Bikram Yoga Richmond

I survived the first lesson experience at Bikram Yoga Richmond thanks to Johnny’s firm but friendly tone of voice and him keeping an eye on me during the class. Johnny’s instructions were clear, his voice was reassuring and I felt like he took good care of my wellbeing during the class.
I am so pleased I came across the studio with Johnny as a teacher that I already started to recommend the classes to all my friends.

Furthermore the web page is very informative, everything that needs to be known about Bikram Yoga and classes have been covered in a plain and simple English

Visiting from the United States, I was a guest at three London Bikram studios. My favorite class…ever!…was the Richmond class. Johnny was the teacher and I thought he was fantastic. I have a fairly strong practice (I was a gymnast and have been practicing Bikram for 6 years) and, during the class, he singled me out for six or seven posture critiques. The suggestions he gave have already made a big difference in refining my poses and have allowed me to get even deeper and stronger into the poses. I enjoyed talking with him after class and thanked him for the constructive attention. I feel he is a strong “coach” as much as a thorough teacher. The studio, itself, is clean and the classroom size is adequate. Johnny did a good job “rearranging” students’ mats to make room for everyone. The changing room is fairly small, simple, yet perfectly adequate. The showers were clean and had plenty of hot water and Jason Body Wash. (The only reason I did not give five stars is because I prefer larger changing rooms with lockers.) I hope to holiday again in London and would most definitely take a class here again. The other two studios I visited were Soho and Victoria. I have only very good things to say about those studios and teachers as well. Namaste.

me and my friend went to Bikram Yoga last night for the first time, we was told as we walked in try TRY and stay in the room for 90minutes…….An hour later (so we had given it a good go) Myself and my friend felt that we wanted to leave, just for the fact that I kept getting a blotchy hand with pins and needles sensation, and my friend just felt overwhelmed, we didn’t want to interrupt the class so I discretely turned to the yoga instructor to say that we was going to go. The yoga instructor told us that we couldn’t leave and that it was not safe to as we could faint, I explained that I think myself and my friend needed the fresh air and that we done all we could and just wanted to leave……She then stopped the whole of the class telling us we could not leave. She than explained that for us to leave she would need to leave the whole class to escort us out (maybe make this point before the class starts and maybe have another member of staff available!) and that we would be interrupting the whole class (which was now being interrupted by the yoga teacher herself) I’m sorry but this yoga teacher, even though she may be good at what she does, needs to get rid of her attitude and gain some good customer service skills. She made me and my friend feel highly embarrassed and uncomfortable by lecturing us in front of the whole class, when in fact we just wanted to leave WITHOUT interrupting!!! She was just plain rude and the way she dealt with the situation was really unnecessary. It says on the website that this class was fine for beginners; maybe they should be prepared when people want to drop out….after all we are only human!! This was more like a boot camp!!

I was a regular at Richmond Bickram for a year and am now at another studio due to location. I can honestly say that the passion of the instruction at Bickram Yoga Richmond is better than any other studio I have been to. Better instruction meant that I got more out of the postures and myself, but then, I’m one of those people that likes to have the things which you should be doing/thinking consistently repeated throughout the posture. Johnny does an excellent job and it’s only through his instruction that I get as much benefit as I do out of my current studio.

I also don’t think that pushing you to do better/not drink water during the class/not leave the studio unless an emergency should be considered bullying as some do – it is part of Bikram and teaches endurance/tolerance. Bikram is very challenging,however you can still go at your own pace in the class, abiding by the tenets of the practise. I certainly got more out of pushing myself to do things correctly in Richmond than anywhere else!

I have been a regular for 2 years at another studio and I have also toured every other studio in London.

BYR is comparable to most on price, website, facilities etc. The one thing that seems to consistently let them down is the perception of the teachers/owner. Whenever ‘other studios’ are discussed amongst students in my local studio, Richmond gets a lot of negative feedback and 100% of that is because of the atmosphere/attitude. It’s a real shame because even I can see how Johnny and co really do know what their doing and have a passion for it. Unfortunately, the term ‘military style’ is always used and ‘a bit of a bully’ has come up once or twice. This really is a shame. Not everyone responds well to this style of instruction and in the teaching community (in London) the BYR team seem to be alone in this style. This might be how Bikram does it but he teaching potential teachers, you cant draw compressions. I would be very interested to see how many people have signed up and how many are what you could still call regulars. I suspect there are lot of people who didn’t keep coming back. Like I said, it’s a real shame. I have no doubt that the BYR team are very experienced and students are in very safe hands.

I hope the BYR team take this as constructive criticism and don’t get defensive. Compared to the other studios who have to think about spending money on facilities etc, this is a really easy thing to address. I would like to see the studio attract and keep more students. Richmond residents would be a fitter, happier and healthier bunch if more did Bikram.

I have been going to Bikram Richmond for about 6 months now and I have nothing but positive things to say about it. The instruction, especially from Johnny is top notch. I am not particularly good at it but can hold my own. I have recommended it to friends who now attend regularly.

It is the best studio out of the London ones in my humble opinion.

It is very challenging- not everybodies cup of tea. I think some people have more of a problem with being in a class with others and not getting undivided attention of the instructor than anything else. There aren't any secrets except practise.

I'm really surprised by the irate reviews on this site. I have been going to BYR on & off for 3 years now and it has always been the hardest form of physical exercise that I have ever taken (far more so than triathlon). However, I find the process and the classes really healing. What strikes me about all the bad reviews is that people probably ought to be told that they must leave their ego at the door because Bikram does not cater well for people who are not prepared to do this. We all need to let the instructors take charge because that's their job. As an experienced teacher myself, I find this extremely difficult, but also rewarding.
I always find it very reassuring and staggering to know that the instructors always know everyone's name. Their instructions are crystal clear and following them will help every student to find the practice challenging, yet healing and enjoyable.
They do NOT do favours, they do NOT offer discounts, but they DO look after you and they most definitely know their stuff, not because they win prizes but because they care about your practice and the integrity that you need to see it through.

I must add that I am not paid by BYR to write this review. I just want to bring balance and fairness to the 'debate'.
Have a good practice everyone!

I would sadly have to agree with the (poor) customer service theme of some of the comments below. As a middle-aged inflexible bloke, I am not the most masterful of yoga students and I am a pretty inconsistent attendee. However I have found that I get a lot out of the class. It's a harder workout than you think (I've played sport at a reasonable level previously) and it helps my flexibility and posture.

The downside in my opinion, is that whilst the instructors may be technically very proficient, several of them actually have quite a poor instructional style, and their ability to engage with, and build rapport with, the class is very limited (there are one or two exceptions). The final straw for me was when I was challenged rather brusquely for not pushing myself; when I explained I had an injury my integrity was indirectly questioned, and when I asked for a refund on my membership, was told that it was because I couldn't take feedback.

My perception was that this showed very poor people and communication skills, not to mention customer service. It's a shame because the class can add a lot of value, but my life is too short to put up with that sort of rubbish. Lest Johnny feels the urge to try and destroy my credibility as with the lady below, I might point out that I have some relevant experience to justify my comments. I spent 12 years in the military, 3 years on a world-class elite team and now work as a coach and faciltator for global exectuives. I would like to think I have some experience of pushing myself and receiving feedback.

Guys, if you read this, you have a potentially great business there. However, rather than reacting defensively, just maybe have a think about whether it's actually the instructors rather than the negative posters who might have something to learn.

This is a typical, GOOD, Bikram yoga studio. I have been practising Bikram yoga for 4 years and have been to studios in many different cities and even countries.

Always, the studio is about the quality of the instructors and the practise of the yoga (in other words, no frills...this is a good thing). I also judge a studio on the quality of the heating system. At Bikram yoga Richmond I find the instructors to be top notch (I know that the owner was trained by the same woman who trains International yoga champions in San Francisco) and the heating system is great.

Keep in mind that this yoga is not a walk in the park. It is difficult - the most difficult yoga I have done - and it requires dedication. If you are looking for a fluffy, pampered, soothing yoga class, this is probably not for you. If you take your health and wellness seriously and are dedicated to improving both, than you will likely enjoy this kind of yoga practise. Expect to be challenged and equally rewarded.

Unfortunately I can not recommend Bikram Yoga in Richmond not so much for the quality of the class, which I actually found quite good, but for the attitude of who I believe to be the studio manager (a guy called Johnny).

I tried Bikram yoga last week taking advantage of a promotion whereby the second class was free is taken within a week. I enjoyed the first class and was looking forward to trying it again before committing to one of the (quite expensive to be fair) packages they have on offer.

So I went to the studio, signed up, got changed and was then told that I was one day over the free period and I had to pay for my second class. Now I have to blame my memory for getting the day wrong, but I was shocked by the lack of flexibility shown and by the attitude of this person. The was no understanding of the fact that I made a genuine mistake and thought I had gone the same day the week before, no flexibility in stretching the offer for one day further and a general arrogant attitude that I would not expect in a yoga studio.

The strangest fact is that I was with my girlfriend at the time and she was actually signing up to a further set of 10 lessons and was in the process of paying. After seeing the attitude of the manager we were both so put off, that decided we did not want our money to go to a studio where arrogant behaviour is considered normal.

Maybe because this is the only Bikram studio in Richmond, the management believes there is no need for good customer service. They might be right, but I will certainly am now prepared to travel further or look at other options rather than rewarding arrogant behaviour.

I would just like to say that we had a lovely 1st visit to this studio, it was a Saturday and the teacher was wonderful and was everything I would expect a yoga teacher to be, calm, controlled and understanding and the studio itself was busy but not too busy. We decided to go and try Tuesday night’s class and I have to say from the moment we walked through the door I thought we’d walked into the wrong place…the lady behind the desk was so rude and didn’t come across as friendly at all…oh, and yes it was extremely busy, not too bad going in and getting changed it was when we came out of the class all relaxed only to be confronted with the ladies that were there for the 8pm class just sitting and chatting in the small changing room and not in any hurry to leave or stand, so the ladies that’d just come out could get to their stuff and change, this was annoying and so inconsiderate.

Anyway, when we arrived at the desk and said ‘Hi’ as you do,…now, I don’t mind being told to be quiet but I did find this lady's way quite abrupt. Now, having read the BYR website it says it’s all about the students but we weren’t made to feel welcome at all, we were made to feel more like we were in the way! We signed in and before we had chance to gather our stuff and go get changed we were asked rather abruptly to move, without so much as a please.

Anyway the same lady took the class we had turned up for and we stuck it out to the very end, but it wasn’t without her barking orders and considering we were still beginners I really don’t think she had the correct manner towards us.
At one point my partner did feel faint and nauseous, he had been in the seated position for a while and when he felt himself getting worse he lay down, now the thing was she didn’t come over to him and find out what was up she kept barking at him to sit up, which I think Johnny wrote in point ‘3’ in response to Tessa’s mail, the correct way a teacher should have have dealt with this was - 3) Very rarely do students need to lie down. So if a student lies down in class, we'll check in with them and tell them it's best to sit first. It's quite obvious to an experienced teacher if a student needs to lie down because they have become faint.
Well, my partner didn’t move she carried on calling his name over and over…and it was quite clear he was in no state to move, she went on to tell him off in front of the whole class, which was rather uncalled for and out of order.
I actually found her attitude all a little unnecessary, I understand that she is excellent at what she does and that she has won this that and the other, but this doesn’t give her any right to have the attitude that she came across as having, which was… ‘I’m good at what I do and I know it, so you must respect me!’ Which seemed rather arrogant and felt like we were being taught by a right sergeant major!...at one point I had to remind myself I’d turned up for Bikram Yoga not boot camp!

I have to say the feeling I got from the people that turned up to this class was that of love for the yoga and not for the teacher, there was just no connection or good vibe at all between her or any of the students and not one sung her praises, just saying ‘that’s the way she is’.
It has actually put us off from going to one of her classes again as we didn’t feel that she offered the kind of environment that put us at ease and in a mood to have a good session, the session is very challenging as it is and so you want to be in the right frame of mind.

I’m also a teacher, a stickler for the rules and etiquette and I also like to get the best out of people, but I have to say there is a way of doing this and I would never make someone feel small and take advantage of my position.

…and I think at the end of the day if Tessa was having a bad day then this should have been somewhere she felt she could de stress and unwind, as it is still yoga after all…maybe the teacher, if that experienced, could have recognised this!

Me personally, I wanted to write this in such a way that maybe the message would get back to this lady as her attitude and people skills let the studio down and to pre warn anybody thinking of going to this studio for the 1st time.
I think it would be lovely to go to this studio and not have to worry which teacher is teaching, but after this experience there will definitely be some classes we will give a wide berth. Well, until we are world champions anyway!

Doesn't it seem reasonable that with three 5 star reviews following Tessa's rant she indeed wasn't in a great place mentally, as Johnny suggests in his response to her review below?

I wasn't there and it's none of my business so I'm not going to have a pop at Tessa but I can speak from my own experience.

Today, I completeld my first yoga class at Bikram Yoga Richmond. I'm a newbie and Bikram Yoga or hot yoga, as it is sometimes called, is something the likes of which I have never experienced before.

Johnny asked us very nicely to work hard but safely and within what we felt was our capacity before we started the class, which is exactly what I tried to do.

Unsurprisingly, and on more than one occasion, I felt I couldn't take the physical exertion combined with the intense heat and wanted to bolt out of the sweltering classroom but I didn't. I sat it out quietly, trying to breathe calmly through my nose while my heart pounded in my chest. After the intense heat, I found breatihing through my nose the second biggest challenge of the class. But, when I sat it out and took a break for a couple of minutes now and then, I noticed a few things. First, that Johnny spoke the truth.

He said that when you instinctively feel like gasping in a panic for breath, do the opposite and calmly breath through the nose. Absolutely counter-intuitive but my heart gradually and magically stopped pounding and the discomfort eased away. I was quickly forming the opinion that Johnny was a professional and experienced teacher. He said I would feel dizzy. He said I may even feel nauseaous. He was right. I'm glad now I didn't leave the room to recover. I felt a lot safer, albeit a lot hotter, with Johnny in the same room as me. If I was going to keel over I wanted him to be there to administer his recovery techniques.

I also noticed that as the class went on I felt a lot less like bolting out and diving straight into the Thames. Johnny had taught me a technique that very effectively dealt with my discomfort. It also dawned on me that the heat of the room, even tough it was at the same hellish temperature, was somehow more bearable.

Johnny had left his towel and his watch on the floor about a foot away from my space while he taught. I sneaked a look at his watch. There were 25 minutes left. I smiled; not because the whole, torturous ordeal would soon be over but because it was at that moment that I realised that this hot yoga can indeed change your state of mind. In just over one hour my own was an indestructable pillar of will power. I wanted to stay. I was overjoyed.

Physically,however, it was a struggle. I'm as stiff as a board and very overweight. But I'm not in any rush. I'm happy to take my time and work to my own limits.

The fact that I found the postures difficult didn't escape Johhny's attention. He continually encouraged us beginners and his encouragement made me feel alright with my lack of flexibility and oversized stomach. Johnny genuinely doesn't give a monkeys about how fat, skinny or anything else you are. He is passionate and enthusiastic about his yoga though.That was something else that made me smile.

Quite incredibly, neither did Johnny miss a trick. How do you manage to see every persons' movements in a large room at the same instant? He corrected some of us and asked advanced students for more - all at the same time. And yes, to do this he calls people by their names. He calls your name and then corrects your posture. I suppose if you are in the wrong frame of mind this could seem like you were being picked on. I didn't and I don't think any of my classmates did either.

And that's how I came across this site. Seaching from "Bikram Yoga" on Google; desparate to find out more. So, my class today at BKR has been a great success.

When I got home and told my wife all about it she decided she wants to come along and try it out. So, I will be back to BKR with her in tow and I would thoroughly recommend that you give it a try too.

This yoga studio is probably the worst one I have ever been to.

It was very unrelaxing, two people taught the class and had a constant dialogue going between then for the first 15 minutes which was really unsettling.

The tutors displayed cult like behavior and bullied me out of the class in the first half an hour by first lecturing me loudly in front of the whole class about my bag being in side the room.

Then the female tutor called my name at least 7 times when I was doing a pose incorrectly. When I tried to lie down after 4 moves the male tutor proceeded to bark my name again telling me to sit up, that I wasnt allowed lie down.

Then when I tried to go to the bathroom the female tutor blocked the door and ordered me to be seated as if I were a 5 years old miss behaving in class. Once the male tutor got wind of this he began to lecture me further on how dangerous it was to leave the class.

This is yoga guys... not brain surgery.

I told him I needed the loo, he told me I wasnt allowed leave and I told him I was going to the loo anyway. I had to quickly run out of the class as I was in fear for my life.

When my boyfriend tried to come out after me I am told they lectured him and forced him to stay in the room. He was quite upset once he finally did get to leave.

I wonder what bikram would think? In fact i'm sending a letter of complaint. I have been practising Bikram yoga for 5 years and I have never had suchTERRIBLE experience.

I would really suggest to people to go else where. These people are really odd. There is a really nice studio in Fulham where they dont try bully people into submission.

I have a passion for bikram yoga, this is the first style of yoga that i ever tried, after being recomended by a friend in sydney, i went and i loved it, i now live in kingston upon thames and was extatic when i found out, through a friend, that they were opening a studio in richmond. I went there and the people there are brilliant, the main thing about people that teach bikram, that i love, is they always remember your name, something that i am working on. They were all lovely inspiring people, and i havent been there for ages but always think about them!!!! Hope to see you guys soon!!! lots of love mahala.xxxxx

Very friendly and experienced staff, clean studio. This is a great place to learn about and practise Bikram Yoga. I would definitely reccomend.

This is the cleanest and friendliest Bikram Yoga studio I have ever visited. Highly recommended.