Nikki started practicing Bikram Yoga eight years ago as she tried to recover from a major hip injury. For three years she struggled after dislocating her hip and separating her pelvis. A former long distance runner, she kept pushing herself too hard and re-injuring it. “By twenty one I thought my athletic career was over. I couldn’t walk without pain,” she says. She credits Bikram Yoga with her recovery, “I was able to receive the benefits and heal my hip. The yoga helped teach me about limits, and changed my all-or-nothing mentality”.

Gradually Nikki has been able to add back activities she loves doing, and even completed a few triathlons last year. However, Bikram is still her main staple. She knows no matter what she puts her body through, she can always come back to her practice and heal herself.

In addition to her Masters in the Applied Healing Arts from the TAI SOPHIA Institute, Nikki holds her Holistic Health and Nutrition Certification from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in NYC . She is part of the Association of Drugless Practitioners, and believes health and regeneration can be achieved through proper diet and a healthy, mindful lifestyle. Nikki sees clients at BYC, and offers FREE one-hour consultations for anyone interested in improving their health. Contact her today!

Iram Weaver has practiced yoga for about seven years, beginning with Anusara and relaxation yoga. A public school teacher at the time, she was looking for a way to reduce stress, and yoga was her answer. “The practice served as an outlet to release tension. In class, the only person that mattered was myself, not the students, administrators, colleagues, etc.. Hatha yoga is me-time, just me and the mirror.”

In Bikram yoga, she found a more complete practice. “I started practicing Bikram yoga in 2005. While the other disciplines helped me feel more relaxed, they did not offer relief for my arthritis and lower back pain. Bikram yoga does. I believe in the health benefits so much so that in Fall 2008 I enrolled in the Bikram Yoga College of India teacher training program.”

Additionally, she found Bikram yoga compelling for another reason, “Bikram yoga is an oral tradition. One night in lecture, Bikram told us that the 26 hatha asanas are carried out exactly the same way his guru taught them to him. Another guru taught the asanas to Bikram’s guru. The yoga lineage goes back several generations.

“Bikram’s guru taught people that the mind and mental stress are responsible for most of the body’s physical ailments. Today, we hear and read a lot about the link between stress and health. Bikram’s Guru made the link 75 years ago.”

Iram is one of the first students that BYC sent to teacher training, and we are proud to have her on the team. She began teaching at Bikram Yoga Columbia immediately upon graduation from teacher training in 2008.

Lynne Bretschneider

I started practicing Bikram yoga in September of 2006 because I needed a new workout.  I became bored with my routine and wasn’t excited about my Monday gym class options.  Bikram was going to be my Monday workout routine.  The practice soon proved to be much more than a workout, and more of a daily practice than just a Monday routine.  Since I was doing this new thing everyday, I felt I needed to know everything there is to know about Yoga and Yoga Philosophy and meditation.

After a year of practicing, I left Baltimore for the warm, sunny beaches of Hawaii for 9 weeks to undergo the intensive Bikram Yoga Teacher Training.  It took me a couple months to muster up the courage to teach.  I’ve been teaching since June of 2008 and absolutely love it.

In addition to teaching yoga, I’ve been a massage therapist for 8 years.  I’ve worked at spas, gyms, another yoga studio, and even traveled to clients’ houses.  With my time at Bikram Yoga Columbia increasing, I am now taking clients here!  I’ve found it so beneficial to see where a student holds his/her tension in class and know exactly what I need to do when they come in for a massage.  I offer a variety of modalities, but frequently incorporate what I’ve learned along the way to tailor each massage to an individual’s needs.

Please contact me with any questions or to set up an appointment.  I’ll see you in class and look forward to working with you on a more personal level in the massage room!

Pamela Paulding

After thirty years of intending to “get serious” about my yoga practice, a friend introduced me to Bikram Yoga. I loved it immediately.  It healed old injuries I had assumed were with me forever, gifted me with flexibility, strength and balance I’d thought were lost. I went to teacher training in Fall of 2008, primarily to improve my understanding of the Yoga,  came home and discovered I love to teach it.

Every class I teach, every class I take, offers me fresh insight and an opportunity to practice the discipline of Hatha yoga.

Namaste!

Rachel Humecky

I took my first Bikram yoga class in Maui, back in 2004 because a client of mine would not stop nagging me about going.  I came into class thinking it would be a breeze and maybe even a little boring, but I was wrong! Boy was I wrong!  It turned out to be the hardest and most rewarding workout I had ever experienced.  I was hooked immediately.  I began my practice slowly, and for the first three years I came just a couple times a week.

Then in 2007 I moved to Maryland and everything changed.  I had a new home and was beginning a new chapter in my life, one which has proven to be very challenging.  After living here for a few months I was dying to find something that resembled anything like home.  The day Kat opened her Bikram Yoga studio in Columbia I was there.  This was it, my one piece of home. I began practicing as much as possible, sometimes even seven days a week.  Kat and all her staff were hard on me and challenged my practice.  It is here where my practice really started to develop and I began to see what Bikram yoga could do for me.

My practice has grown tremendously over the years, both physically and mentally.  When family members and I have struggled with health issues, addictions or other stress I have looked to my practice to find peace.  I attribute much of my mental and physical health to Bikram yoga and the wonderful teachers who have guided me along the way.  I want to share this practice with everyone I know and spread this beautiful gift of health I have found.  So in September 2010 I left for nine weeks of teacher training, and came home immediately after to begin teaching.  Since that first day I’ve been teaching a lot and now as a teacher I have continued to grow.  I look forward to seeing you on the mat and seeing you grow too!