A beginners question regarding bikram yoga

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Hello everyone,

I do apologise in advance if this seems like a very silly question, but please understand I know next to nothing about the physical effects yoga has on the body and thought it would be better to ask people who are clearly knowledgeable on the subject instead of simply doing search after search on google.

I have recently started a trial membership at my local bikram yoga studio. I went to my first class last night and loved it! However I have to admit I am very curious about what physical effects these classes will have on my body shape if I chose to continue attending. Let me explain …

I love my body shape. I have a curvy hourglass figure with a very large bust, very small waist and curvy hips. My dress size is a AUS size 8 (USA size 4) If I had to say what I didn’t like about my body, it would be that my thighs are a little too “curvy”. Other than that, I don’t actually want to lose any weight or lose my curvy shape. Which is why I’m worried that yoga might do this? The idea of longer, leaner thighs, etc is thrilling, but to be honest I do not want to lose any weight or lose the shape of my bust and butt. There, I said it! I was simply too embarrassed to ask my teacher last night - it sounds like such a vain question, yet as a teenage girl who has finally learnt to accept and lover her body, I am quite scared at the thought of bringing on any radical changes!

Your thoughts/advice, etc would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance :grin:

#2

Hello Lanotteetterna,

I think you do not have to worry so much about that. I mean, apparently, you have been having this shape and weight steadily for a while now, right? So one could say, by living life the way you are living it now, this is your balanced form. So even if Yoga makes you lose weight, if you would then stop doing yoga you would be like you are now again within a few weeks time. At least, that is my best prediction.

Furthermore, I do not think that yoga will necessarily make you lose weight. Because the way you described your body, you are already pretty slim right? So how much is there to lose if you keep eating properly?

I also think that yoga, especially bikram yoga, will only increase your muscle tissue to make you stronger and make your body fitter. What this does is that you do not just become slim as in having a lack of fat tissue by eating properly, but you will become slim in a more robust and longer-lasting way: by developing muscle tissue, which will keep you in your shape for much longer and which will ‘tighten’ your body a little more instead of just losing weight.

But maybe you should not do Bikram Yoga, but just Hatha Yoga, this is a slower paced yoga, but still you will become fitter and more muscular because you have to maintain the poses for a long period of time. This will be good for your entire body. Arms, Thighs, legs, abdomen, shoulders, chest, breast, butt etc. And I think with Hatha Yoga you will have less chances of losing a lot of weight. But maybe others can fill you in on this in more detailed predictions.

You could just keep doing bikram yoga for a few weeks and see how it goes. If you don’t like the results, you can always stop yoga or change to a different form of yoga.

Congrats on having the gutts to ask this question!

Goodluck,
Bentinho.

#3

Do a search on Google “Benefits of yoga”. As far as your shape, Yoga and diet creates nice toned muscles. You will not loose your shape. Trust me. I am African American and I still have the classic black girl curvy shape and I have been doing yoga 3-6 days a week for 8 years and teaching 5 days a week on top of that for about a year.

Look at people like Beyonce. She works out and dances all the time but she is still super curvy but really really toned and beautiful.