“I didn’t want to be a 50-year-old sitting inside a recording studio all day and night with a painful back,” Tony Brinks, owner of Bikram Yoga in Abbotsford, B.C. explains. Acclaimed guitarist Brinks plays lead in Vancouver’s soulful band Jimmy Zee. For years he also enjoyed teaching recording arts and music production to recording and sound design students in a Vancouver multi-media college.
Dependency on Oxycontin Leads to a Change
Brinks underwent two major surgeries for ulcerative colitis when he was 27 years old, followed by lengthy complications years later. On a whim he found a new passion that helped him get off medication for chronic pain—Bikram Yoga.
“After the back pain started to finally feel better through this yoga, I had to find a way to do it everyday,” the 43–year-old shares. “I was completely dependent on Oxycontin to control my pain, and this was the only thing that helped.”
Training with Bikram Choudhury
In 2006, Brinks made the pilgrimage to L.A. to undertake a life-changing instructor’s course taught by India’s “King of the Yogis” Bikram Choudhury himself. Tony entered Bikram’s self-titled “torture chamber” every day for almost two months where some days included a grueling four to six hours of yoga postures and stretches.
Called the McDonald’s of Yoga, every 90-minute session around the world includes the exact same 26 postures and two breathing exercises in exactly the same order, just as a Big Mac in Korea is the same as a Big Mac in Canada. Over a million people have been “served” this yoga, including Madonna, Brooke Shields, Quincy Jones and many other Hollywood stars according to Choudhury's book, Bikram Yoga.
The Heat Makes The Difference
The signature of Bikram Yoga is the classroom temperature: 105 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) with an average of 50% relative humidity. The heat helps students stretch muscles further while preventing injury while also acting as a great detoxifier for the body. Students are encouraged to attend five 90-minute sessions a week for ultimate results.
Bikram Classes Make Many Differences
After completing his apprenticeship, Brinks teamed up with Randee Wilson and applied for a franchise for a Bikram Yoga studio in Abbotsford, B.C. On October 13, 2007 Brinks taught his first Bikram Yoga class in his own studio. Currently, the fully renovated, Zen-like studio offers four to five Bikram classes every weekday, and two opportunities on Saturday and Sunday. A common ratio of seven women to one man, people of all ages (nine and up), sizes and abilities are encouraged to try this unique type of yoga, which Bikram has successfully copyrighted. But Brinks warns, “Even though the postures are easy to understand, the class is intense. It is a cardio workout without the pounding. You should drink plenty of water before and after every class, and you shouldn’t eat a big meal for two to three hours before a class.”
“Many people ask if it will help them lose weight.” Brinks adds. “I tell them absolutely, but you have to work hard and come often to get real, lasting results. In addition to weight loss many students find their bodies becoming more sculpted.”
Abbotsford’s Kuljit Mann has been attending classes for several months. “I used to wake up four times a night. Now I sleep like a baby. It has also cleared my skin and made it so soft.”
As far as Brinks goes, he has noticed improved strength in his back and lower spine helping with chronic lower back pain and a vast improvement in his digestion since including this yoga in his life. “Maybe if I found Bikram Yoga before I had surgery things would have been different. But as Bikram say’s, 'it’s never too late to begin again.' This yoga has allowed me a much higher quality of life while living with my illness.”
Brinks still relishes his life as a guitarist for Jimmy Zee, but his evolution as a Bikram Yoga instructor has been a welcomed shift in passion for him. “I couldn’t sell anything in this life, that is just not me,” a smiling Brinks shares. “But this yoga sells itself.”
More information can be found at Bikram Yoga Abbotsford.
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