By Exercise and Yoga are not the same things. Yoga is one of the most common forms of physical practice with thousands of followers from all over the world. Yoga involves slow movements, and it focuses on the mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing of an individual. On the contrary, exercise involves forceful and rapid movements, and it is mainly done for toning muscles and shedding weight. But Yoga is completely based on Ayurvedic philosophy. Yoga helps in relieving stress and aids in rejuvenation. You can choose from different yoga disciplines.
But before that, it’s important to understand your purpose of doing yoga. What benefits do you want- improve health, lose weight, gain stamina or relieve pain? Once you figure out your intention, it’ll become easy for you to make the right choice. In this context, it’s essential to note that there is no right or wrong yoga. There might be some yoga which may not be suitable for you to try out at present. But that doesn’t mean you can never do them in the future.
5 Types of Yoga
Here are five types of yoga that you should indulge in to have a healthy body and mind.
- Hatha Yoga– It is an all-inclusive term that includes a set of physical postures or ‘asanas’ that has been curated for striking a balance between your bones, skins and muscles. The practice involves a lot of meditation, breathing and postures to develop a balance of flexibility and strength.
- Kundalini Yoga– This is one of the mystifying practices of yoga, which enhances both your physical and spiritual wellbeing. This is not an easy practice and demands a lot of dedication, meditation, mudras, chanting and breathing workouts. The main purpose of this practice is to relive the Kundalini energy from the lower spine. Note that this can be done at an advanced level only.
- Ashtanga Yoga– This yoga practice is not meant for beginners or those who are overweight. This is because Ashtanga postures are physically demanding, and you need to have a highly flexible body for performing this. It involves a number of ‘Surya Namaskar’ followed by sitting and standing postures. This yoga practice is also known as the ‘eight limb path’. Initially, you’ll have to start with the primary postures, and then you can try out the hard levels.
- Vinyasa Yoga– This yoga is considered highly physically demanding because the postures are athletic, and each of the movements is connected with a breathing exercise. This yoga is great for those who want to tone their bodies. In this yoga, you have to change from one posture to the other without holding one pose for too long. Its effects are similar to cardio workouts.
- Bikram Yoga– This yoga has two breathing exercises and 26 basic postures and needs to be done in a room where the temperature will be 40 degrees Celsius and humidity will be set to 40%. On one hand, you’ll be sweating because of the higher temperature to eliminate toxins, and on the other hand, the 26 postures will help in infusing oxygenated blood to your internal organs.
Conclusion
Some of the other types of yoga include- Kripalu Yoga, Jivamukti Yoga, Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Anusara Yoga, and restorative Yoga.
