Hi! Matthew Lawrence here! A 26-year-old architect and gamer by heart. I hope you like this new website. I'll be writing mostly about exercising, fitness, and of course, games. I usually update every 2 days during the weekdays so stay tuned!
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5 Styles of Hatha Yoga
Posted under Health and Fitness by matt639When someone mentions yoga, an image of the character Dhalsim from Street Fighter almost always comes to mind. The character was also the reason why I became interested in the Indian practice. Anyway, Yoga is a spiritual practice that has been in existence for more than 3000 years in India. The word comes from the Sanskrit word yuj which means “to control” or “to yoke”. A common definition today would be “to bring together in mind and spirit”. Although yoga includes exercise as a part of the practice, it is just a part of it. The main goal of yoga is the discipline of the mind and body, enhancing strength and endurance, and connecting it with the spirit.
When one mentions yoga, they are most probably referring to “Hatha Yoga”, which is the physical part of Yoga. It was introduced by a 15th century sage, Yogi Swatmarama, who says that hatha yoga “is the stairway to the heights of raja yoga”, which is the mind component of yoga. Here are six of the many styles of hatha yoga:
Ashtanga Yoga - Ashtanga yoga helps build flexibility, muscular strength and endurance, as well as concentration. It is fast-paced and the practitioner moves between sets of predetermined poses without staying in a particular pose for more than five breaths. The steps were designed with young, flexible bodies in mind as some include jumps and push-ups.
Power Yoga - I’m still having doubts whether this particular type is really ashtanga yoga itself or just similar. Anyway, this type of yoga is the one that is most popular in the United States. Similar to asthanga yoga, power yoga involves moving through a set of poses thus improving strength, endurance, and flexibility.
Gentle Yoga - Unlike the previous two types, gentle yoga focuses more on flexibility and breathing and less on strength and endurance. This type is meant to attract people of all ages (not just the younger ones) so the steps involve a lot of stretching and poses. Gentle yoga helps in reducing stress and a bit of weight reduction.
Kundalini Yoga - Kundalini means “spiritual power” so by that word, you have guessed that this type would involve meditation. Kundalini yoga like the other types involve body postures and deep breathing, then throws chanting and meditation in the mix. The practice focuses on “chakras” (”wheels” or “circles” in Sanskrit, could be referring to the centers of energy in the body) to generate spiritual power.
Bikram Yoga - Also called Hot Yoga is a style developed by Bikram Choudhury. The practice involves being in a room heated to around 40.5 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit) and lasts for around 90 minutes. It involves 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises.
As you may have noticed, yoga involves a lot of postures and doesn’t involve weights training for strength and endurance. In case you are thinking of training both (strength, endurance) you might want to check yoga out. Though honestly, I don’t think it would develop your muscles as well as weights training (if you’re thinking of bodybuilding).
I started playing the Wii Fit and it has Yoga but nothing to this extreme! I would break myself doing even half the stretch these people are doing!
I would like to get into Yoga a little more and more! It’s a lot harder than I could ever had imagined!
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