The Money Pose
Yoga is 2,000 years old, but that isn?t stopping entrepreneur Bikram Choudhury from trying to copyright his particular routine?nor from suing ex-students who dare to deviate from his rules.
Just before 5 p.m., a Rolls-Royce pulls up outside, and moments later the guru strides in. This afternoon, Bikram Choudhury—Bikram, as he's universally known—is wearing a diamond-studded Rolex, a headset microphone, and a tiny Speedo. He climbs onto a padded chair raised like a throne in the front of the room, looks down upon his hushed followers, and begins leading class.
And when Bikram speaks, he doesn't exactly talk in soothing tones. "Arms over the head, let's go," he shouts. Middle-aged and in phenomenal shape, he points out flab and mocks people who are not bending fully. Then he segues, without warning: "I'm feeling sleepy, because I haven't gone shopping for a long time.... 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." A few more exercises, another non sequitur: "What is the number-one reason people get divorced in America? Why do men leave? Because they don't get according to their expectations.... Men have an imbalance of hormones. But yoga helps men maintain [sex drive]. Shit! Shit!"
For the next 90 minutes, the scattershot, profanity-laced, name-dropping monologue continues, with Bikram rapping in mellifluous, Indian-accented English on a range of topics—the yoga routine, the world's finest automobiles, women he's known. Halfway through class, he abruptly stops and takes a long swig of Coke. He stands up, grabs his trunks, and lets out a loud belch. When he's finished burping, he holds his crotch tighter and thrusts wildly, screaming, "I am a Bengal tiger! I am a Bengal tiger!"
The crowd laps it up. They respond in unison to Bikram's questions, laugh at his jokes, and follow his exhortations, sometimes grimacing in pain. After class Bikram, still clad only in the Speedo, strides to his office, squats on a chair, and leans over his desk, peering into my face as he yells, "There is nothing like this happening anywhere in this country, or in the world."
That would be an understatement. In fact, in the process of seeking more control over the growing American yoga market (at least 16.5 million people now practice yoga, according to Yoga Journal), Bikram has broken brand-new ground for his age-old discipline by seeking to copyright a sequence of yoga poses and set up hundreds of Bikram franchises around the country. He has also used his considerable fortune to go on the legal offensive, threatening to sue studios that use the poses and breathing exercises he practices without crediting him. His attempt has frightened many traditional teachers, who worry about the future of yoga and other communal disciplines that have evolved over centuries, in large part through the sharing of ideas. Unfortunately for Bikram, it turns out that even though yogis are supposed to reject all material attachments, many studio owners aren't giving up their businesses without a fight.
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I am shamed to see such a man who is dead against the tradition of India Yoga. Please stop using the Yogi to address him as it has a much broader meaning. He is simply a "Yoga Seller".
How could somebody patent a age old technique and claim his own. I am worried about the heights of commercialisation that western world is troubled with. Patanjali, Plese save Yoga.
Bikram is right! People do have their right to teach yoga in the public domain but they should not invoke their franchise with his name! People should use their own name with their own yoga franchise. Tom's Yoga Joint or Smith Yoga sounds as American as you wanna be.
If you have created a new and unthought-of yoga disclipline as I have done then you should have the right to patent it and protect it from such people a Bikram and other fakurs who seek fame and money at your expense and creation. My new yoga has a mane of my own and I am trademarking it. If you don't like it lump it!
It is very simple. Bikram says that if you are going to teach his sequence, then you have to teach it his way. As of today NOT ONE studio world-wide has paid a franchise fee. He is only trying to protect his sequence, and the studios who teach it. If you sink 100K into your studio, would you want Tom's Yoga Joint to open accross the street and teach your style?
while he may be right he seems like a dick
How sad...that a man, any man should feel so much lack and fear of loss that he would take away from those who only want what he wants...happiness. Too bad...none of them understand that money or a copyright will never bring them that. **sigh**
This man seeks to learn a hard lesson and leave the world spiralling in his wake. A thick thread in the pattern of existance. Watch.
He reminds us of Anikin Skywalker. And we all know how that turned out.
I have only been practicing Hot House Yoga for about a month. I have seen a quick change in my body and am smitten with my new classes. If I had read this prior to class I may have missed a wonderful opportunity.
So much sour grapes. If you wnat to open a McDonallds franchise you ahve to go to hamburger university pay a huge sum and they continue to pay every month Plus you must buy everything you use from goldernstate foods. To own a Bikram studio you go to training then have to recertify to prove you are on the right page. Seems reasonable to me just a Bikram student. i have been going for the last 5 months and have noting but good stuff to sat about the Yoga and the owners of the Traverse City Michigan Bikran studio. Before him who else was doing the exact same set of postures in the same way at the same heat? I am glad he acme here and if he is doing well for himself so be it.
bikram yoga is life changing and really difficult. the legal controversy and his personality are trivial compared to what it can do for your body and mind.
Stop carrying on. The guy had a good idea and it works!! He is committed to what he does and people ALL OVER THE WORLD agre with him. don't be put off by this dreadful article. I have been going for 3 years now and I love it. I feel better and am fitter and it is a change from spinning , weights and running around the block. I recommend this life changing exercise to all,You will sleep better and feel positive about life. Naysayers like the writer of this article are just jealous that they didn't think of this first
This is no different than someone writing a book or a song. They don't own the english language, they own those words in that sequence. Bikram is not saying he owns yoga, he owns that sequence and it is his life's work. The people that steal it from him should be ashamed.
how can this guy patent yoga. its like trying to patent kung fo... yoga is apart of the indian culture. How can u possibly patent cultures.
Is there anyway to find out if the franchise is registered yet?
I'm a certified Bikram yoga teacher. Some things seems strange to me but it's true this series impaticular works. It's sad though if you never try another style of Hatha yoga. When I practice other styles my Bikram practice improves a lot! Bikram is okay but maybe a little controlling. He does care. Remember when we judge it's just a reaction.
Go back and re-read the article. Then comment.
You're obviously not a PhD in intellectual property law. It's not a patent question, it's a copyright issue. And Bikram did not invent anything except the sequence itself. The postures are older than Bikram's DNA.
you need to re-read the article. The postures are not Bikram's...he doesn't even claim that; funny that you should. He is claiming rights to the SEQUENCE.
Next time read carefully, THEN comment.
I DONT CARE WHAT KIND OF YOGA YOU DO OR MAKE UP. IF IT DOES NOT FALLOW THE YOGA SUTRAS, IT IS NOT YOGA. A 4000 YEAR OLD TRADITION PASSED DOWN. YOUR JUST COPING PATANJALI, KRISHNAMACHARYA AND DESIKACHAR, AND TRYING TO CALL IT YOUR OWN AND THATS NOT WHAT TRUE YOGA IS. AND REAL YOGA TEACHERS KNOW THAT. PEOPLE LIKE BIKRAM ARE POSERS AND ARE NOT TRUE YOGI'S
I am a representative of Bodyweightculture.com our techniques are original and we put them out for FREE. If the article is complitely true, than this man stand against everything every bodyweightculturist stands for.
the extent to which copyright protection applies to the sequence - whatever. It may or may not cross the line from idea (unprotected) to expression (protected) but the real issue is why try to monopolise it? Surely if you have a grain of sincerity about your sequence enhancing people's lives then (like Christianity) you would want people to freely evangelise and spread the word without controlling, and extorting money? Bikram = great technician, bad person.
It's easy to read the choice sound bites in this article and label Bikram arrogant, a jerk, a bad man. He has also brought yoga to the masses, changed countless lives and is intensely passionate about his yoga series and his students. And yes, he likes to talk about his balls. Bikram has copyrighted his series in order to protect the integrity of what he has worked hard to achieve. His teachers are qualified, he personally ensures that. Bikram yoga is a dynamic, intense experience. If there were no copyright, if anybody, properly trained or not, were allowed to teach Bikram's specific series of postures the result would be a diluted, watered down version of a Bikram yoga class, and no one would come to it. People know what they are getting at Bikram yoga and obviously they like it, Bikram classes all over the world fill to capacity for a reason. It works.
Yikes, what a pompous *@(#. I actually got his book from the library and perused it. Nothing special that other yoga instructors don't teach. I read his part at the end about how the goal of one such as him is to give all his wealth up and teach yoga for free in an ashram or something similar. I was thinking as I read "Yeah right a guy with cars like this will give it all up." Apparently I was right; he seems like an avarice-enslaved man, as many rich are and certainly humility is a foreign concept.
Whether he's legally right or not, trying to "protect" his sequence (which, like I said, is nothing particularly special) is totally counter to the tenets he purports to endorse in his book.
dude,
you do a disservice to the Bikram community by your comment. Learn to spell, Sheep. You probably sit out every second set.
the above is in response to Posted by:charles weaverAugust 2, 2007 5:52:45 AM BBTW
it's hot in india and people have been doing yoga there for thousands of years. this guy doesn't understand the history or the basis of yoga. yoga has been around for thousands of years. he didn't "invent" these poses. yoga is also the opposite of everything he espouses. he is a misogynist megalomaniac and he makes me want to vomit.
This is sad. If this is not another example of biased media created garbage, and this is the truth about Bikram, this is just another example of how humans ruin divine gifts with their egos.
This is why religions are [deleted]ed, this is why political theories are [deleted]ed, and this is why Bikram is now [deleted]ed. People think that they are g-d's gift to the world and that they deserve and earned all of the things they have been given. This is only half true. Of course, we have to work for our gifts. But if they are received our gifts not as gifts but as ego-feeding self-entitled greed benefits of our alleged specialness, we are perhaps spiritually sick. I don't give a [deleted] what kind of position you can get your body into. He is just another one of us. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less.
He is the one who will suffer the most from being a dick about this. We are all going to have to answer to someone or something at some point. That rolex and that [deleted]ty attitude will not likely make that conversation go any smoother.
or, this is all media hype and Bikram is trying to keep it real. either way, im still going to class tonight.
love you
as much as I loathe bikram's attitude, I find his yoga fantastic. It has improved my health immensly - and can you put a price on that?
At the end of the day - he is merely living the American dream spectactularly well. And isnt that what you Americans pride so much about your country.....
Bikram got his start as a young man in Yoga competitions, not in an ashram. Is there any wonder that for him, yoga is a prize, not a practice? Maybe in his next lifetime he'll get to work this out and find true peace.
next lifetime? that seems rather optimistic...i reckon poor ol' Bikram has a long road to hoe before he ditches the rolex and empty sex.
This is a very biast article and it does not even go into the positives that Bikram Choudury has brought to the US, nor the health and emotional benefits of his sequence.
Bikram yoga is FANTASTIC - period! I have been doing it for three months and have lost 42 pounds and feel better than I have EVER in my entrie life! I sleep like a baby, I have no stress, no back pain and my mind is clear as day - ALWAYS!
Bikram took 26 postures out of the 84 Yoga postures and made his own sequence. He did this for people's well being. It was Shirley McClaine who URGED him to charge people for his practice! He did not want to charge (as Yoga is free) and she told him "If you don't charge, people will not take you seriously." So, being a business man, he knew what he had to do.
Bikram is not trying to monopolize yoga, he's just trying to trademark and copyright HIS sequence, which HE came up wih, which HE devoted most his life to, which HE introduced and is still introducing to thousands of people.
People always have to 'hate' on other people. No one can be positive or encouraging about his sequence. I'm a photographer... and I copyright and trademark MY work. Photography is FREE for everyone just as yoga is... but my photograps are MINE just as Bikram Yoga is HIS! Come on, people!
I highly suggest reading his book for beginners. It will put things into perspective and make sense as to why he made this sequence. Yes, he's rich off it... but he's not an idiot! Why would someone not 'bank' off something in the US that is bankable!?!??!!? Let's not be hipocrits here....
Do Bikram Yoga!!
It is sad to me to see how arrogant he is. Bikram yoga has helped me a lot in my personal life overcome wrong ideas about myself. I wish it would take his arrogance away. However, I dislike the yoga studios where people use the "yoga voice" and feel like they have to be spiritual to teach it so it is kind of refreshing to have someone speak nonchalantly while teaching yoga. I don't think it has to be some sacred thing.
he is a smart business man. He is not claiming those moves its the order of the postures and on top of everything else he adds heat which does wonders for u. i think people are jealous and mad. and yes u too can own ur bikram yoga studio. u just have to be certified by bikram and theres is nothing wrong wit that
Bickram doesn't owned the 2000 year old Asanas or Yoga postures. If theres someone who we owe a credit, its the indian community,their sacred tradition. People from the west failed to realised the main PURPOSE and MEANING of Ashtanga Yoga. You do the poses for physical purification, a preparation for higher meditation in the pursuit of enlightenment and to experience unity with God. Bickram doesnt teach that. His using Yoga for his personal intentions, self wealth and gratification. Shame on him on behalf of the indian tradition. Traditions are sacred. This practice should be shared freely and with virtues as it is defined.
the sequence sucks anyway. there also poorly taught. Why would anybody want to copy this?
Bikram and his methods are like a lighting rod that magnetically draw out absurd prejudices and misconceptions. In a yoga world that is chronically humorless and sacrosanct, he fills a vital role. Anyone who thinks that doing yoga asanas makes them holy, or that cracking a tasteless joke while doing them spoils the practice, has missed the essence of the sacred tradition they so eagerly seek to portray themselves as defending.
Bikrams an ass but, I think yoga teachers should call their classes something other than Bikram therefore not giving that wanker any more publicity than he deserves!
hate, ego, materialism, greed will only get you a ticket to diseaseland. his pain is quite obvious his balls will not help him reach samadhi. personaly surprised his wife puts up with his antics.
He's done more for yoga than you and anyone who thinks like you will ever do. He is definitely a character and a salesmen but he isn't selling snake oil. His ideas are sound, he gets people to do what is hard to do...look at his results thats what counts. What's wrong with making a living teaching yoga? Thats what his students do. Thats what I do.
how do you know he hasn't already reached it? I knowhe can be rude, a dick and manyother things but I was thinking of being a monk and he had never met me....and the first thing he said to me was you "this doesn't mean [deleted] to me?" and he was pointing to his rolex...we talked a few times privately and there is definitely something more to him than he lets others traditionally see. He can get into your head and he has helped millions improve themselves...thats goodness. Those of you calling him names, I ask you, " do you not see his results? Do you not see he is in the most depraved city in the world making it a better place from the ground up. I think you judge to quick.
OK, I don't think you all know the whole story with Bikram. I have practiced different yoga's and Bikram is the Best hands down. Why, because if f'ing works and the guy is real. He's not some hypocrite westerner like some of you, who takes yoga classes,turns vegetarian goes to india and studies the art a little more thinks he is enlightened, but no better than a born again christian jerkoff. Look at those money grubber celebrity "yogis" who created Jivamukti.
The Barkan Method sucks hands down, why, because he stole it majority of the sequence from Bikram and he ads a sun salutation. No sit ups to tone your abs and one set of the more challenging poses. Its not challenging at all. Jimmy Barkan, you are a joke. You can't even touch the sweat from Bikram Chondry nor John Baptiste balls. Jimmy Barkan, if you are so great, why don't you innovate your own sequence you damn yogi hypocrite.
Some of you "yogi's" get real, not every practicing yogi wants to change their name to Ohm Shanti or act "indian", some of us are proud of being who we are. Bikram is real and has a mission to have "quality control" over his sequence. I respect that, since yoga teachers are hit or miss. In bikram classes, you get nothing but quality and if Bikram has to slap someone with a lawsuit to teach QUALITY YOGA... so be it. God Bless Bikram Chondry. You know what jerks, I lost 25lbs and felt great since I did his work out. my anxiety and depression is gone, i am so proud of myself and others who see the change in me are happy for me. So half you all don't know what is the deal, you would rather be HATERS. hey what comes around goes around.
I think most of the comments above are missing the point; there are a few specific issues at hand here, which require a bit of background.
First, Bikram is trying to copyright a specific sequence of movements by the human body. It is questionable whether that can be done at all, similarly to whether it is allowable to copyright a sequence of genes. Can you copyright walking? How about a specific form of dance? (e.g. could Michael Jackson copyright the moonwalk and sue everyone who does it? Is it good for society if the legal system makes that possible, and if not, when don't we change it?) Against him, you have the requirement of no prior art; I think it would be difficult for him to show that none of the postures he includes in his sequence have been done before, in the 3000 years in the history of yoga, especially given the widely acknowledged and documented existence of other styles of yoga (Iyengar, Ashtanga, etc.). In his favour, perhaps the specific ordering of the moves is original enough to be copyrightable, but that remains to be judged by a court of law. In this case, I would argue that any sufficiently different sequence of moves taught by another teach does not violate his copyright (e.g. it is not a derivative work).
Note that this does not mean that (with current law) he could not copyright "the materials" he produced, such as a book, or a video recording, of his approach.
Second, and much more importantly, the entire notion of "Intellectual Property" is a concept which is going to become more and more subject to debate. Copyrights have been introduced in order to stimulate the production of materials by insuring that the author would be able to get some benefit out of his/her work, in order to stimulate development in the same libertarian sense that property rights exist to support a thriving economy. Today, thanks to Disney and other large media companies, copyright law has been extended to a ridiculous time, way beyond what is needed, to more than a person's lifetime, which is in my view outrageous and detrimental to the freedoms that artists should have. We need to keep in mind that copyright law is there for the benefit of society and may change in the future; in other words, if society benefits less from a strict application of intellectual property as "property rights", and that this becomes demonstrable, the elected should change the law (law is there for the benefit of society as a whole). Unfortunately, lobbies and special interests make this difficult at the moment.
The term "intellectual property" is by itself misleading. An eloquent discussion on the topic of IP can be found in "The Comedy of the Commons", a talk by Lawrence Lessig (link below). In it, he argues that resources can be categorized as being rivalrous or non-rivalrous (you can also find a discussion of this in any good old book on Economics). Rivalrous resources are such that if *I* enjoy it, *you* can't enjoy it. This is the case of a house or a car, for example, only its owner can use it at any one time. "Ideas", on the other hand, are non-rivalrous resources, and deserve special treatment. First, the resource (the idea, in this case, the "yoga sequence") is *more* valuable to its users the more it is shared (the knowledge becomes more valuable as more people can teach it, and it can also be more easily evolved and improved, think "Linux" if you like). Second, the "idea" does not lose its value or appeal if it is shared by more than one person. *My* enjoyment of the Bikram sequence does not make *your* enjoyment of it any less than it would be if I could not enjoy it. Lessig also clearly shows how this distinction has been known back to the days of Jefferson and others. Here is a link to this enlightening talk:
http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail349.html
The problem is that current copyright law in most cases does not make this important distinction between rivalrous and non-rivalrous resources. We have become accustomed to thinking of media as "someone's property". But this is bound to change: due to the advances of technology (e.g. remix culture, P2P), there are several instances where information-as-property is raising questions as to the benefits for society of this legal framework. The rising reconnaisance of community networks and the amazing value they can sometimes provide (e.g., Wikipedia) is providing more and more evidence that in many instances, society benefits less from a strict application of property rights than it would with a freer model.
In my view, you cannot discuss this issue unless you take into account the nature of the legal system. Bikram may sue, but in my view he is just hurting the spread of the ideas provided by his system (however valuable they may be).
I am a regular practitioner of Bikram Yoga. And I must admit that I have reaped many benefits from it. With that said, I believe that anyone who practices yoga, whatever form it may, and is devoted to the practice will gain all the benefits that he/she is meant to gain, depending on the inner/life journey that he/she is on. Personally, I do not like the way Bikram carries on about his wealth and his innuendos about sex. But I'm here to practice yoga (which happens to be his brand of yoga) which I honestly believe, apart from health benefits, is a journey of attaining higher self awareness and compassion and love for your neghbour. Isn't that the basic essence of yoga? I have seen some real ugly behaviors in the yoga studio and I really wish that some teachers would stop walking around like they have wings on their backs or halos over their heads and pretend to talk about life and spirituality. Everyone of us, whether in the yoga studio or not, is uniquely spiritual. We are all on a journey, just different speed and different routes. Why do Indians say 'Namaste' to one another? That's because they "recoginse the God/Goddess in you" which is the meaning of 'Namaste'. Therefore, if you wanna say it, then please mean it, respect it, and practice it. Namaste.
reminds me of osho only osho is intelligent...and even though they both drive/drove rolls royces, bikram needs to ride the short bus. the fruit (teachers) of this tree are rotten. pay bikram money, memorize a script, and you, too, can become a teacher.
Interesting thread. I practice many kinds of yoga, including Bikram's, and I see different benefits from each of them. It seems the controversy around Bikram will never be resolved, but I will add my two cents here nonetheless.
A point that is rarely mentioned with regard to Bikram is on the role of the "profane" teacher. I have never studied directly with Bikram, but from what I understand of him he is *intentionally* trying to trigger students. It is relatively easy to develop a sense of peace and equanimity in a quiet room with soft lighting, gentle music, lots of personal space, and a teacher you like. (Though calming the mind in those circumstances can be a challenge on its own!) What I have gained most from practising Bikram's is the ability to find that peace, equanimity, patience, calm, and focus in a hot, stinky, crowded room, with a teacher barking at me and with fellow students showing off their latest yoga "fashion" purchases.
I imagine Bikram himself would trigger me even more than the average studio teacher with his coke drinking, sexist comments, and money flaunting -- and I imagine that triggering is completely intentional on his part! The lesson, as I see it, is to see past the show to what he is truly trying to teach. If people tell me I'm flabby or arrogant or whatever and I believe it and am hurt by it, that's really, truly my problem, not theirs. If I can get to a place where I can let comments like that roll off my back, then I am truly practising yoga beyond the physical asana.
It is said that many ancient yogis were controversial and eccentric -- and that's precisely the point! As I understand it, it's not really about them; it's about becoming aware of our reactions to them and no longer allowing other people to have that much control over us or push our buttons. I don't agree with all things Bikram, but I agree with others who say there's more to him and his style than is usually credited.
With Bikram's as with any other yoga practice, part of what makes it effective is a regular practice. If you are truly interested in learning about this style, commit to it for a few months (with an open mind) before you judge. One class alone will not have the same effect.
