the same could be said for health clubs with saunas, although that’s a very tiny room instead of a giant studio. Bringing your own water and towels could personally help cut down on waste I suppose, which is what I did. But the shower afterward is a definite necessity!
Hey Steph– good point about the health clubs– I find it amazing that they’re not all wired at this point to harness the energy that members are producing on those machines, to at least offset the electricity use somewhat. I do love me a nice hot sauna, though! :)
That’s awesome–the human powered health club. I think you’re on to something and need to plug it to someone. In Pittsburgh there was a man who sat outside of Whole Foods who have rigged a bike to power a blender. I’ve heard of folks rigging a bike also to power a tv, which they used as an incentive to exercise and at enough speed to watch the tube while doing so.
And there’s always our favorite greenie Ed Begely Jr., who (much to the chagrin of his less-green wife) has a bike-powered toaster!
Don’t you just love him?
I swim. Water, chlorine, bromine – whatever they use to kill all the germs. I think about it every time I get in the pool. I have back issues that prevent yoga and running, so I do it to get my cardio.
Hey Julia– I’ve also spent a lot of time around pools and their accompanying chemicals, having swam in college and also having been a lifeguard in charge of maintaining a small outdoor pool. And while I find an amazing comfort and joy and peace in swimming… the chemicals are killers. I wish some of the chlorine-alternatives were more widespread, but perhaps pool technology is moving in that direction.
the house we bought last year came with a pool. it was not something on our “must have” list. but, now that we have it, i gotta admit that i like it. we try REALLY hard to conserve water … but a pool makes that difficult at times (evaporation, cleaning, leaking pumps (GRRRRR!)).
so, we think we made a good tiny choice this year to replace the aging and failing filter system that used D.E. (diatomaceous earth – tiny, tiny skeletons that look kinda like really fine sand) with a cartridge filter. The D.E. constantly has to be replaced … and when you do that you have to use a TON of water. The cartridge will have to be cleaned … but we have a nice little pressure washer thingy that should really help cut down on the water required.
as for the chemicals … i do my best water chemistry when it comes to the pool. sometimes i miss a little bit and we get some algae … most of the time i get it right and we use very little chemical.
OOohhhhh a pool! I would love to have a pool of my very own. And I’m sure I would feel bad about all the chemicals used… but boy! would that be lovely! There are some chlorine-alternative technologies making their way around, but I don’t know any details, and/or if they’re available for home use. Do a little float for me!
“in addition to the eco-nightmare, I also don’t personally get much spiritual benefit from it”
The one and only time I tried Bikram yoga, I felt like I was in boot camp or some super extreme aerobics class. Spiritual it was not. In fact, I hear Bikram has some kind of yoga olympics competition thing. Can that really still be called yoga?
It’s something I’ve wondrered about too, Beth. From his site (click the “about bikram” link in his poorly-designed frame-based website): “At the age of thirteen, he won the National India Yoga Championship. He was undefeated for the following three years and retired as the undisputed All-India National Yoga Champion.”
Also from the site: ” ‘Competition is the foundation for all democratic societies. For without ‘Competition’, there is no democracy.’ Bikram Choudhury”
So it seems that the “yoga competition” thing isn’t something he developed, but has existed in India separately from, and prior to, him. It definitely seems contradictory to our Western perception of yoga (to say the least), but I guess, to each his own? I’ll take the inner glow over a trophy any day. :)
it’s true that bikram yoga is practiced in a heated room. but the energy expended to heat the room may be less damaging to the environment than you think. bikram yoga studios are thoroughly insulated to keep the heat in the room and the warmth is generated through both heat and humidity. newer studios have sophisticated heating systems that function efficiently to heat the room then shut off. where i live and practice in houston texas, conditions inside the room are, for most of the year, not dissimilar to conditions outside. little is required of the internal heating system to help the room become warm and humid.
heat is very therapeutic for people who suffer from problems with joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments. we have students who are elderly, who have had joint replacements, who have had serious neck and back injuries, and others who simply benefit from the way the heat allows them to work deep into the body without injury. so, while it’s important to be kind to the environment, there is nothing wasteful about a heated yoga class in which people can restore their health.
as for the spiritual component, it’s unreasonable to expect a spiritual experience when you’ve only done a few classes. yoga literally means “union;” it is a union between the mind and the body. once that connection is established through regular and consistet practice, then the spiritual component can be pursued.
great that you tried bikram yoga though….it takes a little bravery to try something new :-)
i agree with the comment on spiritual experience … give this type of yoga some time. however, it is not for everyone … i no longer practice this type because i would too frequently get a little too overheated/dizzy.
as a bikram teacher, i can tell you that not every bikram studio is the same. i know bikram would almost prefer they were, but they’re not. the studio where i teach and practice is an older studio, without carpet and with a cool old stove. the previous owner did a ton of work on the space in order to insulate and save herself some money. i also know several other studio owners who have taken tremendous steps in reducing the footprint of their studios. actually two friends of mine will soon open a very eco-friendly studio in southern california.
as for the spiritual element: i studied astanga and vinyasa for a few years before trying bikram. and it wasn’t until i spent a good six months of four-class weeks that i started to sense a mental and spiritual shift. at first i resisted bikram for all the reasons others mention as turn-offs, but i found that the consistent practice provided an amazing space for me to face my own demons and just breathe. i hadn’t ever experienced that before, even with more spiritually oriented classes. bikram also talks, a lot, about the spiritual element of hatha yoga in training. perhaps he does himself a disservice by not addressing it more readily on his website. i do know many bikram teachers present the yoga as a total boot camp/type A practice. but folks should know we’re not all like that. and as with any yoga practice, it is much less about the teacher, and even the asanas, and much more about you.
Hi Anna– Thanks so much for your comment, it’s very enlightening! The first time I did straight-up hatha yoga, I was so deeply touched that I cried. So it’s interesting that it might take a bit longer to find that through Bikram. Thanks for sharing your story!
I found this post looking for more eco friendly ways for heating a Bikram studio. I spoke with a man for NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) last night about ways of heating a studio without putting out CO2 the way most studios do with the amount of energy it takes to heat to 105. His suggestion was to use solar panels. Although an investment at first, solar panels would eliminate the output of CO2, and also in the long wrong save money in heating bills.
With the energy created through solar panels and excellent insulation, the excess energy could go towards powering a washing machine, dryer, and any other needs. The building could be made from “green materials”. I don’t see why this can’t be done for other yoga studios besides bikram all the like, but it needs to be expressed as being important to those that practice yoga.
Are there supporters of this idea??
Hi Erika! Solar panels are a great idea (also, see Karina’s recent post on current solar technological advances). I’m totally in support of this idea. Let me know if you start a movement around it, and I’ll join in! :)
Do you own a studio?
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I would love to see more Bikram studios doing without the funky carpets. And I’d also love to see the PVC mats banned from the heated classes as well. Let’s push for a green Bikram revolution (even though he is so superstitious about the color green that he forbids it to be worn in his class).
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Hmmm…. I’ve been kind of interested in learning more about hot yoga but now that I’ve read this, I think I’m just as well to stay home with my eco-friendly yoga mat and continue with my hour of Ashtanga yoga each morning. :-)
san diego yoga…
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