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A native of Calcutta, Bikram Choudhury came to America in the 70s, apparently to teach yoga to Richard Nixon. He proudly proclaims this achievement, even to this day, even though it has never been confirmed. Bikram also claims to have the ability to cure any disease with his unique approach toward exercise.

Bikram, popularly know as "Yoga's Bad Boy," arranged a series of 26 yoga postures, consisting of two pranayama (breath exercises) and 24 asanas (postures), which are to be performed in a studio which is heated to as much as 105 degrees. Bikram yoga or hot yoga has become a wild success, and has made Bikram a rich man. This "yogi" drives a Rolls Royce and wears a diamond-encrusted Rolex, and aggressively pushes his students to the edge of their endurance.

His teaching style is laced with profanity and sexually explicit remarks. He eschews any advance medical warnings for his students. He claims that he and his certified teachers are the only ones in the United States who teach real hatha yoga. He compares all other yoga instructors to circus clowns. He claims there's no such thing as Ashtanga Yoga, Power Yoga or Kundalini Yoga.

He claims that only he truly follows Patanjali, the author of the Yoga Sutras. Personally, I find this strange. The primary problem with Bikram Choudhury is that his actions violate many of the yamas, or ethical restraints, which Patanjali outlined in his seminal work. The most serious violation he's committed is of aparigraha (greedlessness). He not only buys Rolls Royces; he also sells them. He steeps himself in luxury. He crams 160 students into a converted warehouse that's not fit to hold 50, and pockets the profits. His greed infuses his instruction style. "I'm feeling sleepy, because I haven't gone shopping for a long time..." Bikram tells his students during the 90 minute "torture chamber" class. "I haven't bought a car for two years-no, I bought a car last month, the fancy new Chrysler. Okay, move your right leg. Now your left leg."

Bikram doesn't demonstrate his "yoga" postures to his students. Nor does he really pay them much personal attention. Instead, he barks all his commands into a wireless microphone while standing on a platform.

This is only the beginning of the trouble with Bikram. Bikram claims that he owns a copyright, not only on the books in which his asana sequence was published, but on the asana sequence itself.

It seems that Bikram's lawyers have been aggressively pursuing his former students with cease and desist

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