John Elliott doesn't wear combat fatigues with boots and a brown T-shirt, yet this instructor has all the characteristics of a fitness drill sergeant.

''You don't need to think,'' he snaps at a student. ``I'll do the thinking.''

''Don't look at her,'' he tells a newcomer to his class. ``She doesn't know what she's doing.''

This isn't beach boot camp or even mixed martial arts. It's Bikram yoga and a half-naked Elliott is king of this jungle, keeping a rhythmic tone as he calls out postures for 90 minutes in sweltering 112-degree heat. He's been teaching at Bikram Yoga Miami, South Beach for the past five years and nearly all of his students will tell you he's the opposite of calming, soothing and gentle.''

''He can say things that no one else can say and get away with it,'' says Bridjette Hoilett-Green, 41, of Miami. ``He's good at what he does. I signed up for a whole year.''

Bikram yoga, which consists of 26 postures performed in a heated room, ''is a very strict and rigid form, very intense,'' says Elliott, 40. ``There's no room for any kind of distractions. . . . You're hot, you're sweaty, you're thirsty and you're tired. You want to stop and do everything else to distract yourself when actually what you're here to do is the yoga, so you have to push yourself through it and the teacher is a big influence.''

For Elliott, the heat was the big turn-on when he first stepped into a Bikram studio in New Jersey several winters ago.

''A friend gave me a gift certificate,'' he remembers. ''The heat was not an issue. I loved it and I just really wanted to learn more and I started getting deeper into the practice.'' Soon, he realized the more he practiced, the more an old back injury improved.

About seven years ago, he left his event planning business, which he ran for 12 years in New York, and went to Los Angeles, where he trained to become a Bikram instructor.

''There were 300 people there,'' he says. ``You hear a lot of stories and you identify with people you'd probably never come in contact with. . . . Hearing all these stories about how yoga changed them. If it's worked for all of us then it's gotta work for other people.''

After a teaching stint in Key West, he moved to Hollywood and started teaching in South Beach.

''I like to keep things light,'' he says, while admitting he's a bit militant. ``I want everybody to get the best experience they can while they're here, from the minute they walk in until they leave.''

As students arrive one Friday evening, the studio sounds a lot like happy hour -- ''Let me tell you what my son did.'' . . . ''What can I do to make my butt bigger? It's too little.'' . . . ``If I was lying I would have said I was 59, not 60.''

When class begins, the chatter abruptly stops.

Electrical heaters complement the central heat and water bottles begin to sweat as Elliott starts his dialogue, leading the yogis into breathing exercises and postures to work muscles and increase flexibility.

Two of them have the audacity to step out of the heated room, perhaps to cool down a tad.

''What are you doing?'' he admonishes. ``Get back in here.''

More than 15 students are in the class and Elliott's sharp eyes watch them all.

'He'll be on the other side of the room and he'll go, `Marcia, move your hips a little bit to the left,' '' says Marcia Dattoli, 60, of Miami Beach. 'And I'll go, `But you're not here.' That's how he is.''

He's also supportive.

''He pushes his knee in my back really hard during the spine twist, which really helps,'' says Justin Elegant, 38, a twice-weekly student for the past year. ``It teaches you to sit up straight and emphasize the posture.''

As an events planner, Elliott's job was to keep his clients happy. ''That translates into this as well, even though yoga is a completely different animal,'' he says. ``There are so many other forms of physical activity, and a lot of people do other things. So when they're here they're going to get a very stellar form of yoga from me. I give back what I've gotten from it.

``I'm much more relaxed and at ease. Before, being in New York, you have to keep proving yourself, trying to be on the same level as your clients. It left a real sour taste in my mouth. I was working my butt off, making money, but I wasn't able to enjoy myself -- work, come home and basically pass out. That was too much.''

As a yoga instructor, Elliott can be himself -- humorous, tough and focused.

That's what's needed when the heat is on, inside and out, sweat is dripping and newcomers are feeling as if they might pass out.

''I like to have fun,'' he says. ``I want this to be a happy part of my life.''

Sure enough, when class ends, the chatter resumes and it's back to happy hour.

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