Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Bikram Yoga

Description

Benjamin Lorr walks into his first yoga studio on a whim, overweight and curious. A run-in with a competitive yoga champion means his simple desire to tone up soon transforms into obsessive training for a national championship. But this is Bikram Yoga, distinguished from more 'conventional' forms by extreme heat, an overt, almost masochistic focus on pain, and the rabid materialism of its founder, the enigmatic Bikram Choudhury. Hell-Bent is a look at the science behind a controversial practice, a story of greed and corruption, and a mind-bending tale of personal transformation that will change the way you view both yoga and the inspirational potential of the human body.

Benjamin Lorr graduated from Columbia University with a degree in creative writing. He is certified to teach Bikram Yoga and lives in New York.

Extraordinarily thoughtful ... It is as once a searching act of self-examination, a fascinating scientific investigation, a brave spiritual endeavor, and a fair-minded look at one of yoga's most controversial icons. All in all, reading Hell-Bent makes for a wonderful, inspiring, maddening, complicated, edifying journey - and one that I was very happy to take * Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love * Just when you thought yoga couldn't get any hotter ... Here comes a New York insider's guide to the practice that is causing devotees to think again * Daily Telegraph * Hell Bent is witty and wise. If you don't practice yoga, read it anyway - you may learn something about the impulse for self-transcendence. And if you do practice yoga, you will laugh and cry with recognition * New York Times * Among the archness is an interesting debate about the interplay of the mental and physical in life - and sport - and how learning to use mind over body can achieve startling results * Book of the Week, Independent * Fascinating ... Hell-Bent is an inspiring, well-researched and hilarious account of one man's transformation into a postural yoga champ * Australian Men's Fitness * Didn't get into barefoot running after reading Christopher McDougall's best-selling Born to Run? You'll be inspired to strip down into your intimates for hot yoga after devouring this read * Marie Claire *