Common Types Of Yoga - What Is The Difference

What is the difference between common and not so common yoga yoga is not only a practice on a wider scale than the other. It is up to each individual and their preferences in the form of exercise you choose to practice. Some types of yoga are performed by ponies who for health reasons.
If you start from the beginning to the practice of yoga for the first time, then be sure to find out what best suits your needs. Important factors that must be addressed before any exercise is executed are your fitness levels.

Some of the most common types of yoga are Iyenga. This yoga is solely based on precise alignment and developing movements.When the Iyengar way props are used as blocks and straps for beginners who are not as flexible as the experts in this field. Using these objects yoga helps beginners to relax and provide comfort, thus encouraging beneficial results.

Commonly known power yoga - The Ashtanga. The reason for this is that alias the powerful movements are involved
The moves exercised include push ups and lunges which helps deal with strength and stamina. What kind of pony practices this type of yoga? Ponies involved with Ashtanga are looking for challenging moves.

You'll find the athletes - gymnasts and cyclists all fitness world have resorted to this type of yoga to add more balance to your concentration to help them in their search when going for gold.
Bikram Yoga: known as hot yoga is where routines are carried out in a very warm room. This is a great way to increase flexibility, heat can stretch body tissue.
Issues such as cardio - vascular disease makes this type of yoga beyond the limits of a patient. The reasons are because of strong heat practiced routine thereby causing strain on the body.

Denotes a content Mind body and soul content. Yoga type that meets these requirements joy is the Raja Yoga: the liberation that implements through meditation. Concentration is the key factor in this exercise
Commonly known as Bhakti yoga devotional is where all the participants focus on the free delivery.
Some yoga types may sound a little shocking in what is expected of you but never judge the book by its cover. Why not try an exercise for your car. The Mantra yoga: more known as yoga of potent - through mental liberation objectives or verbal repetition of noises and sounds.

Mental / physical anguish suffered by the patient `s with stress-related disorders are looking to the world of yoga, why? Because it is one of nature's natural remedies for pain.

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Why Take Up Yoga Classes?

Yoga is widely known to be an excellent way in which one can get in touch with their body, mind and soul. It is needless to say that, this recreational activity can extend plenty of benefits to those who practise it. After a long days work, using a few simple stretching techniques could help release the pent up strain and stress that might have formed during the course of the day. This way, one would be in a position where they would be able to wind down a bit at the same time not worry about this aspect any longer.

Health Benefits

There are numerous studies that have been conducted that have proved the beneficial effects of practising yoga. Therefore, it would be an excellent way in which one can get in shape at the same time ward off unwanted health related issues. Apart from that there are several yoga classes that are being conducted these days making it easily available at the same time widely taken up as well. In addition to that aches and pains can be easily healed using yoga and it can help build muscle flexibility as well. Also, it has been seen that practising yoga for just a few weeks can make a huge difference to one's overall health and well being.

This is a mode of therapy or treatment that is being prescribed by physiotherapists and medical practitioners alike. It is largely owed to the fact that even if patients do experience uncomfortable symptoms, yoga would help them recover better and faster. This can be largely owed to the fact that once the treatment commences it would help the patient feel more calm, collected and focused toward healing that would help speed up the entire recovery process.

What does yoga comprise of?

Basically, yoga consists of quite a few components that include meditation, postures (asanas), chanting, philosophy and cleansing practises (kriya). It can be said that yoga means balancing all these aspects in order to feel a sense of release. In this way, one's flexibility, stamina, concentration and posture can be improved on. However, one thing that is assured is the fact that taking up yoga classes would be beneficial for an individual in the long run. Once, you are acquainted with the various techniques you can practise it independently.

Other reasons to take up yoga

Another major reason that can be added to the list of benefits of taking up yoga is the fact that it helps improve blood flow. These relaxation exercises would help circulation in the feet and the hands as well. As a result of this, more oxygen would be carried to the cells that would help the body function in a better manner. In addition to that postures that involve twisting help oxygenated blood flow to the internal organs. Also, postures like the handstand, shoulderstand or headstand, help blood flow to the pelvis region and the legs and then back to the heart.

Therefore, it would be safe to say that yoga isn't just a form of exercise or a recreational activity. Rather, it helps in the overall functionality of the body at the same time it keeps a person healthy and hearty. Apart from been a stress buster, this activity helps one in more ways than one, due to which people should consider taking this up.

Find the best yoga classes in your city and enroll for a healthy living.

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Nutrition, Yoga and Ahimsa

Good nutrition is essential to any type of physical endeavour and this includes yoga asana practice. But in yoga the idea of nutrition is extended as yoga practice includes meditation and so we need a well balanced diet that is not only conducive to physical health but to mental health too.
The diet that we aspire to as yogis or yoga practitioners is known as the sattvic diet and is talked about a lot in the ancient Indian scripture known as the Bhagavad Gita. The sattvic diet can be interpreted as a pure diet.

An essential teaching in yoga philosophy is that of ahimsa or non-violence. The teachings of ahimsa relate to the fact that our thoughts and our actions create our karmas - so that if we think and act in a mindful, calm and non-violent way we create such a karma around us and influence the world around us in a good way. In accordance with this a vegetarian diet (as well as providing us with plenty of vitamins and minerals) fills us with a sense of being in harmony with nature and acting and living out a peaceful lifestyle.

One question a lot of meat eaters ask is 'how can a vegetarian obtain protein in their diet?' It is a valid question as most sources of meat protein contain a complete chain of amino acids to make up a complete human protein. Protein is important for yogis as during asana practice muscles are strengthened and protein in needed to help those muscles grow. Also the ancient yogis really valued protein as they used asana practice to strengthen their back and core muscles in order to help them sit for hours in meditation. The trick is that by mixing at least two natural vegetarian protein sources such as beans, eggs, tofu, organic soya chunks, lentils, nuts, seeds, brown rice or quinoa, we get all the amino acids required for a full protein chain required by humans.

Note that the recipes do not have to be boring. An example of a high protein vegetarian recipe is brown rice paella with vegetables and nuts. The brown rice acts a protein source as do the nuts. Another combination is lentils with brown rice.

The yogic diet is known as a sattvic diet and includes plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. These are needed to provide the body with vitamins and minerals. Certain vitamins such as vitamins B and C are known as water soluble vitamins. They cannot be stored in the body and are eliminated every time you pass water. Hence they are needed every 2-3 hours and so a regular intake of fresh fruit and vegetables is important for a healthy diet and a sattvic diet. Other vitamins such as vitamin E (found in almonds, tomatoes, avocados and sunflower seeds) are known as fat soluble vitamins and remain in the body for longer.

Sattvic food should ideally not be fried but should be boiled or dry-fried (where no oil is used) - frying, especially deep-frying tends to put pro-oxidants into the body which are linked with cancer and heart disease. Examples of using boiling would be to boil vegetables and then add your favourite Chinese sauce to the liquid. Also you can dry-fry Chinese vegetables and then add your favourite sauce once they are cooked. Ideally steaming vegetables is better than boiling as this way less vitamins are denatured by the heat and more nutrients remain in the vegetables.

Another important aspect of a yogic and healthy diet is to have wholemeal foods such as spelt which can be found in breads and even pastas. Wholemeal foods tend to have low glycaemic indices. This means that they send less of a 'sugar rush' to the body and to the brain, so lessening the risk of diabetes. Also high glycaemic index foods such as white/refined sugar are addictive and the brown/wholemeal foods are not. Hence in terms of sugars, white sugar is addictive to the body and encourages diabetes and heart disease. Using low glycaemic sugars such as molasses, muscovado, organic agave syrup and stevia decrease these risks.

Both science and the ancient scriptures tell us that a balanced, healthy yogic diet leads to health, happiness and calmness of the mind.

Namit Kathoria has a Bachelors Degree from King's College London in Pharmacy and a Masters Degree in Clinical Pharmacy from Queen's University Belfast. He is also a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and has worked the Pharmacist Advisor to NHS Direct. He hence has a vast knowledge of health and nutrition and has studied and practiced nutrition as part of his work. He has studied yoga across the world including various parts of his native India including Dharamshala, Rishikesh and Mysore. He currently runs yoga retreats in Spain at Yoga Sutra Shala in Sayalonga. To read more please visit http://www.retreats-yoga.com

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The Seventh Chakra of Yoga

The philosophy of yoga believes that there are several energy points within the body - each one known as a chakra.
Each chakra has its own physical representation as well as sound that we can meditate upon in order to bring the energy of that chakra into balance.
Certain postures too, help to energize or bring the chakra into balance.
Headstand or shirshasana is an inverted posture that helps to bring energy into sahasrara or the seventh chakra.
Sahasrara is located at the top of the head. The word sahasrara literally means a thousand and this chakra is literally represented by a thousand petalled lotus flower in white. The colour white here represents the sense of peace that one feels once one is meditating on this point.
The sound of this chakra is 'om' and various ancient yogic traditions such as kriya yoga meditate on the sound om or even chant it in order to bring the seventh chakra into balance and to bring the yogi (the practitioner of yoga) to a point of peace.
The philosophy of yoga teaches that the mind is often clouded so that it can only see the world from its own perspective. However, in the awareness of sahasrara the practitioner or yogi sees the world from the perspective of truth.
Many traditions of hatha yoga teach that in headstand one is seeing the world from a different perspective and hence opening up the mind.
Your seventh chakra is your highest chakra - it is in the awareness of this chakra that you are connected to the spiritual world - to everyone and everything around you. Here you experience yoga or union as physical barriers and visions of the world breakdown and you only experience the connection between everything. It is in the awareness of the seventh chakra that you bring yourself closer to the divine - physically, mentally and spiritually.
The obstacle to developing an awareness of the seventh chakra is clearly the feeling of being disconnected.
On a physical level you are bringing the pituitary gland into balance by working on sahasrara. The pituitary gland is at the bottom of the brain. It secretes nine hormones and regulates homeostasis or equilibrium in the body. We can hence see that it is important to work on keeping sahasrara chakra in balance as maintains hormonal balance within the body.
The theories of yoga talk about certain energy lines or channels within the body called nadis (from the sanskrit root 'nad' which means flow or motion). The nadis number 72,000 in total. The most important is called sushumna nadi (sushumna means most gracious) and runs vertically to the spinal cord and slightly in front of it. The sushumna nadi originates at the base chakra (mooladhara chakra) and its upper limit is sahasrara, the seventh chakra. So the culmination of our spiritual energy as we practice yoga and raise our energy is at sahasrara - our seventh chakra.

Namit Kathoria has a Bachelors Degree from King's College London in Pharmacy and a Masters Degree in Clinical Pharmacy from Queen's University Belfast. He is also a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and has worked the Pharmacist Advisor to NHS Direct. He hence has a vast knowledge of health which he applies to his yoga teaching. He has studied yoga across the world including various parts of his native India including Dharamshala, Rishikesh and Mysore. He currently teaches yoga retreats in Spain at Yoga Sutra Shala in Sayalonga. To read more please visit http://www.retreats-yoga.com

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