Mind, Body and Soul – Approaching Yoga

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As research keeps coming in with respect to yoga, there are numerous health benefits that are coming to light. Yoga is actually an old eastern philosophy that is quickly becoming a new fitness trend for work out fanatics. Today yoga devotees actually range from Hollywood celebrities to business executives who work up to eighty hours a week.

Famous athletes openly declare that they have started adding yoga sessions to their work out regime. Giving credit to yoga only for its physical benefits would be an understatement, as yoga helps the entire system and contributes towards a healthy lifestyle. “Americans are usually drawn to yoga as a way to keep fit at first, but the idea behind the physical practice of yoga is to encourage a deeper mind-body awareness,” explains New York’s yoga teacher and author Beryl Bender Birch. “Healing and balancing your physical body helps bring clarity and focus to the mind as well. “Originally yoga was practiced to experience spiritual enlightenment, even the Sanskrit word for yoga which is “yok” can be interpreted towards a union which signifies the union of the mind, body and soul. There are numerous classes of Yoga that have attained stardom though the most prevalent type is Hatha yoga which is more of a physical discipline focused around controlled breathing and asanas which means postures. So before you set out on your own personal yoga quest, it is helpful to first align your own personal goals with the type of yoga you choose to practice. The question that most people decide between is working towards a lean figure or meditating to be at peace. “Not all practices fit into nice little cubby holes,” warns Bender Birch. “There’s a great deal of crossover among the various yoga schools, and there’s even diversity in teaching approaches within each discipline.”

The best advice would be to try out every class of yoga at least once before you decide on a specific type of yoga to carry on with. Below are the names of the different disciplines of Hatha yoga that are commonly practiced:

  1. Vigorous Vinyasas
  2. Ashtanga
  3. Power Yoga
  4. Jivamukti
  5. Kali Ray TriYoga
  6. White Lotus
  7. Iyengar
  8. Healing
  9. Viniyoga
  10. Svaroopa
  11. Bikram
  12. Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy
  13. Sivananda
  14. Integral
  15. Ananda
  16. Kundalini           
  17. ISHTA
  18. Kripalu
  19. Anusara
  20. Tibetan
  21. Hatha

You see there are so many types of Yoga, we can’t point out the one that stands out, it’s different in every way and each type focuses on something different but the analogy is the same. There aren’t many exercises we could think of apart from Yoga that create such an intimate connection with respect to your mind, body and soul. Credit where it’s due, you can’t ignore the benefits of walking and running, but Yoga is something that changes you from within, creates harmony and helps understand different sensations within your body and mind. You can use it anyway you want but we suggest you start from the basics, go to a trained professional and ask what’s best for you and when you get the hang of it, try different poses. Keep things new and fresh to establish a better connection between you and your mind. 

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