About Bikram Choudhury

Born in Calcutta, in 1946, Bikram began yoga at age four. He practiced yoga 4-6 hours every day with yoga master Bishnu Ghosh and at the age of thirteen he won the National India Yoga Championship three years in a row, retiring as the undefeated All-India National Yoga Champion.

After a weight lifting accident that crushed his leg, Bikram was told by doctors he would never walk again, but he returned to his guru Bishnu who healed him in six months. This incident inspired Bikram to become a yoga teacher and dedicate his lifework to healing others.

Bikram emigrated to the United States in the 1970s to found yoga studios in California and Hawaii. From the 1990s, he began offering nine-week teacher certification courses, having since then trained thousands of certified instructors from all over the world.

Bikram devised the 26 postures sequence known as Bikram Hot Yoga, founded Bikram’s Yoga College of India and continues today to spread the therapeutic value of Hatha yoga to the Western world.