Our Studios

Jill Koontz  - Studio Co-Director

I came to Bikram Yoga in 2001 as a complement to and eventually a replacement for running and weight training. I had been an avid 4-5 mile runner for years and even ran a couple of marathons. The years of pounding had taken a toll on my joints and my years as an executive at an investment management firm had tested the limits of my health and peace of mind.

The very first time I stepped into the hot room I knew I had found exactly what I needed and had been looking for from a health and fitness program. I can say, without hesitation or exaggeration, that my body and my mind are stronger and more flexible than ever before.

I became a teacher and a studio owner in 2003 to provide this opportunity for anyone who is ready to step up to the challenge. Bikram Yoga is a serious workout for the body and the mind.

Brad Koontz  - Studio Co-Director

I have practiced various types of yoga since 1989. I played competitive tennis for most of my life and found the stretching and flexibility aspects of yoga integral to my overall fitness. Midway through my professional tennis career I underwent reconstructive knee surgery. Yoga was a critical part of my rehabilitation.

In 1999 I discovered Bikram Yoga in New York City. After my first 90 minutes in the hot room I felt changes in my body that I had never before experienced.  I have been a consistent practitioner ever since.

Teaching has always been in my heart, so I chose to attend teacher training with my wife Tomo early in 2004.

Tomo Koontz

I started to practice Bikram Yoga in 2002.  Despite feeling mildly ill after my first 10 classes, I maintained a regular practice.  This consistency has brought me a wonderful sense of wellness. 

I am proof that with some persistence, Bikram Yoga can help you to lose weight and achieve optimum health and fitness levels. Teaching this yoga and offering its wonderful benefits to others makes me happy.

Melissa Aleksandrowicz

For my 28th birthday in 2011, I asked for a membership to a "hot yoga" studio. My twenties were a continual search for that special thing to make me happier and healthier. I tried everything: health clubs, running, dieting... but nothing stuck.

After my first Bikram class I was in love! It was the no-nonsense tough love that I needed. At the time I was working in pharmaceutical research. I was unhappy at my job, but felt it was what I was supposed to be doing, as it was what I went to college for.

In July 2012 I was laid off and had no motivation to go looking for a similar job. Through my career changing and soul searching, Bikram Yoga remained my constant. It has brought me the health and happiness I was searching for. I decided to go to Teacher Training in Spring 2014. It was the most incredible experience of my life. I started teaching the day after I came home from training and still can't believe how lucky I am to teach and share this unbelievable yoga.

Heather Carr

One freezing cold Friday night in January of 2006, I walked across the street from my office on Lincoln Street and into the Bikram Yoga Financial District studio. I was in my mid-30s, overweight, had never kept up a consistent exercise program (in my life!), and on top of that, I was looking for a way to quit smoking.

I didn't know then that I wasn't just going to lose a deadly habit and some extra pounds, I was about to change from the 'inside out, bones to skin.' Literally.

After practicing regularly for 6 years, and dragging everyone I knew to their first Bikram yoga classes, my family stepped in with an intervention. In January 2012, on my 42nd birthday, they all got together and gifted me with Teacher Training.

This yoga has given me so much more than optimal physical health. It has and still does teach me patience and gives me the confidence I was always lacking and I consider myself very lucky to be able to teach and to bring it to others.

See you in class!

Meredith Evangelisti

I am always looking for a new challenge.....

In 2006 I found that new challenge when I tried my first Bikram yoga class. Since then, everyday that I practice the yoga, I feel the exact same way. Every class is a new challenge, a different boundary to be crossed and different feelings that come up and in my experience it is always for the better!

As a competitive roller skater for most of my life I have endured a number of injuries that have resulted in chronic back pain. I would visit a chiropractor very regularly, but with a regular consistent practice of Bikram yoga I found that I no longer need to go!!

Because of the way Bikram yoga made me feel from that very first day, I couldn't stop thinking about yoga. Every day I would try to find a way to fit in; this was sometimes difficult working a demanding full-time sales job. In July of 2009 I decided to say goodbye to Corporate America and become a Bikram yoga teacher. This experience has changed my life and I feel so fortunate to be able to teach Bikram yoga full time and share this wonderful practice with others!

Constantine Kadel

Check check check...Hi you guys!

I started practicing Bikram Yoga in February of 2009,  I tried to sign up for the debit program on my third class and the teacher told me I had to wait until my intro was up... hahah.

My consistent Bikram Practice over the past six years has played a tremendous role in the healing after six knee surgeries and a torn bicep tendon. This yoga practice saved my life.   

Five years ago while in Greece I had a vision to become a Certified Bikram teacher and open the first studio in Athens, Greece.   I have been teaching with all my heart at Bikram Yoga Boston for just over two years now.  I am now preparing to relocate to Athens, Greece this January 2015,  to build the first Bikram Yoga studio in the country. 

This practice is more valuable than most people even try to realize.  It is a special gift, not to be taken for granted.  Practice! If you are unable to practice at a studio, you should purchase Bikram’s CD or iTunes and practice at home.  Contract your thigh muscle, use your English Bulldog determination to lock the knee.   

I am a broken football player turned yogi and after almost 6 years of practice, I am now able to get my left foot behind my right calf muscle in Eagle because I never gave up trying.  Embrace the struggle :) Love, Constantine!

Jackie Kono

My journey with Bikram's Yoga began in March 2007, as I stumbled across the Bikram Yoga Boston studio, and without any anticipation of what was to come, took my first class.

After a few classes, I knew this type of Yoga had exactly what I needed: a challenging practice, welcoming staff, and a community that all share one common interest and goal; to sweat, work extremely hard to become the healthy human beings that we deserve to be. Not only did I gain physical and emotional strength, but my entire perception changed and I realized that any limitations I created for myself do not actually exist at all.

Two months later I signed up for teacher training. This enhanced my practiced and proved to me that the yoga works. We are capable of anything; we just don't know it yet. Bikram's Yoga provides us with the opportunity to get outside your mind and into your body, gaining a deeper sense of self. I am grateful and proud to a part of this amazing process.

Jeannine Poles

I started Bikram yoga in the summer of 2006. Although I knew right away I wanted to be a teacher it took till the summer of 2011 for me to get consistent with my practice and went to teacher training in spring 2013. Now I am happy to say my body is mine again. Healthy and back to normal is the best feeling in the world.

I love being a teacher. I am part time with another job as a massage therapist. No lie, going to teach does not feel like a job. The best part is the students. You see them walk in either tired, stressed, or just cruising along. Then leaving they're smiling, fresh and clean ready for the world. It's amazing. :)

Brian Stern

I started practicing Bikram yoga in my best friends apartment while in college in 2008. We turned up the thermostat as high as we could, put on Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class CD and with the help of online pictures of the sequence we started to rock and roll!

I will never forget how after the first night coming back to my own apartment...I seemed to literally float up the three flights of stairs that I usually dreaded walking up. I never even knew what yoga was before this and I am so thankful that I found this system first.

On his CD Bikram says, "If you do yoga you never have to go to the chiropractor, chiropractor comes to you." This caught my attention as I had been seeing chiropractors for a long time at that point for various physiological issues. I continued a home practice here and there and one day decided to go to the torture chamber to see what a real class was like in the studio. In my first 10 days I bought an annual membership and from that point on my life took on a new meaning. I rapidly began healing physically from chronic pain in various areas of my body and about a year later I realized I had not visited the chiropractor in months!

I found such a deep level of wellness and healing from this system and I am so grateful to now be able to help others on their path and share my enthusiasm as a teacher of this practice.

Jessica Richardson

My yoga practice began amidst the finals of my junior year in college. Shortly after my first class, I rearranged my university schedule around my yoga practice. I understood that Bikram yoga made me a more balanced individual. Often an addict to stress (and brownies) I knew this practice would keep me in check. So what better than practicing? Teaching. So it was decided, I'd go to the Spring 2010 Teacher Training. Since, I have been fortunate to teach and travel the world, stopping along the way to learn about this yoga and experiencing the communities behind it.

I believe in the power Bikram yoga has to build a better self. And can only hope through my teaching - students can find a way to love themselves and find their own passions.

Emily Sweet

After years of other sports, gyms and fitness routines, I realized that Bikram Yoga was the form of exercise to which I would always find my way back. I took my first class in 2003, nearly 10 years before I attended Bikram's Teacher Training. It took me more than 6 years to integrate this yoga into my life consistently.

It is part of my life for good now. Practicing this yoga is integral in maintaining health, balance and happiness in my life. I have yet to find a problem that 90 minutes in the hot room cannot begin to heal.

I attended teacher training in 2013 in Los Angeles and began teaching shortly after with the hope of sharing the energy and healing of this practice with others.

Alana Teran

I started practicing Bikram in 2010. I had been conveniently bartending at a restaurant underneath a studio at the time. One of the teachers always asked me to come upstairs and take one of his classes. I was hesitant, thinking that it wasn't a "real" workout. When I eventually did it was one of the best decisions I made, not only for my body, but for my mind.

While practicing, I felt my body slowly being to repair itself from years of damage. After maintaining a consistent practice, I realized that the yoga helped me in every day life. Allowing me to have more patience and better control my anger. I knew after my first couple months, that one day I wanted to be a part of that healing process for other people. Finally, after procrastinating long enough, I went to training in Fall 2014.

Since being back, every day has proven to be a new experience and lesson helping me grow not only in teaching, but in my own practice. I have high hopes that my journey has just now started and look forward for whats to come.

Kelsey Thurber

Prior to Bikram Yoga, depression was something I struggled with on a daily basis. To cope, I would work out and run almost every day. However, this lifestyle began to take a toll on my body and soon I began to seek out healthier alternatives.

I started my practice in January 2013. Walking out of my first class I was amazed by how good I felt. I immediately knew: this is what my life needed. Since then I have practiced religiously. No longer do I have to push my body to damaging limits to get that 'workout high'. Instead, with Yoga I am able to be in control of my body, and with the help of my body, be in control of my mind.

I attended the Fall 2013 teacher training in LA so I could share and teach this amazing practice with others. Bikram Yoga is truly life altering and beneficial to anyone and everyone; it gives you the keys to a life full of unlimited happiness, health, and love - a life that every person deserves.

Rachael Toral

I experienced my first Bikram class in 2006. I had driven by a studio on my way to work every morning for 6 months before I had the courage to walk through the door. Ninety minutes later, I was lying on my back knowing that I had never worked so hard in my life. I thought my heart was going to burst. I LOVED IT!

Since that first class, my practice has touched every aspect of my life. Emotionally, physically and spiritually I am a better person thanks to this healing practice. I became a Bikram teacher in 2013 so I could share my love and passion for this yoga with others.

Kara Townley

My first Bikram Yoga class was not pleasant. I had been a long time ballet dancer and thought yoga would be a walk in the park. Quickly, I discovered I was wrong as I entered the hot room in sweats. Even more quickly, I realized the damage I had done to my joints and my body after years of being on my toes.

I left my first class and promised not to go back. To my surprise, shortly after class I started to feel pretty good, then great, then next day, amazing! Sure enough, my curiosity immediately brought me back and I've been hooked ever since. I've worked through and healed damaged joints and continue to feel recharged, re-energized, and balanced with a consistent practice.

In 2011 I became a teacher and sharing this lifelong practice is a wonderful and rewarding experience!

Liz Tyrrell

I took my first Bikram Yoga class in the winter of 2006. It was just a few days after I had completed a half marathon with my dad, who was at the time twice my age but finished in half the time. I hobbled to the finish line with sore knees, sore ankles, and desperate for a new habit. That hot Bikram yoga class was just the answer. I continued to practice for three years and found it had changed so much more than my stiff joints. I no longer suffered from stress and depression, and had a more positive outlook every day. I attended Bikram's Teacher Training in Spring 2009 (Palm Desert) so that I could share this life changing yoga with others.

Heather Way

After more than a year of telling myself and everyone that I know that I was going to “give hot yoga a try,” I took my first Bikram class in October 2007 at the Harvard Square studio. The sights and sounds around me, the sweat pouring out of my body, and the exhilarating “yoga high” that I felt afterward made me keep coming back for more. Several months into my practice, I noticed my body beginning to change.

For years I had been a long-distance runner and biker and an avid gym-goer, but despite my efforts I felt weak, achy, and fatigued most of the time. A consistent Bikram yoga practice has allowed me to become the strong and energetic person I have always known myself to be. I feel at peace with who I am and confident in my abilities in and outside of class. As Bikram would say, “yoga makes me, me.” Teaching yoga at BYB is a dream come true. It is my joy and honor to play a role in the life-transforming process of students.

Jenny Wilson

I stumbled upon Bikram yoga when I moved to Brooklyn in 2004. I had read about it in a magazine and knew I wanted to try it. I went out for a walk to explore my new neighborhood, looked up and low and behold... Bikram Yoga! I took my first class the next day and was hooked ever since. I decided to become a teacher to further my practice and to inspire people the way my teachers inspired me. I went to training in spring of 2007. Teaching has been a wonderful addition to my life. It balances out the other work I do,which is styling in the photo industry, and it is a great way to stay connected to the practice. It is amazing watching people progress, heal injuries and realize their unlimited potential.