The studios at Bikram Yoga Richmond are carefully controlled environments: always between 105 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit and between 40% and 50% humidity, with all allergens filtered from its air. Far from random, these parameters help students' bodies work double-time at the essential tasks of killing disease-causing bacteria, breaking down fat and toxins, and sweating enough to finally become a waterslide.

That all happens invisibly, though. In the studio, what meets the eye first are students, flowing in unison through Bikram's unchanging sequence of postures. Instructors, all of whom graduated from a nine-week Bikram course, guide them and offer up posture critiques. Instructors also ensure that, as students sweat through cobra, tree, and camel poses, they take plenty of pauses to sip the studio's free, filtered and ionized Kangen water.