bikram choudhury

Bikram Choudhury was born in Calcutta in 1946. At the age of four, Bikram began practicing yoga with with Shree Bishnu Charan Ghosh, India's most renowned physical culturist and the first to scientifically document yoga's ability to cure chronic physical conditions. Bishnu Ghosh is the younger brother of Paramahansa Yogananda, author of the most popular book on yoga, "The Autobiography of a Yogi", and founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles.

Bikram practiced yoga at least four to six hours every day at Ghosh's College of Physical Education in Calcutta. He won the All-India National Yoga Championship when he was only thirteen years old and remained undefeated for three years. At 14, Swami Shivananda declared him "Yogi Raj" (King of the Yogis). At seventeen, Bikram injured his knee during a weight-lifting accident. European doctors pronounced that he would never walk again; instead of seeking Western treatment, he returned to Bishnu Ghosh's school. Bikram knew that if anyone could help, it was his teacher. Within six months, Bikram's knee had healed completely.

Bishnu Ghosh asked Bikram to start several Yoga Schools in India. The schools were extremely successful and Bikram travelled to Japan to open two additional schools. Bikram has since brought his unique style and curative method of yoga therapy around the world. He is the founder of the worldwide Yoga College of India, which has over 1700 certified schools worldwide.

In a United Nations sponsored research project at Tokyo University, Bikram helped doctors prove that yoga regenerates tissues and cures chronic ailments. Combining this Eastern discipline and Western medicine, Bikram perfected his comprehensive system suitable for all ages and levels of fitness.