Imagine a boy born in Calcutta in 1946 in the days of Gandi, Nehru and independence. Then imagine that same boy 26 years later earning an unexpected green card after relieving Richard Nixon of his famous thrombophlebitis while on a trip to the South Pacific. That’s how Bikram Choudhury came to America.

How he came to develop Bikram Yoga is quite another story. At four, Bikram began practicing Yoga with Bishnu Ghosh, the brother of Paramahansa Yogananda. By 13, Bikram won the National India Yoga championship and was undefeated for three years. Just four years later, a weight lifting accident caused devastating injury to his knee. Determined to walk again, Bikram, with the guidance of his guru, created his 26-posture series that restored his health. Named yogiraj (king of yoga) by Ghosh, Bikram opened studios first in India, then in Japan and now has hundreds of studios around the world.

And whilst his series of 26 asanas is copyrighted, it is derived from the 5,000 year-old practice of Hatha Yoga. Yoga is often misunderstood to be a religion or simply physical exercise. But it is neither. Rather yoga is multiple paths to the common goal of uniting your spirit with the universal. Hatha Yoga is but one of eight paths that also include devotion to God (Bhakti), cause/effect (Karma), spiritual energy (Kundalini), meditation (Raja) and sexuality (Tantra).

Bikram Yoga is training for these paths. As Bikram explains, “You use the body as a medium to bring the mind back to the brain. Perfect marriage between body and mind. Then, you can knock the door to the spirit.”