Bikram Yoga Boston – Back Bay

I will say that I have been a consumer on Unilocal for some time, but this is my first negative review. And I write this because, coming to this studio, I had some safety concerns. This was by far the worst gym/​yoga/​anything experience I have ever encountered.
As a new customer, they have a very nice package: $ 20 for a 10-​day unlimited pass. I thought this was a very nice idea. I have done Baptiste/​vinyasa yoga in the past and have done many practices in heated rooms. Red Flag #1: They told me to just wait for the class to experience the differences vs. explain them to me.
I arrived to the extremely heated room, which I know is typical of Bikrim. Others mentioned the issues with the carpet, odor, other facility limitations/​issues, but honestly, I am hard to gross out and require very little aesthetically for my workout to be even satisfactory.
Red Flag #2: Instructor encouraged students to stretch past the point of pain. This is a HUGE safety risk — asking students on a varying scale of ability to stretch past the point of pain violates all rules of safe exercise.
Red Flag #3: Encouraging students to lock their knees. Another big no-​no when it comes to joint health and injury prevention. This is not even up for debate as far as I’m concerned.
Red Flag #4: Extension of the knee past the ankle. This is squatting 101: never let your knee go beyond your ankle. This puts pressure in all the wrong places and can absolutely lead to injury.
Yellow flags were also thrown all over the place — instructor noting that a flat back while lying on the ground is desirable and can be obtained through practice (correct — if you want to damage the healthy and necessary curvature of your spine, sure), calling out people by name when they were resting, etc.
The most abhorrent was when I had finally had enough after 75 minutes of contortions and started to get up to leave. The instructor was having us do a pose that involved a modified tree pose with a squat that forced our knees past our ankles. I have knee injuries (the impetuous for doing yoga in the first place) and was feeling unwanted pain and didn’t feel like being called out publicly for not continuing in the class, nor did I want to continue to push through just for competitiveness’ sake. As I was gathering my mat and towels, the instructor asked where I was going. I told her that I had to leave. She said that it was a 90-​minute class and began to roll her eyes. I told her that I was leaving. She told me (eye roll repeating) to make sure that the door was closed behind me.
I left with the absolute worst, most disgusted feeling. I paid for this. But would have happily paid another $ 20 to NOT go to the remaining 9 days I had on that new customer special.
I’d like to think that this was isolated to a single instructor, but I’m not willing to go back to this establishment to take that risk.

If you know my profile, you know that I only write negative reviews to guide people away from establishments such as this one. I feel guilty writing this because it is a small studio, so it must be family owned or something.
Bikram Yoga Boston is the most disgusting yoga studios I have ever stepped foot in.
Firstly, having carpet floor at a studio that practices Bikram is normal. I understand that. But this carpet was filthy. Like the sweat of a thousand old people lingered into the stained carpet. It was so gross, especially since it’s hot yoga and you have to breathe in the air deeply.
Secondly, the instructor was awful. I know that some Bikram studios, the instructor will only «instruct» and not demonstrate. That’s also fine. But this instructor did some terrible instruction. I’ve never heard of anyone using the terms, «second set,» «push harder», «you can’t do this/​that», «YOU HAVE TO DO IT»…etc in a yoga studio. She yelled at this poor girl who looked faint that wanted to leave! She told her she wasn’t allowed to leave and embarrassed her publicly! She couldn’t have been a real yoga instructor! She had terrible posture and acted more like a bootcamp instructor. She kept making us turn sharply throughout the practice, which made me incredibly dizzy.
Anyways, save your money. Go to another studio that offers Bikram. This studio was the opposite of invigorating and calming. I felt like someone wanted to stab me right there in this smelly basement/​dungeon-​looking room.

I love Bikram Yoga and I try to go once or twice a week. This is the only studio in the neighborhood and I am grateful for having at least one option. The rooms are typical for this type of yoga in regards to their size however there is no AC. They have a couple of heaters and fans but the heat is not distributed uniform and it can get really hot. The ideal temperature should be constant and around 105. Some instructors are very good and they do open the doors/​windows several times a session to make the practice bearable. Some of the instructors don’t which is annoying. I would like to be able to see their schedule so I can avoid certain classes. I don’t want to test my ability to resist into a hot room but enjoy and be able to focus on the poses. There is 30 minutes break between the classes. All the used mats are collected and cleaned inside of the room, however are not removed immediately so the smell of the cleaning product stays in the air. Have suggested them to at least open the outside doors/​windows when they are spraying the mats so the next class can benefit of clean air. I was told that the cleaning product is natural. Well, it doesn’t address the issue. natural or not I prefer to start the class with fresh air. And, most of the allergens are natural in fact. So please, open the windows between the classes.

For anyone who is curious about exploring the Bikram technique, I recommend doing the first timer’s special — $ 20 for an unlimited two weeks.
REVIEW FOR THE BIKRAM STYLE:
Bikram is definitely not for everyone. I personally find the ultra high temperature to be great detoxing. I always left class with a great appetite for food — always a plus in my book. The workout is on the same challenging level as a spin class. I felt my muscles strengthen and tone in a way that I liked during the two weeks. As for the cons, I’m not a fan of the lack of variation and the lack of music. Going through literally the same 26 poses in the exact sequence day after day got boring quickly for me. Even the instructors’ 90-​min monologue is fully scripted, and they rarely ever deviate. Normally, I like using yoga classes to work on my flexibility (i.e. standing splits), arm balances, and handstands — poses that bikram does not help achieve.
REVIEW FOR THIS STUDIO
I like how the instructors always remembered everyone’s names, but sometimes I do wish the instructor didn’t remember my name. Getting called out in the middle of class can be potentially embarrassing. There’s also no demonstration, just verbal instruction, so make sure you listen carefully.
I like the complimentary two free towels (though you should still bring an extra one because trust me you will sweat through 2 full towels!). The studio itself does look a bit run down, locker rooms could use some refurbishing and the studio could use some polishing. I’ve never liked carpets, so the sweaty carpeted studio floor grossed me out.
Anyways, I think anyone who is a yoga enthusiasts or anyone remotely curious should give bikram a try. For $ 20, you don’t have much to lose. Personally, I think I’ll stick with my vinyasa yoga.

I have been regularly practicing Bikram (3 – 4 times a week) for the past month and I have never felt better. I think a lot of these bad reviews are people not liking the Bikram method rather than the studio itself. The studio is clean, spacious, and offers two free towels per class which is a great perk. All of the teachers are kind and helpful. New people tend to get called out in class and given constructive feedback. Personally, I appreciate this and think it is immensely helpful as someone who is new to Bikram. In Bikram, the instructors do not do the poses during the class so receiving feedback when doing a pose wrong is important. Bikram has changed my life over the past month and I look forward to continuing my practice!

I have been to hot yoga before, have had some bad experiences and some amazing ones, but this one was BY FAR the worst. Honestly, skip this place!
As a recap of my experience: I went here using ClassPass and was really excited to give it a try! I absolutely LOVE the last hot yoga studio I was a member of and thought the practice really helped with stress. NOT this studio. When I walked it, the first thing I noticed was the smell was horrendous. It literally smelled like a pet store mixed with sweat. It was just awful. Add that to the fact that the room was incredibly hotter than I have ever experienced before, it was a recipe for hot, wet dog odors. No thanks!
The locker rooms were fine, but there was no water fountain. I was okay with using tap water from the bathroom sink, but I would think a hot yoga studio would invest in a source of water rather than just selling bottles.
The classroom itself was okay, nothing special. The method of teaching was my least favorite part. To me, yoga should be somewhat relaxing and a time to recharge. I left Bikram significantly more anxious than when I arrived. The instructor was cold and shouted out positions rapidly and continuously. I honestly felt like it was as if I was at a horse race, the commands («breathe, stop, move, turn, repeat, hold, hold, HOLD») were just TOO MUCH. I am all about instructors giving guidance but it was obnoxious. The instructor I had also called out everyone so often it was discouraging.
Needless to say, I almost walked out 10x and continuously convinced myself to «just finish the class.» I ended up nearly laying there in child’s pose the remainder of the class, nearly having a panic attack with the excessive heat and shouting. I never leave reviews on Unilocal,but figured this was too awful of an experience to not share.

This is a great Bikram studio. I’ve liked every teacher I’ve had and the schedule is very convenient for my inconsistent work schedule. The studios could be a little nicer like other reviews mentioned but they are clean, open, spacious and bright. It is also AMAZING that you get 2 free towels with every class — it means I have so much less to carry around.

Visiting from out of town, i went nearly every day-​had a variety of instructors, all were great, stuck to dialogue & gave good technique tips. Both hot rooms were spacious & hot-​no funny smells as mentioned in other post. just the hot yoga sweat that we all drip during this incredible 90 minute practice. This is a great studio, right at the heart of the city, easy access good facility great options for times with 2 rooms. It is hard to find, snuggled in-​between doorways. thankfully someone was coming out & helped me find my way. Jill the owner was great as is her class! I’ll be back when next in Boston!

I have been practicing yoga for a while now, but I have never tried bikram yoga. I was up super early one morning and decided to try the 6:00am yoga session here with ClassPass.
Initially, I was excited to try! I was aware that I would be practicing yoga in a heated room so that did not appalled me. What appalled me was the attitude of the instructor, which I will explain in full detail in subsequent paragraphs after discussing other matters first. First, I thought the room that the session was held seemed a little run down. I actually don’t know how sanitary it is either because people constantly dripped sweat onto the carpet during the session. How do they clean it after? Also, not a lot of lockers worked, so I ended up leaving my belongings out in the open in the ladies’ room, which is not safe. That morning when I went, there were maintenance workers walking in and out of the studio.
I finally stepped in the room for the first time. It felt like a sauna room. And it was great! I was ready for the 90 minute session. I proceeded to placing my mat down in the back of the room and sat there waiting for the instructor.
She finally comes in and we start the session. She calls my name out with a mic in front of the room and said I picked a good spot. We got started but she did not demonstrate poses to us at any point. She just stood there and told everyone what to do. So we started to do a series of poses and everything was great. Half way in, I was still feeling fine. The heat didn’t really seem to bother me. What bothered me was the instructor was picking on me the whole time. She kept calling me out and telling me to do my poses a certain way, which was fine at first. After all, she is an instructor and maybe she has her way of interpreting certain poses. But it got a little annoying because I would literally hear my name called out every other pose.
I go to yoga to have a peace of mind, not have someone criticize me for what I am doing. It seriously got a little stressful for me. Still, I did not let it bother me, I was focusing on myself and trying to build my stamina to get through the session. The last 30 minutes was the most brutal though. This was when the heat slowly overcame me. My face was flushed by now. This was when we did a series of floor poses. In one of the poses, she told us to rest on our back for 2 minutes. I notice her walk by me to adjust the fan that was able me. Then her sweat dripped on my face as she was walking by and I was grossed out.
We continued to do more poses and I noticed I couldn’t push myself to do some of the poses so I sat through a few of them. What really did it for me was that the instructor even called me out to make me sit a certain way. WHAT THE HECK is going on? Leave me alone! Who cares how I am sitting?!
That was the last draw. I tried to leave without being disruptive because I couldn’t deal with her anymore. She stood by the door and told me to go back and relax because the session was almost over. Are you serious?!
When it was finally over, I quickly changed and wanted to leave the studio immediately. She stopped me and said good job and told me about various class packages. Uh no thanks…
Thanks for ruining my first bikram yoga experience.

Ima start this by saying that I’ve done bikram yoga several times before, I knew what to expect, and I’m also pretty in touch with my body and a firm believer that exercise should make me feel better about myself and never, ever make me feel crappy or lacking confidence. I drank nearly 2 gallons of water in the 24hr period before my class, and was feeling pretty dang hydrated.
When class started, we were just doing the breathing, and I was overcome by the feeling that I was going to throw up everywhere. The room smells so, so bad, and the heat just exacerbates it. I was miserable. So I did a self-​check, decided I was totally cool with copping out and being «that girl,» and headed for the door. Whatever, ya’ll, you definitely don’t want me to vom all over you, and I don’t want to waste 90 minutes of daylight in complete misery.
Long story short: the instructor aggressively told me not to leave and to just lay on my mat, and I was called out, by name, several times for the duration of the class («Whenever you’re ready, Sara,» etc). Like dude, just LET ME GO. Damn.
Exercise should be a positive experience, this was not, and unless you’re a bikram hardo, I’d steer clear of this joint.

Great class! Visiting from Cali! Steven was young, fun and a great instructor. Great voice– should use it professionally! Will be back here! Clean and wonderful studio.

I am more of a weight lifter, runner, boot camp, step class sort of gal but I had done Babtiste hot yoga years and years ago. I don’t know all the millions of variations of yoga, and I’m not someone who believes in the «benefits» of yoga necessarily but I still enjoy it and think it’s a wonderful thing to do for your body.
So I came here with a former colleague who is a regular.
I definitely enjoyed it. I felt like the whole «compress your core» thing wasn’t my thing. I had hoped to get deep into my hammy stretches and all that, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless!
I’d recommend!
Nice people! Careful, not all the lockers lock because the knobs are not on correctly, so just make sure you try to latch the locker door before you put your lock on it.

Like many Bikram fanatics who’ve been practicing for a while, I’ve done Bikram yoga all over the world. I can handle a funny teacher here and there (and by funny I mean weird), but I cannot handle a studio that doesn’t properly heat the room. I love this studio number one because it’s as hot and sweaty as it should be.
Also, they have a heavily stacked class schedule that offers the students plenty of options for fitting yoga into a busy work schedule. When I walk in to this studio I feel like I’ve been slapped with a ray of sunshine, everyone is so pleasant. I also appreciate that the women’s locker room has most of the extras that a lady may need, except for plastic bags.
Anyhow, thanks Bikram Yoga Back Bay for always making my Boston visit healthy, happy… and HOT!
Xx

Very rude owner. Inexperienced instructors, who appear to know nothing Bikram or any kind of yoga besides the monologue! They might as well stand in an empty room and shout into the microphone. No discipline: people walk in and out, and the instructor is evidently incapable of pointing out even the most obvious errors in posture! The two people behind me had feet open the entire time through eagle and not a peep from the instructor. Several people were lying down at any given time. Terrible waste of the one week trial!

After practicing yoga for five years in three different countries, the bikram yoga instructor I encountered at this studio wins the unfriendliest and most unhelpful yoga instructor award.
I reserved my class using an online-​only studio fitness program called Classpass. The instructor berated me for not bringing a printout of my pass (there are none), forced me to buy water from the studio, and instructed me to set up in the back of the class so I could watch everyone else and… wait for it… hear instructions that she’s «going to say with words.»
After reflecting on my experience with this instructor and noticing a very apparent stench coming from the studio room, I told her I would not be joining her class. She asked me why I wouldn’t and I told her very politely that I found her to be unfriendly and that’s not the kind of interaction I want to have with an instructor. She proceeded to find my waiver, hold it front of my face, and rip it up in front me.
Never coming back here again. All yogis be warned.

What a fantastic place to practice. A great location, courteous staff and most of all terrific Bikram teachers. I would without hesitation recommend this studio to everyone from new yogis to lifelong devotees!

I cannot believe this place has 3.3 star reputation. It should be at least a 4
Boston Bikram is on the second floor on Boyleston near The Library. It has a front desk 2 locker rooms WITH SHOWERS… huge plus for a yoga studio… and a medium size heated carpeted yoga studio.
I normally do Vinyassa, which is flowing and fast. Bikram is 26 different poses. Each pose is held for 2 sets. Its a very different workout. There is no venerable down dog like Vinyassa. Up dog is replaced by various cobra like poses
They are both very different. I want to say Bikram may be more authentic and better for the back, but Vinyassa adds a cardio element and may be better for stomach. Depends on the class and the studio
That being said, I liked Back Bay. The teacher was accommodating, and there is a special for new students of $ 20. The class is heated, so you will sweat… a ton. The studio is also carpeted, which probably is not hygienic… However, you do not slip like you would on hard wood flooring
The class is tough in parts, but it is yoga… not a competition. You go at your own pace and there is plenty of rest unlike Vinyassa. It is really worthwhile as yoga is a great balance for running and other workouts
I liked the studio, the instructor and the actual style
PS: To the people who find drinking water distracting during practice… you must be joking. Really

I’m a regular Bikram practitioner back home and bought the week pass while visiting the Boston area. The Back Bay studio had the most convenient schedule for me, so I wound up here.
Positives: My first class I had a great instructor who was clearly experienced and did a great job keeping the room temperature regulated. I felt great and was thrilled to find that they clean the loaner mats for you.
Negatives: My second teacher wasn’t experienced and wasn’t very disciplined and neither was the class. They were drinking water in the middle of postures, trying to do advanced poses while not doing the initial setup properly and falling into others. It was distracting rude and took away from my own practice. I also agree that it was insanely expensive. $ 22 a class? It’s cheaper in NYC!
That said, some of the complaints here are uncalled for. Carpet? It’s Bikram! You can’t do Bikram on wood floors; you’d kill yourself. If they are cleaned regularly, carpets aren’t a problem. Same with the size of the room. If you need 50 square feet to practice, you probably shouldn’t be doing Bikram.
I’d take a class again if I’m in the area, but I’m happy to return to my own studio.

Oh dear.
I realize I am spoiled because I started practicing Bikram in Philadelphia, where the studio owner is one of Bikram’s first trained teachers. It seems that any studio I frequent will never compare. So there’s my bias.
But even still, I went to Bikram Back Bay with a friend who had never tried this style of yoga before, and we both came away with similar impressions.
Let’s start with the pros. There is an ample number of classes on the schedule. You get two towels with your purchase. They have a student and local discount. There is a spacious locker room with nice showers. Students seemed friendly and like they knew each other.
The hot room itself is quite small, in my opinion, and carpeted. There are two fans on each side, and as a result, I did not start sweating until the end of the standing series. I found the instructor, Rich, to be rather snide. During class, he referred to my first-​timer friend as «kid,» and his delivery of the dialogue was almost auctioneer-​like: «and pushandpushandpushandpushandpushandpushandpushhhh.»
Granted, we went two days after Christmas so perhaps it was a slow time, but there just didn’t really seem to be any personality, passion, or spark in this studio.

I alternated between the Back Bay studio and the Financial district studio during my 10 day, $ 20 trial period.
The Back bay studio is definitely much LESS ghetto than the financial district one as it is bigger, cleaner, and even has a real changing room with lockers. It also smells much LESS like sweaty feet. They have large studios with high ceilings that I am a fan of.
The only downside to Bikram Yoga Boston (in general) is that your instructors will be hit or miss. I took 4 lessons total in 10 days and all 10 were different instructors. My all time favorite was Liz, who was encouraging, helpful with her comments and always professional.
I had 1 instructor who was downright mean to some of the students (and wore blinding orange speedos), and 1 who was clearly a newbie at teaching.
I did not sign up for more lessons after my trial period because 1) It was too expensive even with the package deal for students, and 2) The positions for the entire 90 minute class are the same for every single class. 4 times of the same thing over and over again was enough repetition to drive me crazy (bored)…don’t think I could sign up for 10 more.