With its rising popularity, yoga is gaining new followers. A great number of individuals partake in yoga in order to enhance their cardiovascular health and also to boost their overall well-being.
Individuals who are eager to pursue fitness may not find yoga to be enough of an exercise. It largely relies on the sort of yoga being performed. Yoga can be an excellent way of exercise for people who already have a high level of fitness, as well as providing balance for those who practice more strenuous sports or activities.
Various yoga practices can be useful for those working to increase their fitness levels, as they enhance endurance, strength, and body consciousness. Different types of yoga might be used to reduce stress levels and bring about a tranquil feeling. This is just a glimpse of what yoga can do to improve your overall health.
The 3 Main Types of Yoga
There are uncountable yoga styles these days. These distinctive yoga forms can be compared to any of the three fundamental types of yoga.
We differentiate among the three major types of yoga largely according to how active each style is. Therefore, their impact on our involuntary nervous system (INS) is evident.
The autonomic nervous system oversees the involuntary systems of the body such as blood circulation, digestion, hormonal equilibrium, and immune response. It consists of two sub-systems:
The sympathetic nervous system readies the body for tackling a task or situation that requires quick, intense action (the “fight-or-flight” response).
The parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is responsible for fostering regular activities that help the body to grow and heal (or “rest-and-regenerate”).
Most forms of Yoga can activate either the “rest-and-renewal” mechanism (parasympathetic nervous system) or the “fight-or-fright” reaction (sympathetic nervous system). Some styles of yoga activate both areas of our involuntary nervous system.
We should investigate these three kinds of yoga closely, examining their impacts.
Hatha Yoga
Hatha Yoga is the earliest style of the three and is thought to be the basis of all modern yoga varieties. Cleansing and regulation of the physical body is customary. Through these techniques, you start to gain mastery over your thoughts.
Swami Svatmarama, a 15th-century AD figure, put a lot of emphasis on the asana practice for improved bodily health in his work, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Swami Svatmarama mentions the way that we can regulate the solar energy (yang) and the lunar energy (yin) inside the form in Hatha Yoga, to effect a balancing act that will promote enhanced wellness and spiritual growth.
Rebalances Our Autonomic Nervous System
Our nervous system has to have both an activated and a relaxed state in order to function correctly; the “fight-or-flight” (sympathetic nervous system) provides the stimulation while the “rest-and-regenerate” (parasympathetic nervous system) restores balance.
A great deal of people have an imbalanced nervous system in our present day. Many of us remain in an ongoing state of agitation due to the use of SNS, whereas other individuals get caught in a dull, dispirited state as a result of PNS.
During Hatha Yoga, one goes through a routine of postures and exercises that rouse the nervous system and then manage to decelerate it again, providing an in-depth exercise.
We help our bodies learn to swap from an energetic state to a more passive one by fluctuating between difficult positions and restful positions such as Savasana (the Corpse Pose). This leads to an increased sense of equilibrium and concord within one's self and an upgrade in total wellness.
Hatha Yoga provides a diverse practice of postures, including Sun Salutations, strength-building exercises, inversions, and arm balances. Though there are regular breaks to relax, these aspects make the practice challenging in order to build greater stamina and strength.
Vinyasa Yoga
The activities of today can be traced back to Sri Krishnamacharya, who is renowned as the source of all teachers. His teaching style was noteworthy for its energy and enthusiasm. He was the teacher of K. Pattabhi Jois rose to celebrity status in the mid-1970s due to his Ashtanga Vinyasa Series.
The Ashtanga Primary Series was a model for many Vinyasa and Power Yoga classes to build upon. The Ashtanga Primary Series is highly structured and its order of poses established, while Vinyasa Flow offers more flexibility in the order and type of poses being utilized.
A main goal of Vinyasa Yoga is to move gracefully from one posture to the next with seamless transitions.
Improves Stamina by Providing a Cardiovascular Workout
Generally, during Vinyasa Flow training, we are in an alert state under the influence of the sympathetic nervous system.
As we exercise, our body works harder and causes our breathing and pulse to speed up, which helps us to build up our endurance and our heart's health. During Vinyasa, we tend to keep our heart rate and breathing at a consistent moderate level.
We are unlikely to pause for long, as our heart rate and respiration remain higher than when we're at rest for much of the time. Periods of rest may be brief, but usually we stay on the move.
Repeatedly doing Vinyasa-style yoga can enhance your ability to endure extended physical and psychological exertions. This comes down to increasing your fitness level.
Vinyasa Yoga can help one slim down by improving the muscle tone, which then has the effect of boosting the metabolism, facilitating fat burning and hence weight loss.
Yin Yoga
Paulie Zink developed Yin Yoga in the 1980s, an innovative form of yoga. This style concentrates on the passive, feminine energy of Taoism. This type of style focuses on creating soothing, comforting postures that are maintained for a longer period of time (between three to five minutes usually).
The aim is to delicately stretch the connective tissues in the specific regions. Unlike Restorative Yoga, Yin Yoga is not necessarily easy.
Increases Flexibility by Releasing Fascia
Deep fascia consists of dense fibrous connective tissue. Everything that makes up the body is enclosed within it: muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, bones, nerves and blood vessels. The organs within their cavities are also held up by a type of connective tissue known as visceral fascia, which covers them in various layers.
Yin Yoga aids in stimulating and liberating the fasciae, granting us the blessing of a curative result generally known as myofascial discharge. Old tensions that had built up over a period of time are relieved, scarred tissues are eased and taken away, and muscles relearn how to be at ease in their normal state.
Better posture is a result of this, which leads to a decreased risk of reoccurring pain and improved flexibility in joints.
When we practice Yin Yoga, our breath rate decreases and our concentration increases as we remain in the poses for an extended period of time. This calms our minds. We activate the parasympathetic nervous system, giving our body and mind a chance to relax, refresh and recuperate.
Other Types of Yoga
Kundalini Yoga
Yogi Bhajan, an educator and religious head, brought this type of yoga to the Western world during the latter half of the 1960s. The word “Kundalini” in Sanskrit is equivalent to the phrase “life force energy” (which is often referred to as prana or chi within the yoga world). This energy is said to be enclosed at the lower back. These yoga sequences are structured with the intent to trigger and release energy, while decreasing pressure and pessimistic thought processes. Veronica Parker, an E-RYT 200 and certified kundalini yoga teacher, mentions that you can enhance your awareness and feel incredible.
This is achieved through engaging both the mental and physical components by means of vocalizing, reflection, contemplation, and particular postures mixed with breath control and vocalization. It may be observed that everyone is dressed in white, as this hue is thought to ward off malevolence and enhance one's aura. Generally, a kundalini class proceeds beginning with a chant (a core theme of the class), accompanied by deep breathing drills, warm-ups to get the body in motion, gradually progressive postures and a final period of tranquility and contemplation, according to Parker.
Who May Enjoy It: People who are looking for a physical practice while also finding a connection to their spirituality, and those who appreciate singing or chanting.
Ashtanga Yoga
Ashtanga yoga is composed of six distinct sets of postures performed in succession. A student is granted a posture or set of postures when their coach deems they have adequately conquered the earlier one. This is an invigorating form of yoga with religious undertones, which may be familiar to some people since Madonna was involved in it during the late 1990s. The training style of Ashtanga teachers includes offering physical support, and in learning spaces that are based on the city of Mysore (where the originator of the practice, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, inhabited and taught), every single student has their own individual practice.
Lara Land, a level two certified Ashtanga yoga teacher, states that the practitioneer should go at the rate of their breathing as they reach their point of progression. Everyone learns the routine and progresses through the postures according to their own speed.
Ashtanga vinyasa yoga is offered in the West as “led” sessions. These classes usually take between one and a half to two hours and involve instruction in the first or second series from beginning to end. There is no music played in ashtanga classes.
This type of practice could be appealing to those who enjoy participating in a structured activity that has physical and spiritual components.
Iyengar Yoga
Named for its founder, B.K.S. Iyengar, who developed his classical, alignment-based practice in India. This form of yoga caught on in America during the 70s. Instructors of Iyengar yoga have to meet stringent standards and make creative use of items such as ropes, blocks, and pillows to aid in postures. In Iyengar classes, props such as chairs, walls, benches, straps, blocks, and bolsters are recommended, even if not a must in other practices.
Paul Keoni Chun, an E-RYT 200, appreciates this more sedentary type of yoga for elderly people as it “concentrates on accurate locating and longer periods of maneuvers.” Typically, Iyengar yoga is less demanding than other forms of yoga, although this can change depending on the instructor or session. All age groups and capabilities are usually fitting for this.
Who Would Enjoy It: Those who prefer step-by-step guidance, people with physical restrictions, or individuals looking for a traditional version of yoga.
Bikram Yoga
Bikram Choudhury developed Bikram yoga. It is a form of hot yoga. In a similar way to ashtanga classes, these classes involve performing a pre-defined assortment of poses in a fixed order, and there are stringent regulations to be observed. Classes last for 90 minutes, incorporating 26 poses and two breathing exercises, which must be done in an environment with a temperature of 105° Fahrenheit and a relative humidity of 40 percent. Additionally, instructors do not adjust students.
Rather than sticking to all the restrictions of Bikram yoga, many yoga studios have instead referred to their classes as “hot yoga” to allow them to tailor their practices. Advocates of hot yoga praise the incredible perspiration it causes and the extra suppleness they receive from it.
According to Natalie Sleik, an instructor of hot power yoga and a RYT 200, engaging in yoga while in a heated setting gives students the opportunity to excel in their poses more easily, and helps them to detoxify and improve the circulation in their bodies.
This type of exercise would be suitable for people who enjoy intense exercise, those who are looking for more of a strenuous workout, or anybody who prefers an established workout regimen.
Power Yoga
Power yoga is based on the same principles as vinyasa yoga, but gives instructors more freedom to create their own style. It is a derivative of ashtanga yoga, but is not as strictly regulated. Chun points out that power yoga moves faster than other forms of yoga and is more vigorous.
Ms. Sleik remarks that practicing power yoga not only strengthens the muscles but also boosts ones suppleness. The mix-up of exercises keeps the mind occupied while you train all the muscles in the body.
Power yoga does not necessarily have to be hot yoga, as some gyms or studios provide a mixture of both fast-paced and gentle-paced yoga classes to help newcomers adjust to this intense exercise. People who are into power yoga should give Buti yoga a try as it grants them with a similar level of physicality plus tribal dance, basic body movements, and a lot of core exercises.
Suitable for: Individuals who want a more relaxed approach to Ashtanga style yoga, those looking for an intense workout, and people who are not seeking a spiritual atmosphere.
Sivananda Yoga
This type of hatha yoga is based on the philosophies of Swami Sivananda, a Hindu spiritual leader. Classes generally have a calming atmosphere: the Sivananda tradition starts off the session with savasana, the corpse pose, before progressing to pranayama (breathing exercises), surya namaskaras (sun salutations), and eventually twelve fundamental asanas.
Kearney states that Sivananda yoga is great for anyone searching for a spiritual or energetically satisfying exercise, whereas Saunders believes this practice is perfect for those new to it, as it can help them to upgrade their practice. Created to maintain wellbeing, Sivananda yoga is suitable for everyone regardless of their skill level or age.
Potential Benefits: People who may be drawn to this type of yoga would likely appreciate its quieter, more meditative style and its emphasis on reflection. Furthermore, its spiritual aspects may promote personal growth and contentment.
