Hell-Bent explores a fascinating, often surreal world of the extremes of American yoga. Benjamin Lorr walked into this first yoga studio on a whim, over-weight and curious, and quickly found the yoga reinventing his life. He was studying Bikram Yoga (or 'hot yoga') when a run-in with a master and competitive yoga champion led him into an obsessive subculture-a group of yogis for whom eight hours of practice a day in 110-degree heat was just the beginning.

So begins a journey. Populated by athletic prodigies, wide-eyed celebrities, legitimate medical miracles, and predatory hucksters, it's a nation-spanning trip-from the jam-packed studios of New York to the athletic performance labs of the University of Oregon to the stage at the National Yoga Asana Championship, where Lorr competes for glory.

The culmination of two years of research, and featuring hundreds of interviews with yogis, scientists, doctors, and scholars, Hell-Bent is a wild exploration. A look at the science behind a controversial practice, a story of greed, narcissism, and corruption, and a mind-bending tale of personal transformation, it is a book that not only will challenge your conception of yoga, but will change the way you view the fragile, inspirational limits of the human body itself.

Benjamin Lorr graduated from Columbia University wth a degree in environmental biology and creative writing. He lives in New Youk City and is currently at work on his second book.

'If, in addition to good health, yoga offers insight, then this might be the most thorough and honest book on the topic. Hell-Bent is a personal romp through a bizarre world, a clear-eyed exploration of the science of contorted bodies, and an unflinching expose of a guru that finally leaves you asking: How do you judge the salesman when the snake oil might actually work?'-Stefan Fatsis, New York Times bestselling author of Word Freak and a Few Seconds of Panic

'This extraordinarily thoughtful book stretches and reaches and bends in several seemingly impossible directions at the same time. It is at 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, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love

'Who kjnew that self-purification could be suspenseful? This tale of an unlikely American yogi and his maniacal, outlandish master is more tha a memoir. It's a spiritual thriller.'-Walter Kirn, New York Times beselling author of Up in the Air

'A vividly researched, beatuifully written insider's account of the yoga world's most inscrutable, profitable, and misunderstood subculture.'-Neal Pollack, bestselling author of Stretch

'Hell-Bent is a compassionalte, insightful explorationof the emotioanl andintellectual tug-ofo-war many of us have experienced in our yoga practice, revealing how we can fear and resent our most charismatic teachers-yet still be willing to follow them to te ends of the earth.'-Suzanne Morrison, bestselling author of Yoga Bitch

'A fascinating, riotous, and hilarious insight into the world of hardcore, competitive postural yoga practice.'-Mark Singleton, author of Yoga Body, Origins of Modern Posture Practice

'One need not be familiar with the strange and fascinating culture of hot yoga to fall head-over-heels for this book. Insightful, compassionalte, and laugh-out-loud funny, Lorr delves deep into the quest for and motivations behind our human obsessison with god-like perfection, introducing a cast of unforgettable characters and exposing a world of faith and devotion, pain and promises, myths and miracles. I coulnd't put this book down.'-Aryn Kyle, New York Timees bestselling author of The God of Animals

Contents

A short note on folk singing and the space between solutions
Prologue Bombproof?
Part I It never gets any easier (If you are doing it right)
Part II The living curriculum
Part III Not dead yet!
Part IV Like kool-aid for water
Part V Sickness of the infinitude
Part VI All lies are aspirational
Part VII Finding balance
Notes
Acknowledgments

An interesting exposé about the world of bikram yoga. Very good read. ( )

A sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes inspiring look at Bikram yoga as it is practiced in the United States. Benjamin Lorr decides, like many others, to try hot yoga to heal various weaknesses in his body and in the process meets people whose broken bodies have been healed in amazing ways. He sets out to document all of it: the healing, addictive and competitive aspects. After signing up for teacher training, he meets the man himself, a seemingly strange, megalomaniacal kind of guy with large numbers of followers, hangers-on and detractors. What I like about this book is that Lorr reports his experiences in a highly objective manner and also gives some of the history of yoga (and Bikram) for context. Very informative, funny, fascinating. Highly recommended. ( )

I knew nearly nothing about yoga before reading this book. While I was reading I swayed between thinking "Oh my word I NEED to try this!" to "Not in a million years!"

This was a fascinating look at the world of yoga, and of Bikram Yoga in particular. Benjamin Lorr takes us on a memoir-esque exploration into the intense realm of competitive yoga.

I was at turns enthralled and repelled. Bikram Choudhury, the driving force behind his own brand of yoga, is a very interesting man. Genius? Guru? Spoiled man-child? He came to America with his incredible skills and changed the face of the practice of yoga.

The things that these people can do to and with their bodies is amazing. I found my mouth hanging open while reading about the poses, the heat, the extreme measures. It becomes a way of life for some practitioners and you can understand why.

Hell-Bent is an interesting book that I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about an all-consuming sport. ( )

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. It's much more than a story about a guy and his drive to compete - it's an exploration of the roots of yoga, of the development of both Bikram yoga and of Bikram himself, who grew into a cruel, demanding ego-driven narcissist. ( )