Bikram Yoga Decatur

No. Anyone may come to any class, any time. Drop-ins are encouraged. Just be sure to come 15-20 minutes on your first visit

No. Bikram Yoga Decatur is independently owned and operated.

I wish it were consistent enough to give a reliable number but it’s not. By tracking attendance and doing some quick math I can show that we currently average 13-14 people per class but that can be misleading. Some classes may have as few as 3 or 4 people while others may have more than 20. Generally speaking, weekday morning classes are smaller, weekend classes are larger, and weekday evenings can go either way. It’s a crap shoot.

I (very roughly) estimate that our business is between two-thirds and three-quarters women. However, that’s changing. More and more men are starting to realize the benefits of Bikram Yoga. I recently taught a class that was more than fifty percent men.

There are three reasons with the first one being the simplest and most easily understood: the purpose of water in class is simply to keep your mouth and throat moist – nothing works better than water for that. The second reason is also pretty straightforward and logical: bottles sometimes get knocked over and spill their contents onto the carpet. Even a thorough cleaning of juice or a sports drink is likely to leave residue. We strive to maintain a very clean studio and water is easily cleaned up. Finally, if we allow anything besides water, some people will bring in power or energy drinks and many of those have high sugar content as well as caffeine and other additives that could have a detrimental effect on their practice. Simple, plain water is second only to air in importance to overall health and well being.

Yes. We don't have a way to do this automatically so you have to ask at the front desk when you are signing in. We will extend your expiration date for the same number of days that we had to close.

No. All classes are operated on a first-come, first-served basis. In order to guarantee admittance you should plan to arrive at least 15-30 minutes before the scheduled class start time.

OUR DOORS ARE LOCKED FIVE (5) MINUTES BEFORE THE SCHEDULED CLASS START TIME.

No, I'm sorry we do not.

Yes. Emory students may use their Fitness Emory punch cards at Bikram Yoga Decatur. It is two punches per class.

Yes, but with some limits. People leave so much stuff here that we have to purge once in a while. Here's what you can generally expect:

Valuables: we will hold a very long time (we're still holding someone's Volkswagen keys from a year ago)

Yoga Mats, Towels, Water Bottles: we keep them for about two-three weeks after which they will be sold, given away or thrown out (depending on their condition).

Clothes: we keep these indefinitely, depending on how valuable they appear to be. Once every other month or so we will donate clothes to charitable organizations.

The 6:00 am classes on M/W/F are usually the least crowded. Next are the 3:30 pm on T/T and then the Noon on M/W/F.

Evening and weekend classes can get crowded so it's always a good idea to arrive early.

Even in the quietest moments in our studio you can still hear the hum of the fans, the water cooler cycling on and off, the washing machine working away in the other room, the flush of water running in adjoining units, cars coming and going in the parking lot, leaf blowers, birds, rain, wind and sometimes a train passing by a scant 30 yards outside our windows. The natural state of the world is restless, chaotic and noisy. The only true peace and quiet exists within our minds and hearts, if we can find it.

We ask everyone to be quiet for a few minutes at the end of class but it is acceptable to talk in the yoga room before class begins. I love it when I enter the yoga room to find it buzzing with voices and energy. It is what makes our studio feel like a community rather than simply a place for strangers to practice yoga together. For those who want to meditate before or after class I would say, by all means do so, but know that part of your meditation process will be learning how to tune out distractions.

This answer is excerpted from a longer blog post on this topic.