Life and Work
Born in Calcutta, India, Bikram Choudhury began learning Hatha Yoga poses at the age of three. At five, he began studying with Bishnu Ghosh (Paramahansa Yogananda’s brother) and won the National India Yoga Championship for three consecutive years in his teens.
Bikram created a 26 posture series, which he claims restored his health. The 105 degree heat in which Bikram yoga is practiced is, according to Choudhury, meant to mimic the climate of India.
At age 20, a weightlifting accident crippled Bikram. Although he was told he would never be able to walk again, with the help of Ghosh, he claims to have fully recovered within 6 months. Choudhury emigrated to the United States in the 1970s and founded yoga studios in California and Hawaii. In the 1990s he began offering nine-week teacher certification courses, and certified instructors now number in the thousands with Bikram Yoga studios all over the world.
Choudhury holds a copyright for the 26 poses which constitute Bikram yoga under the same theory which allows choreographic sequences to be copyrighted. In September, 2011, Choudhury filed an infringement suit against his former student, Greg Gumucio, founder of a competing chain of hot yoga studios. In June 2012, the United States Copyright Office decided that since yoga poses claim to improve health, they are not eligible for copyright.
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