Bikram Yoga has been credited with treating common modern ailments such as arthritis and depression Lady Gaga and and David Beckham both practice yoga in 40.5 degrees

By Barney Calman

PUBLISHED: 17:06 EST, 1 December 2012 | UPDATED: 17:06 EST, 1 December 2012

Joseph Encinia has an incredible body. His honed, muscular physique is worthy of an Olympian. But it is what he can do with it that is most astonishing. We are chatting in a lobby of the Radisson Hotel, at Los Angeles Airport, when he asks: Do you want me to do full Locust?

He lies on his front, arms sandwiched beneath his body. Slowly, he raises his legs, at first to about 45 degrees, so yes, he looks a bit like a locust. Then the legs continue to rise, so they are vertical and beyond, until his knees bend and he places his feet on top of his head.

His body forms an almost perfect circle. As if this wasnt enough, he gracefully hoists himself up on to straightened arms. I feel I should clap but Im simply too gobsmacked. We are not watching a circus act, and Joseph isnt a contortionist. He is a yoga teacher.

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And more remarkable than this act of superhuman bendiness is that just eight years ago the 27-year-old Texan was confined to a hospital bed having suffered heart failure, a side effect of the medication used to control juvenile arthritis.

He credits his transformation to yoga. In particular, Bikram Yoga, a patented series of 26 poses (of which Locust is one) and two breathing exercises performed in a room heated to a sweltering temperature of 40.5C (105F).

Original post:
Bikram yoga: Not just for cranks and yummy mummies: Why doctors believe everything from bad backs to depression can be ...