There are so many different styles of yoga, but which one to follow or to start? here are few styles of yoga explained below on how to start your journey of yoga
1.Hatha Yoga
Is a traditional style of yoga with 12 step Sun-salutations and static holding of Postures for minimum of 30 seconds but can vary with students can be 20 seconds as well, great for understanding the alignments of the postures and to build a strong foundation to work on flexibility and strength, its slow pace is best suited for beginners, it prepares us well for the other aspects of yoga which is pranayama and meditation. Most classes last for 60 min to 75 min if you are looking to start your yoga practice this is the best style to go with
2.Vinyasa Flow/Power Yoga
Vinyasa flow is popular style of yoga which involves linking of different postures in a sequence one after the other which helps in building heat to increase strength and mobility. Each sequence can have minimum of 3 postures. This style of yoga can be very challenging for a beginner. It comes with lot of variations with postures which can be fun to practice and sweat it out. What makes this style popular is every teacher sequences the postures differently and the sequences are changed with every class to make the practice lively and to work on different group of muscles, Its a a best style to loose weight. But to practice this we suggest to practice Hatha yoga for few weeks
3. Iyengar Yoga
Iyengar yoga was founded by the teacher B.K.S Iyengar, great to understand the alignments of the postures this style uses props like steel chair, Blocks, straps, Bolster etc as this helps even the in-flexible person to get into the postures. It’s great for theraphy as they have specific set of sequences to work for different needs. Used to be a popular style during 90’s and 20’s.
4. Yin Yoga
Yin Yoga is a slow paced meditative experience where the postures are held for minimum of 3 to 5 min mostly seated postures and practiced with eyes closed. It stretches the deep connective tissues and fascia throughout the body which helps in increasing circulation in the joints. Its not a restorative yoga and its not suitable for beginners its a passive style of yoga which needs some yoga practice before practicing yin.
5. Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is a style of yoga created by K. Pattabhi Jois. Its a set of series with postures arranged to practice one after the other. Usually practiced under the guidance of certified Ashtanga Yoga teacher, its not a guided practice like other styles of yoga and it has a set sequence which means till you master the series and the postures you end up doing the same series and same postures. It’s not a suitable style for a beginner as its very vigorous and demanding practice which includes specific number of breaths to specific number of movements to match which takes a lot of effort to master. This style comes with its own style of sun-salutations which involves jump/float with movemnts and uses the victorious breath ujjaii