Fitness & Nutrition From Yoga Health Guide

TAKING a Bikram, or hot yoga, class can be daunting: the room is heated to more than 100 degrees (and may rise to 115) and modesty is on standby, with yogis wearing the workout equivalent of bikinis. The practice is named for Bikram Choudhury, the 63-year-old yogi who created a set of 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises repeated identically in every class. The humidity in the room is meant to make people sweat out toxins and stay limber.

“Bikram helps with the A.D.D. that we all have,” said Dara G. Cole, 35, co-owner and manager of Bikram Yoga South Slope in Brooklyn. “The heat and the intensity of the postures demand a quality of attention and focus that expand your ability to concentrate.”

Riji Suh, 27, discovered Bikram when she was looking for something with the same intensity and high she got from running. She trained with Mr. Choudhury in Los Angeles and now teaches Bikram and other types of yoga at studios in Manhattan and Brooklyn.