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

Author Benjamin Lorr wandered into a yoga studio and fell down a rabbit hole

Hell-Bent explores the fascinating, often surreal world of Bikram Yoga, a style taught to millions by a very living guru, Bikram Choudhury. Bikram Yoga is distinguished by the extreme heat it is practiced in (105 - 120 degrees), an overt focus on pain, and the materialism of its founder. It is also distinguished by impressive results—elite athletes swear by it, body-conscious supermodels swoon for it.

Lorr walked into his first yoga studio on a whim, overweight and curious, and quickly found the yoga reinventing his life. He had slimmed down and toned up, when a run-in with a competitive yoga champion convinced him to take his practice to the next level: to train for the national championship.

So begins a journey populated by athletic prodigies, wide-eyed celebrities, medical miracles, and predatory hucksters. It's a nation-spanning trip—from the jam-packed studios of New York to the championship stage in Los Angeles, where Lorr competes for glory. Along the way, Hell-Bent explores the health claims behind yoga, the neurology of pain, the latest in therapeutic rehab, and more.

The culmination of two years of research, featuring hundreds of interviews with yogis, scientists, doctors, and scholars, Hell-bent will change not only the way you think about yoga, but how you view the fragile, inspirational limits of the human body.