friday, april 9, 2004
news
the university daily kansan 5
5A
Bikram yoga: It's getting hot in there
Rachel Laker, Dallas senior, and other yoga students performed an upper back stretch yesterday at Bikram's Yoga College of India, 711 W.23rd St. This type of yoga was created by former weightfitter Bikram Choudhury of India.
By Matt Rodriguez
mrodriguez@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
This is known as Bikram yoga.
It's 105 degrees in the room and she's focused on mastering the pose known as the "Standing Bow." Standing with her feet together, Annie Petterson lifts her left foot and grabs the inside of her ankle with her left hand while extending her right arm forward and swinging her head down toward the floor. The finished pose looks like the Topeka senior is doing the splits while standing.
This is known as Bikram yoga
Bikram yoga took root three decades ago. With 314 certified schools, the Bikram's Yoga College of India in Los Angeles is attracting people who are in search of weight loss, toned muscles, flexibility and healthier bodies.
Its instructors tell their students not to overdo it while practicing Bikram.
"You have to know when to stop, and this can sometimes be a societal issue," said Elizabeth Marshall, owner of Bikram's Yoga College of India, 711 W. 23rd St.
Bikram uses yoga positions that other forms of yoga use and adds heat into the regimen. Each 90-minute class is held in a mirrored room where the temperature is raised to 105 degrees. Marshall said the higher temperature outside the body helps loosen and protect stretched muscles. But others say students need to be aware of how far they are stretching.
"Heat allows you to stretch more," said Robert Galin, director of orthopedic and sports reha
bilitation at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. "But when you stretch beyond 25 percent of its resisting length, you begin to damage a muscle."
Marshall said each person must be aware of his individual limits when doing Bikram yoga. She said she dealt with egos all the time when cases of class competitiveness arose.
"People will see a neighbor doing a far more advanced pose, and they think they can do it, too," Marshall said. "We're all the same way. We all have this competitiveness within us."
Bikram's instructors will warn students if a certain pose is too advanced for them, but Marshall said students still will try it.
Petterson, a student of Marshall's, has been doing Bikram yoga for six months and sees herself as a more energized individual who has come a long way. Last week she became nauseated during class for the first time. She sat on her mat and breathed for 30 minutes before continuing to rejoin the class — exactly what Marshall wanted her to do.
"Bikram tells you to do what you can, but do it right. Even if it means just standing there and breathing," Marshall said. "This is how you adjust your body to Bikram."
Bikram instructors have to be certified by Bikram Chuckhoury, the school's founder, after attending his nine week, 13-hour-a-day course in Los Angeles. The
instructors, like medical physicians, have to continue their education while in practice.
Marshall offers two weeks of unlimited access to her college for $55 and encourages that her students use the unlimited access. Even going to the class three time a day is not too much, she said.
Marshall said even though her Bikram class is designed for beginners, anyone wanting to change her life should give it a try.
Petterson is devoting both mind and body to the class. She likes its discipline because it gives structure, she said.
structure, she said. "And for an unstructured person like me, that's an accomplishment."
Edited by Louise Stauffer
Rice: No 'silver bullet' to stop 9/11 attacks
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Under sharp questioning, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice insisted yesterday that President Bush fully understood the threat of terrorism before Sept. 11,2001,but no intelligence foretold the deadliest attack ever on American soil.
Disputing criticism that Bush was negligent, Rice told a national commission "there was no silver bullet that could have prevented" the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York Washington and Pennsylvania.
Broadcast live around the world, the hearing turned contentious as Democratic members questioned why alarms didn't ring when Bush was presented with an Aug. 6, 2001, classified memo entitled "Bin Laden determined to attack inside United States."
Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, a Democratic member of the commission, described the memo as saying that "the FBI indicates patterns of suspicious activity in the United States consistent with preparations for hijacking."
Rice dismissed the document as "historical information based on old reporting" and said it did not warn of attacks inside the United States. But she acknowledged it did reveal the FBI had 70 field investigations under way involving Al Qaeda in the United States
Commission members unani
mously asked the White House to declassify the memo, whose title had not been revealed previously. The White House said it would be declassified — but not yesterday
Relatives of victims killed on Sept. 11 sat in the audience behind Rice, scribbling notes and shaking their heads at times as she rebutted accusations by former counterterrorism aide Richard Clarke that Bush had fumbled opportunities to eliminate Al Qaeda.
Unlike Clarke, Rice offered no apology for the government's failure to prevent the attacks.
"Accountability, ma'am, accountability," called out Carie Lemack, whose mother died on the first hijacked plane to hit the World Trade Center. After three hours in the witness chair, Rice shook hands with a few family members and then reached out to embrace a few more.
With much at stake for the president, Rice appeared composed and unruffled even as members challenged her responses and accused her of filibustering with long answers. Rice carried the responsibility of defending Bush's credibility on the issue he has made the cornerstone of his re-election campaign.
After hearing from Rice, the commission met with former President Clinton for more than three hours and said he was "forthcoming and responsive to questions." Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are to be questioned soon, also in private.
CANDIDATES: Few platform issues ever addressed
CONTINUED FROM 1A
A platform issue discussed was KUnited's proposed tuition contract that would lock tuition at the rate of students' freshman years.
they'd already started school.
Dunlap said the plan would prevent students from being priced out of an education after
McKenzie contended that the contracts would be no good if tuition was already so high that some couldn't start school.
The question that the two presidential candidates disagreed on most clearly was related to current Student Body President
Andy Knopp's vote in committees last week. A University Affairs committee member filed an appeal, contending that Knopp's vote was illegal because the student body president was automatically a non-voting member of all Senate standing committees. If elected, Swenson said he would
uphold the tradition of former presidents Jonathan Ng and Justin Mills, and not vote.
"I feel that Andy Knopp abused his power just to pass a bill he co-wrote." Swenson said. "I was quite disgusted, actually."
Munch defended his KUnited predecessor and said he wouldn't rule out voting in committee if he was elected.
Of the four candidates, Munch refrained from personal attacks the most, but broke down near the end after Swenson questioned KUnited's activism, accusing coalition members of concentrating mainly on getting elected.
"Let's talk about you not getting involved in Student Senate until one month before you decide to run for president,"
Munch responded to Swenson.
After the debate the candidates commended each other's passion and said the animosity they'd displayed wouldn't prevent them from working together next year
Not satisfied with the way the NCAA Tournament turned out? ...Play your own
Swenson ran for Senate last year and lost. He became a replacement senator in October.
XBox Final Four Tournament
Edited by Guillaume Doane
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A touch of Irish in downtown Lawrence