Born in Calcuta in 1946, he began yoga at the age of three with his Guru Bishnu Ghosh, the younger brother of Paramahansa Yogananda (author of: Autobiography of a Yogi and founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles.) Ghosh was a respected physical culturist and the first to scientifically document the ability to help cure chronic diseases and heal the body through the regular practice of yoga. At age 11, Bikram won the National India Yoga Championship. At age 18, following a weight lifting accident in which Bikram shattered his knee, doctors declared that he would never walk again. Defying the doctors diagnoses, Bikram returned to his guru, and under his care and training, was walking again in six months.
Inspired by his injury and rehabilitation, Bikram decided to teach yoga full time and came into his own. He developed the original sequence of twenty-six yoga postures and two breathing exercises. He began opening yoga studios in India and Japan before moving to the U.S. in 1973, with the help of former U.S. President Nixon. He quickly became the foremost yoga teacher in the West as celebrities, athletes and other aspirants flocked to his studio in Beverly Hills and San Francisco.
His first book Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class was first published in 1978 and has been translated into several languages. His second book reached book stores on April 3, 2007, outlining how Bikram’s yogic philosophy can be the gateway to physical strength and flexibility and the path to mental clarity and calm. Today there are hundreds of licensed studios worldwide offering Bikram’s authentic yoga classes.
