When you plan to opt for yoga in life, it is not about stretching or moving your hands and legs around. Taking up yoga in life means adopting a lifestyle little different from what we usually do. Other than practising yoga every day, your diet, as well as lifestyle pattern, alters which you may take time to cope up with, but once you follow - a healthy change happens to your body and soul.
So aspiring yoga enthusiasts before practising can consider the following ten kinds of yoga that help to secure a better living:
Hatha
One of the basic forms of yoga, to begin with, is Hatha. In this, the movements of exercise are simple and the postures are easy to do. Beginners find it comfortable to adopt this form of yoga. In fact, Hatha yoga experts suggest to begin yoga with this and then move on to other forms. Hatha yoga tones the spine corrects gland malfunctioning and also helps to de-stress.
Vinyasa
Another light form of yoga for beginners is vinyasa where music is an integral part of the practice sessions. The music makes this yoga easy to do and also, adds fun to your yoga practice sessions. Popular postures to try under the vinyasa yoga are Ashtanga, Baptiste Yoga, Jivamukti, power yoga, and prana flow.
Iyengar Yoga
Named after BKS Iyenger, this is a continued form of Hatha yoga with a focus on breathing activities. Iyengar yoga includes the use of props like wooden gadgets, belts, and ropes. This yoga is ideal if you want to cure blood pressure problems, depression, back or neck pain, and immunodeficiency.
Kundalini Yoga
Highly influenced by Tantra and Shakta schools of Hinduism, this yoga includes asanas, pranayama, meditation and so on. It is a little tough for beginners but once adapted, anyone loves the kundalini yoga form. Also called as ‘the yoga of awareness’, one of the famous preachers of kundalini yoga is Swami Sivananda.
Ashtanga Yoga
The term ‘ashtanga’ literally means ‘eight limbs’ and as the nomenclature gives, this is a tough form of yoga. Ashtanga yoga is highly structured and aims to purify the body and mind of the practitioner. This yoga style was propagated by K. Pattabhi Jois in the 20th century.
Anusara Yoga
Discovered by John friend in 1997, this modern form of yoga follows Tantric principles. In some ways, the Anusara yoga is similar to vinyasa yoga where the key pose is held for a long time with alterations in breathing. This helps to heal injuries in the human body faster.
Beer Yoga
Do you like alcohol? Then, this form of yoga is your cup of tea where traditional yoga practice is combined with drinking beer in between. This is a big international fitness craze that has hit in 2017, where the idea is to combine the age-old practice of yoga with cold beer drinking.
Jnana Yoga
In Jnana Yoga or yoga for wisdom, there is deep focus and time spent in meditation where the aim is to reach self-inquiry and self-realization. The four pillars of this yoga are Viveka (intelligence), vairagya (dispassion), shatsampat (six virtues) and mumukshutva (longing).
Power Yoga
An extended form of vinyasa yoga, this one helps in weight loss. Yoga is also known for stress management. Beryl Bender Birch was the root to develop this yoga form and is now widely being accepted by yoga enthusiasts. This also helps to maintain a healthy fitness regime.
Restorative Yoga
Composed of only five-six poses, the restorative yoga includes the use of props like blankets. Simple moves like twists, sitting forward posture or gentle backbends are part of this yoga, which makes it easy to pick up. This is slow to go and calms the human body encouraging mindfulness.
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