Bikram Yoga Sierras Media Reno, Sparks and Truckee

Can you Handle the Heat?
Bikram yoga isn't just eagle and locust poses,
it's all that... in a really hot studio.
Reno Gazette-Journal JAN 17th 2006
Beryl Chong

Forget about twenty-somethings twisting their bodies into pretzel positions.

Sparks resident Martha Kelhetter is 66 years old and proves you don't have to look like Gwyneth Paltrow to do yoga.

"I like it because nobody cares if I look fat," said Kelhetter, who attends classes at Bikram Yoga Sierras in the Baring Village Shopping Center in East Sparks about four or five times a week. "I look like a sausage and it doesn't matter. You don't have to have makeup on. You don't have to look good."

The grandmother of 17, who started classes seven months ago, isn't just challenging conventional notions about aging. She's proving that seniors can handle the twists - and up to 105-degree heat - of Bikram yoga.

"I like the sweating, it makes you feel clean and good when you come out," Kelhetter said.

While the average student is between 20 to 40 years old, the Sparks resident is defying demographics and gravity, she said.

"I can pick up my foot up now and hold it," Kelhetter said. "That just makes me feel great - I used to do that when I was young."

Some doctors, quoted last year in Minneapolis' "Star Tribune," have expressed concern that students of Bikram yoga could suffer from heatstroke while particpating in classes.

Yet advocates say the room's heat allows people to practice poses with less injury. They have not seen any cases of health problems associated with the high temperatures, instructors said.

"The idea is to get the body warm enough to stretch safely, and to sweat to detoxify the body," said Barry Peterson, teacher and manager of the Sparks and Reno studios. "In addition to physical benefit, there's a sense of well-being. Life seems to be easier after practicing for a while, he said.

"So many people come in with back issues, knee problems and after a few classes feel relief."

Each yoga session in the hot room -- heated between 95 and 105 degrees -- consists of 26 poses or asanas, plus two breathing exercises during a 90-minute session. Each pose is held between 30 to 60 seconds.

"It is learning how to be peaceful and comfortable in discomfort," Peterson said. "The poses teach us to face life changes and handle it with less stress and more poise."

Some of the poses -- with names such as garuasana (eagle pose), salabhasana (locust pose) and ustrasana (camel pose) - are easy but others require winding limbs and contorting torsos into positions that would make any fit 20-year-old wince with pain.

But yoga is meant for all levels of coordination. First timers can adjust to a level of stretching that is comfortable for them, Peterson said.

"Bikram yoga is yoga for real people," he said. "Every body type benefits. If one has some patience and doesn't push too hard, one will make constant advancement."

The heat and challenging poses have not stopped former art dealer Gene Braeger.

"The first time I tried it, I didn't want to come back - it's extremely difficult," said Braeger, a 63-year-old Sparks resident, who started classes about a year and a half ago. "But I keep at it, so I'm getting a lot of benefits. I feel better than I did at 40 or 50 years old."

Braeger continues:

"There's nothing that's going to stop aging; this program mitigates it. It rounds off the corners and makes growing older better."

An active man, Braeger hikes in the mountains, swims and lifts weights regularly. Even so, he was surprised with the challenges that yoga posed.

"I walk an hour or two a day in the mountains, it keeps my weight down, but yoga is more profound and it works deeper," he said.

"You can feel muscles - you can feel strength."

Bikram yoga claims on its official Web site that with regular practice students will be relieved of symptoms of discomfort such as arthritis, back problems and other chronic ailments.

Last year, its founder Bikram Choudhury, told CBS News, he is collaborating in two clinical trials with doctors from the University of Southern California and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in New York to study hot yoga's effect on bone density and if it offers other health benefits.

But Braeger doesn't need any research to prove that the style of yoga has helped him attain good health.

"My doctor is impressed," he said. "My cholesterol has dropped."

Kelhetter said there are even non-health related benefits to Bikram yoga.

"My husband says I'm looking better and I don't even have to ask him," Kelhetter said.

Yoga Center Owner Opens
2 New Studios in Reno and Sparks
Truckee resident Tanya-Rose Paul
bought centers from a friend who became ill.
Reno Gazette-Journal DEC 27th 2005
Jessica Mosebach

Diane Schaub of Reno doesn't mind feeling the heat in Reno's new Bikram yoga studio. In fact, it helps maintain the flexibility she had as a dancer for seven years.

"Yoga has the ability for your mind to stay focused," Schaub said. "I love the heat and I get stretched deeper."

Bikram yoga has arrived in Reno and Sparks as Tanya-Rose Paul has opened two new studios in addition to an existing studio in Truckee.

Paul, a mother of twin girls, purchased the studios from a friend who had become ill. Paul was a student at the Reno studio before attending a nine-week yoga teacher training program in Los Angeles and buying a yoga studio in Truckee where she lives.

She studied graphic design in school and had been happy with family life, but felt she needed a new direction.

"My kids were 31/2 years old, and I was burnt out, 40 pounds overweight, and suffered migraines," Paul said. "I lost my personal passion and I couldn't see past that."

Yoga was that new passion. She bought the Truckee studio in the fall of 2003 and the studios in Reno and Sparks in August of this year.

Heat is unique to the yoga practiced in these studios. In a room heated to 105 degrees, not much warmer than a human's body temperature, and 30 percent humidity, the use of heat in the routines provides several health benefits.

By exercising in a warm room, participants can achieve greater muscular flexibility, increase cardiovascular activity, and open pores for the removal of toxins out of the body, while requiring less physical effort. Paul compares the body in this routine to shaping a sword.

"It's like laying metal on heat," Paul said. "You don't have to work so hard (to achieve flexibility and strength)."

The routine consists of 26 postures which are always performed in the same order because it most efficiently brings healing to a person's body, Paul said.

Many of the postures focus on spine-strengthening as the method for relaxing the body.

"Your spine is the information highway," Paul said. "If your spine is healthy, your mind is healthy. So you twist your body to untangle your mind.... There is more thinking about aligning your fingertips together and less thinking about your grocery list."

Participants are urged not to leave the room unless absolutely necessary in order to achieve the best results, to drink plenty of water and not to eat two hours prior to the class.

"What you put into it now affects life later," Paul said. "It's not enough just to walk."

Bikram yoga was first developed by Bikram Choudry of Calcutta, who practiced yoga as a child and suffered a weight lifting accident at the age 17.

When his spotter dropped a 200-pound barbell on his knees, it was expected he would never walk again but recovered within six months.

As a result, he was asked to develop several yoga schools in India and eventually took his business to Japan and the U.S. More information on Choudry and Bikram yoga is at www.bikramyoga.com.

Both studios in Reno and Sparks offer morning and evening classes and rates vary depending on the selection of a single-class attendance ($15) or a package purchase (the typical package choice is 10 classes for $120).

Besides offering healthy exercise, Bikram serves the community by holding Karma classes in which the studios choose each month one person who has been in an accident, is ill, or has suffered paralysis.

Participants who attend Karma classes are asked for a $5 minimum donation. Donations help offset medical bills or other expenses for those in need.

During December, the Karma funds will benefit a 6-year-old boy diagnosed with brain cancer. Karma funds also have gone toward disaster relief including Hurricane Katrina.

"I love this because it's 90 minutes of myself and just peace," Paul said. "I have the opportunity to get a sense of peace ... and the power is intense."

Although the visible results may take time, every accomplishment, including the feeling of wellness, is a victory for participants.

"Every inch is a mile. Isn't that the microcosm of life?" Paul said. "You should enjoy the journey as well as the destination."

A Little Karma Goes a Long Way
Sierra Sun MAY 10th 2005
Paul Raymore

What goes around, comes around. Or so they say.
Taking that idea to heart and applying it to their small business, Tanya Paul and Alaina Reichwald, co-owners of the Bikram Yoga Truckee studio, came up with a unique way of spreading some much-needed funding around to local and international groups, nonprofits and individuals in need — karma classes.

“We wanted to raise money for a specific organization, and we didn’t know how to do that,” Paul said. “So we came up with the idea of the karma classes last year when we originally bought the business.

“Every business in town gets hit up all the time by organizations that are trying to raise money, so we’re always giving out gift certificates and things like that. But we decided we wanted to do something else,” she said.

So every Tuesday evening at 6:30 p.m., the studio opens its doors to yoga students who pay a minimum $5 donation to take an otherwise normal 90-minute Bikram yoga class, and all proceeds from these special classes are collected and donated to the group or cause the studio has chosen to support that month.

At this point, the studio has raised a total of $4,258 since the start of the program in April 2004, and has raised money for groups ranging from the KidZone Museum to the International Red Cross’ tsunami relief fund, Tahoe Women’s Services and READ Nepal. The latter is an Incline Village-based nonprofit focused on building libraries and supporting literacy and education in Nepal.

“It’s been amazing because the community has the chance to come out and do some yoga and give themselves a gift, and then at the same time be able to help out people in our community,” Paul said.

Paul said she has been amazed and encouraged by how popular the karma classes have been so far, and she added that the studio is currently looking for other nonprofit or charitable groups that would be willing to work with the studio to raise money via karma classes.

“It’s been truly a win-win situation,” said READ Nepal Executive Director Reanne Stack. “Both for us, because they raised funds for us and gave us exposure, and conversely because I think there are about four people I can think of who came to them [initially] to support Read Nepal and are now enrolled in their program... So it’s a phenomenal thing that they are doing.”

Stack said once the studio designated March 2005 as their month, her organization publicized the fund-raising opportunity via their Web site, e-newsletter and by word of mouth, and ended up with record turnouts for the Tuesday evening classes.

All who work helped the studio raise $817 for the group, according to Paul, and also raised awareness about the nonprofit organization’s mission within the community.

A special cause for May: Proceeds from the April 2005 karma classes went to the Boys & Girls Club of North Lake Tahoe and all funds raised this month will go to support the family of Truckee resident Claudia Diaz. Diaz, young mother of two boys, ages 7 and 5, was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Paul heard about Diaz through her children, who go to class with Diaz’s eldest son. According to Paul, her kids’ teacher sent a letter home with them explaining Diaz’s situation and her kids wanted to do what they could to help.

“My kids asked about it first. They went and got their piggy banks and said ‘We want to help.’” Paul said. “And I thought, if they want to help then not only do I want to help but I need to help. And everything seems to fall into place for a reason because at that point we were trying to figure out what the May karma class was going to be.”

Paul said she hopes that the May karma classes will set a new record in terms of the amount of money raised, and she hopes that the awareness generated by the classes might help Diaz and her family in other ways.

“So often you read an article in the newspaper or you read a story in a magazine and you think ‘God, I wish there was something I could do to help.’ And now here’s somebody living right here in our own community ... and now is our chance to help.”

Taking the Heat
90 minutes, 26 postures, 105 degrees;
Bikram yoga's recipe for a new body and mind.
Sierra Sun DEC 17th 2004
Paul Raymore

Walking into the 105-degree room at Bikram Yoga Truckee for the first time last month, I didn't know what to expect other than a lot of sweat and a new experience.

After 90 minutes and one of the toughest workouts of my life, I thought I had some idea.

Suffering, I thought, but suffering in a good way, the way a good shiatsu massage involves some discomfort but leads to a deeper relaxation when it's over.

An ancient practice that traces its roots back 5,000 years to the Indian subcontinent, yoga has more recently caught on in Western societies as an excellent means of stretching the body and focusing the mind while getting a full-body workout at the same time.

Bikram yoga is a specific form of Hatha yoga that was developed and brought to the Unites States by Bikram Choudhury in 1972. The practice consists of a sequence of 26 asanas or postures, done in a room ideally heated to 105 degrees with the guidance of a certified instructor trained by Choudhury himself.

Sweat is a big part of the practice; so much so that a large towel is just as important as the yoga mat and bottle of water that students bring with them to class.

But as I came to learn over the course of 10 sessions at Bikram Yoga Truckee, patience, endurance, determination and focus play an even larger role in the transformation that Bikram yoga brings to the body and mind.

"Basically your job is to stay in the room and breath," said instructor and co-owner Tanya Paul before my first class. "Anything else is just a bonus."

Surprisingly, just breathing, something I normally take for granted, turned out to be the most difficult part of the class, and I constantly had to remind myself to keep breathing regularly while doing the series of postures.

Co-owners Paul and Alaina Reichwald began teaching in the studio in the Pioneer Commerce Center in November 2003 and bought out the previous owners in March of this year. Since that time they have developed a loyal following of yoga practitioners who represent a diverse cross-section of the Truckee community.

"Pretty much everyone has their own story and their own magic that happens for them," Paul said. "We hear everything from people who say 'I had the worst allergies and this year I've only had to take one allergy pill all season,' to people who are scheduled for back surgery. So it works the entire body from the inside out and it's very apparent that it's working."

Others students initially come for the workout, explained instructor Tara Nichols, but return because of the mental and emotional release they discover in the heated room.

"When people first come, it's usually for the same reason that I first came, which is to get a good workout," she said. "But as you practice more and more, you start realizing how it changes your life.

"It just gives you a lot of confidence and self-esteem and it teaches you to just love yourself and be your best friend and all those things that you don't learn anywhere," she said.

Instructor Ida Ripley discussed the other benefits of Bikram yoga.

"You absolutely work your cardiovascular system, so there is an aerobic element to it," she said. "You're actually burning 650 calories minimum per class. But it goes beyond that too. And a lot of times people come in here just looking for that physical release and they get way more than that."

Paul agreed: "Everything else that happens outside the door is completely forgotten about. You forget about that you have to do your grocery shopping and you forget about your babysitter and you forget about all that stuff because you're so focused on just trying to breath."

My first yoga breakthrough came mid-way through my third class, just after making the transition from the series of standing postures to the floor exercises: All of a sudden, the heat didn't bother me anymore.

It wasn't a physical change as I was still sweating just as much as always; rather, it was more of a mental adjustment - I wasn't conscious of the heat as an obstacle to be overcome and I was able to embrace the heated room for what it was and the deeper concentration that it allowed.

Breakthroughs are common in the studio according to all of the students I spoke with, but few are as dramatic as those experienced by Todd Bianco, 39. Bianco first tried Bikram yoga after a 2001 auto accident severely damaged his shoulder. After five surgeries and two years of physical therapy with little to show for it, Bianco's doctor recommended that he try Bikram yoga in December 2003, and he immediately began to see improvements.

"When I first went to yoga, I had a hard time getting my hands up over my head and that has still been on ongoing battle. My last surgery cleared that up but the yoga gave me more movement than anything," he said. "As soon as I got introduced to the yoga I just took to it. I've got 220 or 225 days in during the year."

Now able to reach above his head without pain, Bianco estimates that he has recovered 90-95 percent of his range of motion in his shoulder, a recovery that has amazed him and his doctors.

My second breakthrough came during my seventh class, and I began to understand what Bianco was talking about in terms of the changes one's body goes through. We were on the floor doing the Poorna-Salabhasana or Full Locust posture - a pose I had always struggled with. Laying on my stomach with my elbows under my torso, trying to raise my soles toward the ceiling, I had never been able to get my feet more than three inches off the ground. But that day my legs just kept going up and I was amazed to see my feet in the mirror two feet off the floor with my back somehow holding them there for the 10 seconds or so we held the posture.

It wasn't, by any means, a perfect or even good Full Locust, but for me it was almost unbelievable.

Results like mine didn't surprise Camron Bordner, 38, at all. An athlete and outdoor enthusiast before he began practicing Bikram yoga two years ago, Bordner came to the studio looking for the increased balance, strength and flexibility that many professional athletes derive from yoga practice.

"I had heard about Bikram, and had heard that a lot of athletes do it. I'm a pretty active guy and I had heard great things about how it increases your strength and flexibility and balance, so I decided to check it out and really just enjoyed it," he said.

After almost two years of going three to five times per week, Bordner said the changes in his body have been dramatic.

"I've noticed a definite improvement in my flexibility; my strength and core strength have improved a lot and the balance thing is great," he said. "I'm a pretty active backcountry skier and nordic skier in the wintertime and a cyclist in the summer, and just the balance has been a real noticable benefit."

But Bordner has also come to appreciate the other, more mental side of yoga practice, and it is that aspect that keeps him coming back week after week.

"I started off for all those physical benefits - the balance, the strength and the flexibility - but I've come to appreciate it even more now for the mental or spiritual benefits that I derive from it," he said.

"You hear the instructors in there talk about how it's a 90-minute physical meditation, and I've really gotten to the point where it's become that for me. I still enjoy the physical benefits that I get from it, but I really go in there to meditate for an hour and a half..."

Bikram Yoga Truckee sees all different types of people come through its doors from athletes like Bornder and foks recovering from injuries like Bianco to women like Lynnie Standteiner who claims that her yoga practice makes her a better mother.

"I started doing it just for the physical side and then I realized that I got home and I was just nicer to my family and it's very calming," Stanteiner said, adding, "Now my daughter tells me to go to yoga."

After my 10th class I can't say that I've become a better husband or anything, but knowing that I can hold difficult postures for what sometimes seems like an eternity in that 105-degree room has given me a new perspective on some of the small annoyances that must be endured in everyday life.

I've also come to realize that yoga is like life in that it's a path rather than a destination, and while sometimes you have to sweat a little to get the most out of it, more often than not the hard work is its own reward.

A Different World of Yoga
Reno Gazette-Journal OCT 3rd 2003
Bel Willem

It's hot, it's hip, and this fall it's coming to Sparks.

It's called Bikram (that's BEE-krahm) Yoga, and it's a "hot" yoga program popularized by celebrities and performed in studios kept at a temperatures of 102 degrees. Madonna, Raquel Welch, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar have all espoused the trendy yoga practice, and millions of other followers have been flocking to hundreds of Bikram studios across the country.

In November, Bikram Yoga makes its Sparks debut in the Baring Village Shopping Center in east Sparks - roughly one year after Bikram's arrival in Reno.

"It's the most popular beginning (yoga) series right now," said Reno instructor Katie Parker. "Anybody can do it."

Each 90-minute class is the same, featuring 26 poses performed two times each and held for 30 to 60 seconds each time. Two breathing exercises are also included, but Parker said it's easy for newcomers to catch on.

"In other forms of yoga, it really requires a lot of strength and flexibility and balance right off," she said. "In the Bikram series, anybody at any fitness level can practice so it's much more accessible."

Once you get used to the heat, anyway.

With temperatures topping out at 105 degrees, and humidity increased to at least 30 percent, dizziness, nausea and fatigue aren't uncommon among beginners. Students are advised not to eat for two hours before the sessions, and they must bring a towel, a yoga mat, and plenty of drinking water to ward off dehydration. Almost everyone emerges from the class soaked to the skin in sweat.

Some doctors, quoted last year in Minneapolis' Star Tribune, have expressed concern that practitioners could suffer from heat stroke. But according to Bikram Choudhury - Calcutta native, former weightlifter, and founder of the Bikram Yoga College of India - heat is absolutely essential to his system.

The benefits include loosening the muscles for deeper stretching, detoxifying the body through sweating, and increasing the heart rate for a better cardiovascular workout, according to the official Bikram Yoga Web site.

Pam Parker, co-owner of Bikram Yoga in Reno, said the heat actually makes yoga easier for beginners.

"The most common question I get is, I'm not flexible, I can't do yoga," Pam Parker said. "The heat solves that problem."

"It's like warming a rubber band," Katie Parker said. "It will stretch more if it's a little bit hot."

Practitioners also claim the practice provides myriad health benefits.

Testimonials from faithful followers on the web site claim relief from conditions as varied as depression and diabetes to psoriatic arthritis and premenstrual syndrome. Weight loss is another advertised benefit, with the site claiming Bikram practitioners burn between 350 and 600 calories per class.

Cecelia Alcala, a 48-year-old Reno resident and IGT employee, said before she started Bikram Yoga about a year ago, she visited a chiropractor three times a week and made regular trips to the gym. Now she just does Bikram four times a week.

"This is all I do, and I know I'll do it my whole life," Alcala said. "Coming here just fixed everything. It puts everything in alignment and it just keeps it there."

Getting those sorts of benefits, instructors say, requires at least 10 classes per month.

Bob Nelson, a 50-year-old counselor, said Bikram Yoga eliminated pain from an old shoulder injury within the first week of classes. Today he keeps coming back for other reasons.

"It just makes you feel clean and released and relaxed," said the Reno resident.

Sparks residents have been getting in on the action as well, which is one reason the Sparks studio will open this fall.

"A lot of our customers now are schlepping all the way from Sparks to come over (to the Reno studio)," said Pam Parker. "It's a pretty long commute."

The Sparks studio will dramatically shorten the commute for most Sparks residents, she said, especially those living in Wingfield Springs and Spanish Springs. But if convenience isn't enough to convince more Sparks residents to give hot yoga a go, Katie Parker hopes the benefits will.

"Six thousand years of knowledge have gone into yoga," she said. "It's right here in our own backyard."

Original Photo Captions

FITNESS: Cecilia Marizu, 15, concentrates on her workout at Bikram Yoga in Reno.

CONCENTRATION: A student has put himself in the Bikram Yoga Eagle pose.

THE ROUTINE: Jefferson Parker, in the Bikram Yoga program in Reno, lost more than 100 pounds practicing this form of yoga. `There's nothing better to relieve stress,' he said in December 2002. `The heat, the stretching, it's just amazing.'

ADDED HEAT WORKS: Tiffany MacKenzie sweats it out at a Bikram Yoga class in Reno. `I'm a total Bikram addict. I feel really energized at the end of each session but also very relaxed,' she said.