Bikram Yoga, as taught by Andrea Griego and her associates, may be the cure for all that ails the fast growing population of Valley residents in need of gaining or losing a few pounds, improving chronic conditions or simply escaping daily life stresses.

Students at all levels are coming to Griego's Bikram Yoga Institute for improved mental and physical health and as a way to cope with the devastating effect of the recent terrorism attack on September 11. The impact on students has been significant, manifesting itself through stress and anxiety. Students say that Yoga is helping them to unwind and de-stress physically and mentally both inside and outside of the body, training them to be actively calm and calmly active in stressful situations. Yoga is also improving and/or healing many types of Griego's students' chronic conditions. Their results can attest to this.

One of the Institute's students is Susan Danesi, a 61 year-old retired cardiovascular nurse who came to the Institute over four years ago. She was suffering from high blood pressure and , since age 30, had been taking 20mgs of high blood pressure medication twice a day. She also suffered from varicose veins, which inhibited her from doing any exercises that required bouncing and jumping. Her goal was to reduce or omit the mediation and its side effects from her life. She took daily classes at the Institute, watched her diet and started cutting back on her medication with approval of her doctor.

Today Danesi claims that Bikram Yoga helped her to improve her health condition and her overall state of mind. She is currently taking one 10mg dose of high blood pressure medication per day and three to four Bikram classes per week. She has a noticeable increase in flexibility, saying "I now have a flexible body and a flexible mind."

Griego has many more success stories of students with chronic health conditions like diabetes, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, thyroid, obesity, knee, back and depression problems. She also has a loyal following of fit athletes who come to the Institute as part of their training to improve strength and stamina.

The premise of Yoga is based upon three principles of holding the body in individual postures for the prescribed number of seconds, proper control of breath while in the posture according to the posture, and following the posture with a minimum of ten seconds in savasana (complete relaxation). While Hatha Yoga is more than 4,000 years old, Bikram Yoga is a form of Hatha Yoga developed by Bikram Choudhury. Bikram uses 26 asanas (postures) which requires a heated room of at least 100 degrees to prevent injury, perform deeper stretches and detoxify the body through sweat. When done properly, Bikram Yoga provides a total body workout internally, externally and mentally.

The key to success with Yoga is finding a qualified instructor who has overcome rigorous training and instruction and holds a certification stating so. Griego and the Institute's five instructors were certified by Bikram Choudhury himself. "We provide a safe healing place for all of our students from ages 10 to 87, who continue to grow in number and they keep coming back," said Griego.

The Bikram Yoga Institute unveiled its new expansion and renovation to Valley students last week as a direct result of tremendous growth over the past year since Andrea Griego took full ownership. Griego has been with the Bikram Institute since 1996. The Institute opened nine years ago, making it the oldest school in the Valley of the Sun. It is the first school in Arizona to be certified by Choudhury and has been recognized by the New Times in 2000 as the "Best Reason to Perspire Some More."

The Bikram Yoga Institute is affiliated with Los Angeles based Yoga College of India and is located at 7620 East Indian School Road (Miller Plaza Shopping Center). They offer daily classes morning, afternoon and evenings. The Institute phone number is 480-946-2116.