SkiptocontentWhat’stheDifferenceBetweenBikramandHotYoga?Home»InsidePain»What’stheDifferenceBetweenBikramandHotYoga?ViewLargerImageWhat’stheDifferenceBetweenBikramandHotYoga?Soyou’veseenthesignsaroundtownorreadarticlesontheinternetaboutthebenefitsofhotyoga.Stretchinginaheatedroomenhancesflexibilityandaidsdetoxification,studiospromise.ThenyouseesomefunnyyogacalledBikramwhileothersjustcallthemselveshot.What’sthedifference?Theshortanswer:Bikramyogareferstoaspecificsetof26postureswhilehotyogaisnormalyoga,justinaheatedroom.Areyoureadytosweat?StudiotemperaturesforBikramandhotyogarangefrom90to105degrees. WhileyogaisanancientpracticerootedinIndia,Bikramyogahasmoremodernroots.IndianbornandtrainedyogiBikramChoudhuryopenedthefirstBikramyogaschoolinCaliforniain1974.Thepracticeinvolvescompletingthesetofposturesandtwobreathingexercisesinaspecificorderataspecifictemperature–105degreeswith40%humidity. OnlylicensedBikramyogaschoolsmayofferclassesunderthetrademarkedname.TheseschoolsfrequentlyofferonlyBikramyogawithoutsupplementingtheirscheduleswithadditionaltypes.OtherrulesapplytoBikramtoo.There’snomusicandtheinstructor’sdialoguefollowsaprescribedspeech.Hotyoga,ontheotherhand,involvesaregularvinyasaorhathayogaclassthattakesplaceinaheatedroom.Somestudiosmerelybumpthetemperaturetocreatebalmyexerciseconditionswhileothersmightcranktheheatersopractitionersreallyworkupasweat.Temperaturesusuallyrangebetween80and100degrees.Asintraditionalyogaclasses,theinstructor’spersonalityflavorsthehour,withpersonalizedmusicselections,themes,andsequencingofpostures.SomepeoplepreferthedisciplineofBikram–andtheextremeheat–whileothersseekthegentledetoxificationandfree-flowingambienceofatraditionalheatedyogaclass.  Researchonbenefitsofheatedyogaforchronicpainislimited,eventhoughmanystudieshaveshownpain-reducingbenefitsfortraditionalyoga. AstudypublishedinComplementaryTherapiesinMedicinefoundyogabenefitedpeoplewithchroniclowbackpainmorethantraditionalexercise.Thepracticereducedpainalongwithdepressionandanxiety.