Hot Yoga is a yoga modality created by the emblematic Guru Bikram Choudhury, an Indian man who became a millionaire and is a fugitive in Mexico by neither assuming his crimes nor paying the damages. The practice consists in a sequence of 26 postures practiced in a hot environment, typically around 40ºC. Hot Yoga has its roots in ‘Hatha Yoga’, a traditional Indian discipline developed in the 11th century, aimed at achieving balance between the body and mind.
It practices have become a trend in the Western, especially in the United States where it has its origins in the 70’s. In Brazil, the first studio was created in 2013, and, today, we can find lots of them around the country. The growing interest in this modality is also reflected in a Google Trends Brazilian graphic: in January 2025, it reached a score of 100.
HOT YOGA – How it started?
It was in 1971 when Bikram Choudhury moved from India to the United States and started teaching yoga at Californian resorts – before that, the Guru had already tried the sequence in Japan, where he incorporated the hot to his practices. Three years later, in Los Angeles, he opened his own yoga studio supported by the actress Shirley MacLaine and the fitness expert Anne Marie Bennstrom.
It became a popular attraction, and celebrities such as Madonna, George Clooney, and Lady Gaga took classes with him at the studio. There, the Indian Guru consolidated the practice and he named it Bikram Yoga.
The practice quickly gained popularity, and in the 1990s, Bikram began teaching the methodology to new yoga instructors. With the creation of the Bikram Yoga Teacher Training program – which has trained thousands of instructors worldwide – by 2006 there were already 1,650 Bikram Yoga studios around the world.
People seeking to have contact with yoga postures, to get thinner, stronger, and, in Bikram’s words, to be immersed in “a complete religion of bodily purification,” rewarded by “a feeling of pure energy” could find it in these practices.
During an interview given in 1992 to Entertainment Tonight, the Guru defines Yoga as “union”, and explains that the aim of all Yoga practices is “the union of the body, the mind and the soul. Body is the temple, the soul is the spirit, which is the god who lives there, it’s his home. The union between body and soul is called mind. When the mind gives you the correct suggestion judgment, you do the right thing (…). So what yoga does is help you to realize what to do, what not to do”.
THE MAN BEHIND THE GURU
This way, Bikram Choudhury has earned around $75 million and a fleet of 43 luxury cars, according to The Guardian. Some critics of Bikram’s behavior started speaking out in the 2000s. In 2019 Eva Orner produced the Netflix documentary Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator, which includes some of these reports.
Jacob Schanzer, who took classes with the Guru, said in the documentary that one time the instructor yelled at him: “Suck in your fat belly, shit. I don’t like to see the swing balancing”. Another incident involved Pandhora Williams, a black woman who, during training, heard the Guru say, “Put this black bitch away. She is a cancer.” Pandhora filed a lawsuit against him for racial discrimination. In addition, Choudhury faced more than six accusations of sexual harassment and rape.
Bikram Choudhury did not face criminal charges, but lost a civil lawsuit for wrongful dismissal and harassment filed by his former legal advisor Minakshi Jafa-Bodde.
Nowadays, he is a fugitive in Mexico, and has refused to pay $6.8 million in damages. It explains why most of Bikram Studios have changed their names, and the names of the classes, to Hot Yoga.
brazil and hot yoga
As for Brazil, the first Hot Yoga Studio was created by Andrea Wellbaum and Julien, her husband in 2012, when they moved from London to São Paulo.
Andrea used to work for BBC London as a journalist when she had the opportunity to try Bikram Yoga for the first time. In the interview, she confessed that this experience changed her life. “I remember my first class and the feeling of well-being I experienced right after that first session. It was so amazing that I wanted to go back the next day to feel it again!”.
After a couple of years, Andrea took Bikram’s teaching course and, taught by the celebrated Guru, she became a Hot Yoga teacher.
When the journalist moved back to Brazil with her husband and their child, they decided to create a Hot Yoga Studio in São Paulo, the São Paulo Hot Yoga. In the interview Andrea talked about the studio’s story: “In the beginning, our team was made up of just the two of us and the cleaning assistant. I was the only teacher and led all the classes. Gradually, some of our students became teachers, and today we have a team of several excellent and highly qualified professionals leading the classes!”.
She also highlighted the importance of having responsible and well informed Hot Yoga Instructors.
“All of our teachers are trained in Hot Yoga — in the main popular styles from abroad (Bikram Yoga, Fierce Grace, and Modo Yoga) — and since 2022, we’ve been offering a Hot Yoga teacher training program, the only one currently available in Brazil. It’s very important for the teacher to be properly trained to guide Hot Yoga classes and follow sequences that were specifically created to be performed in the heated room. This ensures the student’s safety and also makes the practice more effective. Hot Yoga is not about taking any yoga sequence and guiding it in a heated room, which is unfortunately what we are seeing happen in several cities in Brazil”.
The Hot Yoga practices increased popularity by the physical benefits the warm can offer. “Intensified cardiovascular workout – Hot Yoga is one of the most effective styles of yoga for stimulating the heart and increasing the practitioner’s fitness level. The heat stimulates a reflex in the veins and arteries, increasing circulation in that area and facilitating deeper irrigation for the muscle. When heat is applied to the entire body at once, the dilation of the veins causes a drop in blood pressure, much like water flowing with less pressure through a hose with a wider nozzle. This reduction in pressure forces the heart to work more intensely, resulting in a higher heart rate. Therefore, heat acts as a “shortcut” to increase heart rate, allowing simple movements to have excellent effects on improving fitness”, Wellbaum explains.
Chiara Moutinho Vieira (19), an Advertising and Publicity student has tried some Hot Yoga classes and, she pointed some benefit she felt during the practice: “At first, I thought it wasn’t really ‘my thing’ because I don’t like heat in general and getting all sweaty, and I was afraid it would be too intense. After a while, I discovered that practicing yoga in high temperatures helps your body become more flexible and pliable so that started to interest me. Over time, I became curious and wanted to challenge myself to try it and see what it was like. I have the impression that Hot Yoga further stimulates the body’s detoxification through sweat and exhalation. As a result, after the class, I feel very refreshed, energized, but at the same time relaxed and fresh when I leave the room”.
Andrea Wellbaum highlights that the warmth can provide a higher concentration level during the practices: “Of course, the heat in the room also represents a mental challenge. Combined with the poses and the verbal instructions the practitioner is encouraged to follow, the practice becomes a moving meditation. The conditions in the room are created to help us stop thinking about our daily lives, the past, and the future, and to be 100% present in the moment”.
Chiara explained that she discovered the modality on the internet and explains that, in her opinion, “the popularity of Hot Yoga is related to the rise of the “Clean Girl” trends, wellness, self-care, and the commodification of the healthy lifestyle that is so highly sought after nowadays”.
Even Though the Guru is currently facing legal proceedings following multiple allegations of sexual and moral abuse, sexual harassment, racial injury and discrimination, the practice ended up getting a kind of emancipation and continues to conquer the public over the world.
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This article was edited by Malu Panico
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