Vanilla

I love Bikrams! I recommend taking at least 1 liter of water with you when you go, because you will sweat profusely (it's really good for you). I'm a lot more flexible and energetic now since I started going this spring, I think it has a lot to do with the instructor that you have

I tried Bikrams for a couple of weeks in summer of 2009.

Admittedly, I am not a fan of Yoga... whilst I do recognize it's benefits (flexibility, and relaxation).
I hate Yoga, because I find it boring.. slow paced.. and I would be the one rolling my eyes, and getting impatient to move onto the next pose! LOL

Here's what I did not like about Bikrams:

~ It is the MacDonalds of Yoga. The have the same routine that never changes. This means boredom, and plateaus for body.

~ I just felt I did not fit in.. not really my type of crowd.

~ My major problem with Bikrams, is that they encourage you to lock your joints. This is something that is very bad for your joints when strength training.. and it also applies to flexibility training. I have never before have problems with my knees (and I am a runner, and do other things like kickboxing, and strength work). I figured I would give them the benefit of the doubt, and adhere to their program. Well after 2 weeks, my knees were hurting (both during, and after the class). In fact, they hurt for 2 weeks after quitting Bikrams. They were fine after that... and have never had knee pain since!

~ Bikrams in the West End is unsanitary.. unless their studio had renos done, imagine the grossness of hot sweaty Yoga on carpeted flooring! Yuck.

I tried Semperviva Yoga once, in Kits... and thought that to be a much better program, and they do not insist you lock your joints. Good for you, for wanting to work on your flexibility. Short, tight muscles produce very little power, and if you are tight - you could be prone to injuries and backache.

Y Yoga, and WestCoast Yoga have very good reputations. I would strongly recommend going elsewhere for Yoga, and not bothering with Bikrams. I know that some people love it... and it has a strong membership though.

@audette_h is right... Bikram's or Hot Yoga IS the McDonald's of yoga. It can be a good way to get started, because of the repetitiveness and slowness of the poses, but you need a good teacher to guide you and even then it is a practice you should evolve out of fairly quickly -- there are better, deeper more interesting forms of yoga and quite frankly, Bikram's is a crock practice invented by some random dude a couple of years ago while he was rubbing crystals. Telling you to lock your joints is asinine and an incorrect direction. Some poses you may be trying to achieve skeletal support rather than holding the pose with your muscles (if that makes sense) but there should always be a micro-bend in any joints -- particularly your knees. The main thing is, find a good teacher and stick with them. The problem is, there are WAY more bad instructors than there are good ones. Done correctly, yoga will challenge your mind and body in ways that I haven't encountered with anything else.

I try and practice Bikram Yoga 2-3x a week. I love it. I love the way that it makes me feel when I am done. I find that no class is ever the same. There are a few routines(vinyasa) that are the same but I have done some really cool things that I never thought my body would do. If you are looking at it on a fitness level an average 1hr class of bikram yoga burns 600-630 calories. I find that if I practice once a week it is hard to go back to class because its hard and hot. If I dont do Bikram, I practice Hatha yoga.