Yoga is a kind of sport in which, like others like Crossfit, is fashionable. There are many people of all ages I have already started to look at it with some interest. The reasons are different in each person. Some think it is a physical activity only and others think that great discipline can be integrated into this type of exercise.
Let’s explain what are the different types of yoga and what benefits it gives us to health.
What is yoga
When we talk about yoga we don’t mention just a simple physical exercise. This type of exercise generates various benefits much broader than people may think. It helps to care for and strengthen the body and mind. By having strength in your mind you can improve your spirit by practicing asanas, breathing, and meditation. These elements come into common in the practice of yoga. Therefore, people who practice yoga regularly have a much healthier mental state.
Given the stress of life and the fast rhythms we have, stopping to meditate and breathe quietly can be very beneficial for mental health. Besides that we can improve our mental health we will be providing various physical benefits. The goal of yoga is to learn to express yourself both with the body and with the mind in an emotional and spiritual way through certain postures. There are different yoga classes depending on ages and interests.
Benefits of yoga
Let’s list one by one what are the benefits of yoga:
- Improves flexibility. This is the best known benefit to everyone. When performing various positions known as asanas, flexibility is key to be able to perform them correctly. With these postures you can stretch all the muscles of the body becoming more and more elastic.
- Improve our posture. They give better posture for our daily and help us prevent bad habits. So much so that yoga has become an effective treatment for chronic back pain caused by bad postures in those people who are sitting for a long time
- Increases concentration. If we are continually meditating while using relaxing postures we can increase mental clarity. This is key to concentrating.
- Improvement in weight loss. Although it is not really linked to weight loss it helps us to be more aware of our body and to keep a diet according to exercise. It is not that performing yoga will help you lose weight alone, but together with a proper diet you can be more aware of the importance of being healthy. Some of the postures improve intestinal transit in those people who have problems.
- Improve rest. There are yoga postures that are practiced correctly can help us sleep better. In addition, we can eliminate the concerns of our daily by meditating clearly.
- Increase inner peace. Many people are expressed and seek inner peace practicing yoga. This exercise helps to improve emotional control allowing to achieve a good state and harmony.
- Improves breathing. One of the key aspects to perform the poses well in yoga is breathing. To breathe correctly we make there is a better transport of oxygen blood.
- Eliminate stress. Before going to bed practicing a few minutes of yoga can help us eliminate all the tension accumulated during the day.
- Improves sex life. Although not directly related there are various studies that have shown that it can improve the desire for sexual satisfaction both women and men. This is because there is an increased flow of blood in the genital areas.
Types of yoga
Let’s list the different types of yoga and their main features:
- Hatha yoga – this is the most practiced. It has numerous postures and includes a wide range of methods of purification, mantra and meditation. It works with the balance between the body and the mind through postures. It is not very physically demanding but is perfect for everyone to start it.
- Ashtanga Vinyasa: also known by the name yoga of the warriors. It is highly recommended for those people who want to develop a good physical condition as it provides strengthens flexibility. This effect or for those who also want to relax and look for an intense and deeply purifying practice. In this type of yoga breathing is key in all postures. It is perfect for teens and young people or generally for all restless minded people.
- Kundalini: it’s about the yoga of consciousness. This practice includes some energetic research postures mixed with mantra songs and meditation. Meditations last about eleven minutes and are key to connecting with spirit and devotion. It is also a philosophy of life that leads many people and includes teaching about health, nutrition, psychology and the vision of the human being in relation to the universe and so on.
- Bikram yoga: is a variant of traditional yoga that includes a series of 26 postures that are performed over 90 minutes. This yoga should be performed in a room with high temperatures (around 42 degrees) to warm up the muscles and achieve greater flexibility. In this way we can detoxify the body through sweat. This type of yoga is indicated for those people who have a good physical condition and seek to improve their flexibility.
- Acroyoga: this practice brings together acrobatics, dance and in some cases Thai massages. It can work with contact or ground and allows arms and legs to have maximum stability and support. His practice is quite extreme.
- Iyengar yoga: in this case, we focus on the correct alignment of the body in postures. This is because this posture should be maintained over time. It is a variant for those who want to correctly perform the postures before advancing to other more demanding yoga variants. It is ideal for those who have neck and/or back problems.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about the different types of yoga.
