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Bikram Yoga—or "hot yoga"—is a version of yoga that takes place in a room heated to 105 degrees. Twenty-six hatha yoga-inspired poses and two breathing exercises are repeated twice during a typical Bikram yoga session.

Bikram yoga practitioners believe the body is something akin to wax—the hotter it gets, the more malleable it becomes. According to this theory, heat prevents injuries and allows more flexibility.

The inevitable sweat is also said to flush impurities out of the body (along with the usual benefits of yoga exercise).

This is not to say that the experience is entirely pleasant; the founder, Bikram Choudhury, has called the studios "torture chambers." Inversions (upside down poses) are not performed in standard Bikram practice.