You treat an idiot like an idiot.
— Bikram Choudhury
In India, nobody sues anybody.
Negative attitude is nine times more powerful than positive attitude.
Every human being in this world is interested in certain things. Everybody has a hobby. Some people like art; I know nothing about it. Some people like books, some people like fishing, some people like music. I like to look at cars.
It wasn't easy in the 1970s when I initially started on my mission - to take yoga to the world. Nobody knew what it was in Japan. When I met Bill Clinton for the first time, he asked me if it was a form of yogurt that you eat! But I kept my faith and never gave up on my quest.
In America, they say, you can take a horse to the pond, but you can't make him drink. My way is different. I only take the horse to the pond to make him drink. If he doesn't, I'll cut his head off.
If you do Bikram Yoga, you exercise your body 100 percent.
I have the biggest and the longest mouth in the world. Everybody's scared of my mouth.
For months, I slept at work, even though I had an apartment. I'd fall asleep on the floor at 4:30 A.M. By 7 A.M., I was up and ready to start teaching every class.
I am tough, and sometimes I tell it like it is. Tough love can work wonders.
I guarantee you, yoga will compete with computers, music, sports, automobiles, the drug industry. Yoga will take over the world!
Why must everyone need a doctorate to teach? You can be a graduate from my institute in two months and for $11,000.
I started with nothing. Zero.
If you don't suffer, you don't get anything. Nothing easy in life.
Because I'm a sweet, kind guy, everybody thinks I'm an idiot, I'm weak.
I always forgave my students, like Jesus.
Worry makes you sick. Worry less, live as long as you like.
When in Rome, I must do as the Romans do. When in America, make Bikram copyright and trademark.
My friend said to me, 'You don't look good,' - because all the time I have to think about law and justice and courts.
Movie stars, rich people - oh, they have so many beautiful cars!
When actress Shirley Maclaine arrived 30 minutes late for a class, I asked her to leave.
Yoga competition is an old Indian tradition.
Do you know, every yoga school in India is free?
If you can, you must.
I don't listen to anybody. You need my help: Come to me, shut up, forget who you are. I will take care of you. And I do my job.
Growing up in Bombay, I saw many sick people.
You go to Starbucks, and you know what you're going to get. It's the same with my yoga.
One student was mixing my yoga up with other kinds, and I said, 'No, you cannot do that.' You cannot put calamari in the sushi and call it sushi.
Indians do not like Indian teachers; they prefer foreigners, but there is a huge demand for Indian teachers around the world.
I like money. You like money. We need the money. But, money is not going to bring humanity and spiritualism into your life.
So many people are stealing Bikram Yoga. It's like you're practicing medicine, but you're not a doctor.
You cannot steal somebody's intellectual property. Law and justice protect.
Yoga only works one way.
The meaning of yoga is connection of mind, body and spirit. If you have a bad telecommunication system, your body gets sick. Yoga helps fix that.
I didn't come here without a visa, like everyone from China and Vietnam and Cuba. I came here by special plane... received by the ambassador, by the president of the United States. I should be the most honored man in your country.
Before me, there was no money, no business with yoga.
I don't chase money, money chase me!
When President Ronald Reagan asked me a stupid question once, I called him an idiot in public! I thought I was going to be arrested, but he laughed and appreciated me.
American men are like women.
If you want to live a hundred years, how do you want to live your life? At the age of 100, you should go shopping with your great-grandchildren, but not in a wheelchair.
Truth is the most bitter to accept, swallow and digest it. The moment you speak truth, you lose your popularity. But I don't care.
I always teach celebrities, all my life.
I have both English bulldog determination and Bengal tiger strength.
Nothing in the world can take my peace away from me.
You cannot drive the car if you do not have a driver's license. You cannot do brain surgery if you are not a brain surgeon. You cannot even do a massage if you don't have a license.
I bought a 1964 Bentley for $1,600 and re-built it over five years. When I drove it in Tokyo after that, it was the pride of the road. That car would command at least $150,000 today because 'Bikram' has restored it.
You use the body as a medium to bring the mind back to the brain. Perfect married between body and mind. Then, you can knock the door to the spirit.
I'm a yogi, not a businessman.
Lady Gaga listens to me. Her mantra is only one word - 'Bikram' - because Bikram makes her what she is today. It works.
America's biggest problem is too much freedom.
