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What is Yoga? What are the types of Yoga?

We hope that you have had a chance to visit Yoga Garden SF and use your free coupon by now. We have attached a short article about Yoga that you may find useful.

What is Yoga and What are the types of Yoga?

Yoga first gained popularity in the West during the 1960s, and is now mainstream. About 30 million Americans practice yoga regularly.

What is Yoga?

Yoga is an ancient philosophical system that combines spiritual traditions with physical movements and postures. It originated in India more than 3,000 years ago. Yoga is not a religion, but yoga can help deepen your spiritual understanding and practice, whatever it may be. Yoga consists of physical exercises, stretching, breathing, and meditation, as well as practices of self-discipline and moral behavior.

“Yoga” is a Sanskrit word which means “yoke” or unification of the body, mind and spirit. There are many styles of yoga, and most incorporate a series of body positions, or postures, known as “asanas.”
Along with yoga’s tangible physical benefits, such as improved strength and flexibility, the emotional and psychological benefits of the yoga practice may be even greater, thus explaining its continued growing popularity.

Types of Yoga

A variety of yoga styles, or branches and schools have recently developed. Each type of yoga emphasizes a different aspect of the mind/body relationship, such as spiritual knowledge, selflessness, strength, love or devotion. The most well known branch of yoga in the United States is Hatha yoga, which aims to liberate the mind and spirit through physical transformation. Hatha yoga consists of a series of postures and breathing exercises that emphasize concentration, endurance, flexibility and stretching.

Forms of Hatha yoga include:
Iyengar yoga utilizes props (benches, ropes, sandbags, mats, blocks, chairs) to help practitioners achieve and understand the essence of the yoga postures. This style of learning and practicing has the greatest variety of ways to practice hatha yoga — it can be fast, without props, or held for long periods of time, or anything in between.

Kundalini yoga incorporates mantras (chanting), meditations, visualizations and guided relaxation. Kundalini posture focuses on healing and purifying the mind, body and emotions.

Astanga Vinyasa is a flowing form of yoga where each pose is held briefly and then flows to another pose. This method of practice was created by Patabhi Jois.

Viniyoga is a gentler, slower, more individualized form of yoga. Its focus on strength, balance and healing make it appropriate for beginners and seniors, people with chronic pain or who are in rehabilitation from injury or disease. This is the style taught by T.D.K. Desikachar.

Bikram yoga is a short sequence of simple poses practiced in a heated room in a fixed sequence.

Finding a qualified yoga instructor

Because yoga is not just exercise, it warrants a special relationship between the teacher and student. Yoga instruction teaches challenging physical postures, sophisticated breath control, behavior and philosophy.

Before enrolling in a class, learn what type of training the instructor has. Currently, there is no national certification program for yoga instructors. The most restrictive certification standards are maintained by the Iyengar National Association of the U.S. (http://www.IYANUS.org), which requires teachers to pass multiple tests under peer review over several years. Yoga Alliance is a voluntary board that registers teachers with 200 or 500 hours of study time, but it does not test teacher’s competence.

In another article, we will talk about yoga words, yoga props and the benefits of practicing yoga.

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