yoga: A BEGINNER’ S GUIDE cont.
HEALTH + WELLNESS
yoga: A BEGINNER’ S GUIDE cont.
ASHTANGA K. Pattabhi Jois, the founder of ashtanga yoga famously said:“ Practice, and all is coming,” which pretty much sums up ashtanga, an athletic and more challenging style of yoga where students learn a series of poses and practice at their own pace while a teacher adjusts and advises until that practice is smooth, uninterrupted and able to be done at a steady pace. The philosophy is that the yogi will learn to rise above mistakes and setbacks and that this skill will spill out into all aspects of life.
VINYASA FLOW If a yoga style has the word‘ flow’ succeeding its name, it means that it’ s taught in sequences that flow from one pose to the next without teachers stopping to chat about the finer points of each pose. Influenced by ashtanga, vinyasa is without question yoga, but it’ s definitely a workout too and the name‘ vinyasa’ is often used as an umbrella term to differentiate this. If you’ re new to yoga and your fitness is a bit rusty, you’ ll definitely feel it and you may be out of your depth as it’ s a vigorous style designed to condition the whole body as well as the mind; probably a good idea to attend a few classes and get a feel for the basics before embarking on an entire course.
ANUSARA Anusara yoga was only created in 1997 and is a distinctly modern style, but one that is built upon the foundations of hatha, a much older and historical discipline with which it shares basic elements such as a focus on the traditional‘ asana’ – poses. Otherwise, anusara deals with goals of self-esteem, selfempowerment and general stress reduction, and aims to establish a positive mind-body connection through a series of yoga poses combined with chanting and centering meditation.
SIVANANDA Based on the teachings of Hindu spiritual teacher, Swami Sivananda, this style of yoga is more to do with spirituality than exercise. It was devised to preserve the health and general wellness of the practitioner and is based upon five fundamental yoga principles: proper exercise( 12 asana poses), proper breathing( pranayama), proper relaxation( savasana), proper diet( vegetarian) and positive thinking( vedanta) and meditation( dhyana). A typical 90-minute class combines the practice of 12 core poses with Sanskrit chanting, breathing exercises, meditation and relaxation.
BIKRAM Interesting bikram yoga fact no. 1: every class you go to, anywhere in the world, follows the same sequence of 26 poses. Interesting bikram yoga fact no. 2: the sweat-fest that is bikram was devised long before clever marketers rebranded it‘ hot yoga’ and was in fact the early 1970’ s brainchild of eponymous yogi, Bikram Choudhury. Bikram put together the 26 strengthening and stretching poses to target the muscles as well as flush the body’ s organs of toxins and the style is practiced in a heated room to help release the toxins on their pesky way.
YIN As much a way to get to grips with the basics of meditation and stilling the mind as it is a workout for the hips, pelvis and lower back, yin yoga finds its roots in the Taoist tradition and concentrates on seated postures. Poses can be held for up to 10 minutes and the aim is to develop both flexibility and the ability to just let it go – ideal for people who really suffer from stress and for sport Billys whose joints are tense and overworked.
Namaste.
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