Bikram Yoga Chadds Ford
Yoga for You
Fluck’s take on 26 and 2
Chris Fluck has a deep and long-standing interest in physical culture.
For Fluck, the Bikram beginning hatha yoga series is all about strength. Extreme ranges of motion and flexibility are way down his list of concerns. His top priorities are practical: being able to chase his child, carry groceries, and move furniture.
Chris teaches students to simultaneously engage and stretch their muscles to create ‘supple strength’. Optimal alignment is the goal; passively yielding to gravity is to be avoided.
“This is why we don’t use props. There’s no resting or collapsing in the postures. Muscle contraction supports the postures and creates safety for the student.”
Experienced in many styles of yoga, Fluck firmly believes that a stationary series is safest. Static stretching puts less stress on the body. And it creates a powerful tourniquet effect. The heat and exertion combine to get your heart pounding and your blood rushing. Stillness in the postures impedes the flow of blood, creating a dam effect, so that when the posture is released, a healing rush of blood returns. “It’s like getting an internal massage.”
The series repeatedly moves us from maximum exertion to maximum relaxation. “It’s gas, brake, gas, brake, gas, brake. We were doing interval training long before it became a buzz word.”
A commitment to lifelong activity and personal responsibility are cornerstones of Fluck’s philosophy.
“It’s not aging that hurts us, it’s that we stop moving. You literally become a tin man.”
“You always have a choice, and it’s always your fault,” he says.
Make good choices.
Build a solid Bikram practice.
Get to know Chris. Take his class. He teaches Wednesday afternoons (4:30am and 6:30pm) and Saturday (7:30am and 9:30am) mornings at BYCF.
See you there!
Bikram Yoga Chadds Ford 