Mind, body and soul are the three aspects that make up the holy trinity of spirituality. Many people spend their whole lives looking to attain even one of these three and the primary practice of people wishing to get the point where these three things marry up is yoga, and a particular form that has gained notoriety is Bikram Yoga.

Bengalese All-India Yoga Champion, Bikram Choudrey, had some strange new ideas of how to practice this age old art form. His life-long love of yoga started at the age of four and he grew up to found the Yoga College of India; he's still an active force in modern yoga techniques today and his specific set of asanas make challenging form of the ancient practice, known as 'hot yoga'.

Bikram Yoga is a form of hot yoga, which is exactly as it sounds. The technique involves twenty-six specially designed poses practised in a room with a temperature of 105 degrees and a 40% humidity rate. This might not sound like a lot of fun but the heat has an effect on the body that's hard to argue with. The heat relaxes the muscles and the lungs letting you take longer breaths and allowing your body to achieve the poses Bikram has planned. It can be extremely beneficial to everyone from the newcomer to the professional sportsmen. But it's not for the weak!

Moreover, Bikram's technique has some dangers. The body's reaction to unnatural heat levels during exercise can be unpredictable and as such, some people have experienced severe dehydration due to sweating. It is advised to keep oneself hydrated and sip on water during the ninety-minute classes. It can also cause hypothermia, the overheating of the body, and can lead to heatstroke so it is not to be practiced by anyone who suffers from high blood pressure or heart problems. While it's potentially negative effects cannot be ignored neither, it seems, can it's positives.

Classes are typically ninety minutes and each position is designed to follow one another, allowing the body to be fluid when changing. The relaxed muscles are easier to move and the increased lung capacity makes it harder to get out of breath. It has been brought to the west fairly recently but is gaining notoriety as one of the must-try yoga techniques.

Choudrey himself has a slightly different idea from other yoga fans. While the practice has been universally seen as a tranquil and unifying art for attaining a sense of peace with oneself, Choudrey has been prevalent in competitions for years and says - Competition is the foundation for all democratic societies. For without 'Competition', there is no democracy. This seems to be the polar opposite to what many Westerners have been taught to believe however yoga competitions have been held in India for over a century with competitors saying it is a chance for both newcomers and professionals to sharpen their skills, the added influence of rivalry also trains the mind to become more devoted to attaining perfection.

This brings us onto the soul, surely the most important of the spiritual holy trinity. Many people who practice yoga have said that Bikram is focussed too much on the physical and less upon the spiritual side, however seasoned Bikram fans say the key to the spiritual side is self-acceptance. The pressure of the heat and the intensity of the twenty-six asanas are mentally-challenging in a way that other forms of yoga lack. While the temperature can be suffocating the simple fact that it also aids the relaxation of the muscles and the humidity has a powerful detoxifying effect on the body, allowing the release of all pollutant products in your body which leaves the body in a state of oneness. Bikram Choudrey is a controversial character, having filed many copyright lawsuits in the US and being regarded as somewhat strange, however this has only made his technique more talked about and the benefits have yet to be argued, so, provided you are up to the challenge, Bikram Yoga could be the way to reach the oneness of mind, body and soul in today's hectic, fast-paced age.