If you go out looking at options for a yoga class, you will find Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Iyengar, to name a few. Here’s a brief description of each one to help you decide what’s best for you…
Hatha – Hatha is the basis and foundation for yoga practice. All traditional practices flow from the hatha practice. Hatha philosophy revolves around the balancing of Ha and Tha (Ida and Pingala) nadis. In other words, the Yin and Yang or the sun and moon aspect of a human body. Creating a balance in the flow of energy through these channels sets up an environment of good health in the body. The emphasis in a hatha class is on holding a posture.
Vinyasa – Vinyasa is a flow kind of class, where a practitioner transits from one asana to the other without holding the asana for a long time.
Iyengar – An Iyengar class focuses on getting the alignment right and holding the posture for a longer time.
Ashtanga – This class is usually predefined by the sequence. In an Ashtanga class you move from one asana to another in a predefined way.
While books and schools could be a good guide to define yoursession, we recommend a sequence that follows the principle of heating the body upto its peak energy and then cooling it down.
- Start with centring and joint loosening
- Warm the body with sun-salutations (surya namaskar)
- Stretch the already warmed up body
- Core strengthening sequence
- Balancing sequence
- Backward bends- by this time, maximum heat has been created in the body, and so the cooling down phase starts
- Cooling down with inversions and forward bends
- Closing the session with savasana
This sequence, when properly executed, will leave the practitioner with a deep sense of relaxation and heightened awareness. The energy level at the end of the session is expected to be higher than what you start with.
We will elaborate on the specific asanas in a recommended sequence in other posts.
