6 Different Types of Yoga Routines

By Cory Clemons


Yoga is becoming increasingly popular all over the world today, even though it had been in practice in the East for hundreds of years. There are a variety of places offering yoga classes taught by trained and experienced instructors, and there's also a great number of types of yoga available. There re types such as Ashtanga Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Bikram Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Power Yoga, etc. So, if you don't take a well-informed person's opinion, you can certainly get confused as to which type will suit you.

Ashtanga Yoga: In Sanskrit, "ashtanga" means "eight limbs". This yoga is fairly energetic and intense, and involves a set of asanas (poses) that's coordinated with breath. Ashtanga yoga can be extremely exhausting mainly because it requires that you shift quickly from one pose to the next. You have to be quite flexible to achieve this type of yoga, and it allows you to increase your body's flexibility, strength and stamina a lot because it is so demanding physically.

Hatha Yoga: "Ha" means "sun" and "tha" means "moon" in Sanskrit, which happens to be an Indian ancient classical language. As opposed to Ashtanga yoga, the Hatha yoga is slow-paced and mild, in fact it is ideal for a beginner to yoga to start off with this yoga. Because it doesn't involve any difficult poses, a beginner will be at ease with this type of yoga. Like all other types of yoga, the Hatha yoga aspires to bring together your body, mind and spirit.

Iyengar Yoga: This yoga is founded on the teaching of B. S. Iyengar and focuses on the appropriate alignment and form of the body. While Ashtanga yoga involves moving fast from one pose to the next in the sequence, Iyengar yoga is focused on holding one pose for a longer time before moving on to the next. Because of this type of yoga, you will want blocks and straps to help you align your body into various poses.

Power Yoga: This particular yoga is founded on the Western interpretation of the Ashtanga Yoga. It doesn't always stick to the correct sequence of poses as prescribed by the Ashtanga yoga, nevertheless it does involve moving through various poses without stopping and starting again.

Bikram Yoga: The Bikram yoga can also be referred to as "Hot Yoga". This is because it is practiced in a room which is heated to 105 degrees and has a humidity of 40%. Usually, the Bikram Yoga involves a sequence of 26 different poses, and also the heated atmosphere enables you to loosen muscles. The hot room temperature makes people perspire a lot, and this really helps to wash toxins out of your body.

Vinyasa Yoga: "Vinyasa" means a breath-coordinated movement which is yet another rapid kind of yoga. It starts with salutations to the sun and carries on to strong stretching. Each pose is balanced with a counter-pose.

There isn't any rule about you sticking to one kind of yoga. You can begin with an easy one and proceed on to more difficult ones.




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