Born in Calcutta, India, Bikram Choudhury began learning Hatha Yoga poses at the age of three. At five, he began studying with Bishnu Ghosh (Paramahansa Yogananda’s brother) and won the National India Yoga Championship four consecutive years in his teens.

With the guidance of his guru, Bikram created his 26 posture series which restored his health.

At 14, Swami Shivananda declared him "Yogi Raj" (King of the Yogis). At age 20, a weightlifting accident crippled Bikram. As an adult he opened yoga schools in India and Japan, and in 1972 he opened his first U.S. school in San Francisco. Bikram arrived in the United States in 1973 at the invitation of U.S. President Richard Nixon and the urging of Shirley MacLaine. Celebrities, athletes, and others began to flock to him. His main school is currently near Hollywood, California. In the 1990s he began offering nine-week teacher certification courses, and certified instructors now number in the thousands with Bikram Yoga studios all over the world.