Indiana Hot Yoga, located less than 2 miles from campus, hosted a two-day Bikram Yoga workshop on Nov. 7-8 in at their New Albany, IN location to educate participants about the history of Bikram Yoga and help them understand certain postures better. Studio owner Ayanna Brown organized and taught the workshop.

The workshop was held because of the amount of misinformation surrounding Bikram Yoga. Brown’s goal with the event was to help people understand how the original yoga practice was meant to be done. “With so much misinformation about Bikram Yoga, it is very necessary to continuously look at the practice and make sure people are doing it the original intended way,” Brown explained.

Unlike a regular Bikram Yoga class, the workshop gave participants more time to focus on certain postures. The regular classes followed a routine, while the workshop allowed the instructor to slow down and explain the postures in detail to the students. “In a regular class, we have a set routine that we do not break from. In the workshop, we will take time to look at individual postures and break them down,” Brown said.

Brown has been teaching Bikram Yoga since 2001 and has 25 years of teaching experience. Throughout her career, she has taught over 10,000 yoga classes at her studio. An injury is what first led Brown to trying Bikram Yoga. After seeing its benefits, she decided to open Indiana Hot Yoga to share the practice with the people in her community. “I knew if it could help me and my family heal, it could help everybody in our community heal,” Brown said.

One of the people attending the workshop was John Harbeson, a student who signed up to learn more about Bikram Yoga and improve on certain postures. Having some experience with hot yoga, Harbeson was interested in learning more about the history and how the different postures were performed. “I wanted to improve my flexibility and learn more about the different postures. The workshop gave me the chance to slow down, focus on myself and improve on my postures,” Harbeson said.

Harbeson enjoyed having more time to focus on the details of each posture too. Breaking down the movements helped him understand the proper techniques and how each position affected his body. “I liked that we were able to take our time with each posture instead of rushing through the routine. It helped me understand what I was doing wrong and what I could improve on,” he said.

The workshop was open to people of all levels of experience, this allowed both beginners and experienced students to benefit from the lessons. Brown hoped that participants left with a better understanding of their minds and bodies, and feel more confident in themselves. By offering the educational workshops and regular yoga classes, Indiana Hot Yoga hopes to make yoga more accessible to the community and encourage people in the New Albany area to take a more active role in their health.

Jacob Stiegel is a student in JOUR-J200 Reporting, Writing and Editing class and is a contributing writer for The Horizon.