There has been a lot in the news lately about the whole Bikram yoga controversy. Is Bikram Choudhury wonderful or is he a scumbag. Because I am a yoga instructor, people often ask me my thoughts on the matter. I can honestly say that I don't know. I've never done Bikram, yoga or ever met him. He used to be pretty handsome and his skimpy yoga outfits don't leave much to the imagination. You would know if he was interested in you from afar.
Thanda Yoga is something completely different. Some might say that it is the purest form of yoga. It originates in the Himalayan Mountains next to the Spring of All Eternity, or so the story goes. The Spring was frozen so the people couldn't drink from it and be saved from their thirst. Swami Bhaji was said to have had his followers do their yoga next to the Spring. The followers were able to thaw the Spring enough just from their yoga to drink from its life giving waters. Ever since, the practitioners of Thanda Yoga have celebrated the cold in the cold.
I tell this story to my children when they ask why I never buy them winter coats. Winter coats are for those who are unable to warm themselves internally. Just as one must find happiness within, according to Swami Bhaji, one must find warmth, the warmth of love and one's body from within.
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