Yoga has been around for a long time. Originally, it was a spiritual practice but more recently has become an activity for those wanting to increase their physical and mental well-being.
Almost all the of the different types of yoga have similar elements: postures, breathing and meditation. You should try different styles and determine which works best for you.
What are the health benefits of yoga?
- Relieve stress
- Relieve lower back pain and neck pain
- Improve mobility, flexibility, balance
- Improves sleep
- Manage depression and anxiety
- Manage pain and symptoms from chronic diseases
- Power Yoga: Challenging sequence of poses created to increase energy and heat flow
- Ananda: Designed to harmonize your mind, soul, and body through a series of poses. May be best for beginning students since there is not a lot of aerobic output.
- Lyengar: The priority of this type of yoga is on proper alignment by using props. The poses in this class are held longer than in other types of yoga classes.
- Ashtanga: Fast paced series of challenging poses that increase in difficulty throughout the class.
- Bikram: Often referred to as hot yoga, is a sequence of 13 standing and 13 sitting traditional yoga poses. The temperature of the room in which you practice this type of yoga is about 100 degrees.
- Hatha: A good class for beginners, as it is slower paced and includes breathing/meditation exercises, flexibility, and strength.