SILENCE
This is a silent, meditation practice. The only person talking in the room is the instructor. If the instructor asks you a direct question, you may answer it. If the instructor asks you a rhetorical question, mull the answer silently. There is no chatting or commiserating with your friends and neighbors in the room.

STILLNESS
It is perfectly acceptable to take a break during your practice. Do so in total stillness, as though you are still meditating – you are! Please be as still as possible at all times so as not to distract the others around you. This will also conserve your energy and give you more energy for your own practice.

FOLLOW AND TAKE INSTRUCTION
Our instructors are highly trained and participate in regular, on-going continuing education About Bikram. In other words, we know what we’re talking about (even when we disagree)! Follow our instruction and take our corrections to the best of your ability while maintaining your proper breath and form. By informing the instructor ahead of time about any injuries, we can give you proper and appropriate correction during your practice. The form of our series is specific and precise, and every student of Bikram yoga is required to follow our form to the very best of their ability. Willful disregard of our instruction is a disrespect to our practice, our teachings, our studio, and our teacher, and will not be tolerated.

DRINKING WATER
Of course water is allowed in the room. Of course proper hydration is an absolute necessity. However, excessive water drinking during class will only serve as a distraction to yourself and others, will give you a heavy, full, water-belly, and will not serve you. If you are beyond your first month of practice, please try to limit your water during class to 8oz, taken at 2-4 different times during the class.

Ice water is delicious and cooling – ice cubes are loud and distracting! Be mindful of your ice, especially after class during final savasana.

Do not suck on or squeeze your water bottle; you are not a baby and can pour water in your mouth silently. The sound of crushing the water bottle or allowing it to expand can be very irritating.

HEART RATE MONITORS
Unless you have a heart condition and have been instructed by your cardiologist to keep your heart rate at a certain level, heart rate monitors are discouraged in the yoga room. Bikram Yoga is a cardiovascular, calorie burning workout, AND it is so much more. Wearing a heart-rate and calorie monitor is merely a distraction. The yoga is healing and meditation and a preventative health practice, not a machine at the gym.

HAND TOWELS AND TURNING YOGA MATS
Every Bikram Yoga College of India has different rules about these!

It’s pretty simple at Yogagroove: We don’t use hand towels and we don’t turn the mats.

By eliminating these 2 distractions, you will get strong hands and strong feet and a clean, efficient practice. Please respect our house rules. When we go visit your home studio, we’ll use hand towels and turn the mats just like everybody else does there if it's required.

BIKRAM YOGA, BIKRAM POSTURES, BIKRAM'S BEGINNING YOGA CLASS
Yoga asanas are as infinite and varied as the human body. There are literally thousands of variations to each and every posture, and each variation has its reasons. In Bikram Yoga, we perform 26 postures from this infinite pool. These postures have been chosen for their precision and effectiveness and safety. They are taught in sequence and with a precise form to maximize their effectiveness and safety.

ONLY Bikram postures are allowed in our Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class at Yogagroove. Unless you have been given permission otherwise by a Yogagroove instructor, no advanced modifications are allowed. Pregnancy postures from Bikram’s Pregnancy Series are the only allowed deviations from our series, and only by women who are pregnant or nursing.

We are very aware that there are other postures. We also enjoy doing them – when we go to other yoga studios or in our personal, private practice. If you like our hot room and want to do your own practice in it, the room is available to rent for $75 an hour, from 2-3:30, 7 days a week.

STAY IN THE ROOM
It is absolutely imperative that all students stay in the yoga room. There is only one allowable reason to leave the room, and that is if anything other than sweat or tears is leaving your body! In which case, please, go! And come back.

It is NORMAL to feel dizzy, light-headed, nauseated, tingly and faint. Usually these sensations will go away if you sit or rest quietly for a posture or 2. If these sensations do not go away, alert the instructor. You are likely dehydrated and need electrolytes, which we will bring to you. It is not dangerous to stay quietly in the room, but it is dangerous to get up, walk around, and get behind the wheel while in this condition. We need to keep you in our sights until we feel you are safe; upon rare occasion, we will allow people to leave the room during class if we feel that they need to go.

Feeling bored, antsy, rebellious, cranky, mad at the instructor, frustrated by your practice, consumed by your day, excited about your evening, etc – this is all completely normal as well! To leave as a result is to give power to the negative. Stay in the room and you will leave with a sense of tremendous accomplishment and peace. This yoga is a powerful DISCIPLINE, not a feel-good roll-around. You are up to the challenge, and we will do everything we’ve got to push you through it.