It takes more than a hot room and a list of postures to make your Bikram Yoga practice a safe, rewarding experience. Bikram Yoga is a specialized form of yoga, requiring appropriate training and knowledge to teach it effectively.
Bikram Choudhury, the creator of Bikram Yoga, personally trains and certifies his instructors to ensure that his methods and philosophy are preserved and properly taught. To be certified as an instructor in the Bikram Method of Yoga, an instructor must complete an intensive nine-week training session requiring over 500 hours of study.
Kathy Burt
A native of Niagara Falls, New York, Kathy was recruited to teach at Bikram Yoga Cleveland by her friend and fellow instructor, Erica DeMuch. Kathy moved here in the summer of 2014 and doesn’t even mind our winters—she was used to worse where she grew up.
Kathy first tried Bikram Yoga in 2001 when she was living in San Diego. Her introductory class, held in a tiny room, was difficult (of course) and therefore disappointing (to her). But she came back two days later to try again. It stuck. Kathy admits today that Bikram yoga appealed to her at first because it made her body look and feel great. Only later did she realize that it was also doing a great deal for her mind and her soul.
Kathy’s mother persuaded her to enroll in teacher training—which Kathy says has taken her on a voyage into a deeper understanding not only of yoga, but also of herself. She trained in Acapulco, Mexico, in 2008 and taught in Dallas, Texas, and in Buffalo and Rochester, New York, before moving to Cleveland.
Kathy considers teaching Bikram yoga her “true calling” because she learns something every time she teaches a class. And she loves to see the changes in her students’ bodies and minds. Her favorite Bikram quote is: “Never too late, never too old, never too bad and never too sick to start from scratch once again.”
