Bikram Choudhury began studying yoga at the age of 4. At 12 he was the youngest ever national champion of India, holding the title 3 consecutive years until Bishnu Ghosh, his guru, asked him to stop competing for the sake of the other participants. Bikram went on to pursue an athletic career as a marathon runner and a champion weightlifter setting world record lifts and competing in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo.

At the age of 20 , a weightlifting accident severely crippled him. With the guidance of his guru. Bikram created his 26 pose series which restored his health. Quickly he established himself as a worldexpert teacher, opening schools throughout the East. Combining Eastern doctrine with 3 years of working with Western doctors and scientists at Tokyo University Hospital. Bikram perfected his comprehensive system.

The teaching was tailored for the western person and specifically our cultural problems of job stress, overeating, bad postures and aggressive lifestyles. Bikram scientifically formulated and demonstrated yoga's ability to regenerate tissue and cure chronic aliments. Thus he became know as "The World's Most Knowledgeable Yoga Teacher". An exact technique and a series of fixed poses, the class will bring health and peace to anyone. Yoga College of India , San Francisco, was established in 1973.  It was Bikram's first school in the United States.

Bishnu Ghosh, Bikram’s beloved Guru, was the first person to bring the ancient science of Hatha Yoga to the West at the request of his older brother, Paramahansa Yogananda.  Ghosh developed a Yoga regimen that provides a unique blend of spiritual inspiration and highly disciplined physical exercise. His view of the human body as the temple of a living God has been a major force in the renaissance of Hatha Yoga in the West. In 1923, at the young age of 20, he founded the first Ghosh College of Physical Education in Calcutta and his fame quickly spread throughout India. Other schools were opened, first in India, and then in locations around the world.  In 1939, Ghosh came to the United States to educate people on the subject of yoga by giving demonstrations of amazing yoga feats. He lectured at Columbia University in New York, generating a great deal of interest in the field, and was widely acknowledged and respected in the academic community.  In the 1960’s, Ghosh asked his disciple, Bikram, to open up several schools in India which soon became very successful.  Bikram was then asked by Ghosh to open up two more schools in Japan.  Since then, Bikram has carried the message of the curative powers and benefits of yoga, and the possibility of a disease-free long life, around the world. He has trained thousands of teachers and has over 500 affiliated schools.   Ghosh's College of Physical Education is still in operation in Kolkata.  It is operated by the Granddaughter of Bishnu Ghosh, Muktamala.                                                                             For more info go to  www.ghoshsyoga.com.