There are a number of different kinds of yoga – some ancient, and some modern inventions which emphasize different aspect of yoga.

What Is Hatha Yoga?

Yoga means union; the union of mind, body and spirit. Hatha is the most traditional of the yogas and has been practiced for thousands of years in India and the Far East.

The name Hatha means willful or forceful. The word is also a combination of hat (sun) and ha (moon). It works with the energy centers of the body, flesh and bone. The main focus is on surrendering to and perfecting the many poses, and using yoga for health, healing and personal transformation.

Hatha yoga is part of traditional Ayurvedic, that is, Indian medicine. In traditional Eastern forms of medicine, doctors treat not just the physical body but the energy body, also called the subtle body. It is thought to be comprised of channels, loops, meridians and chakras – that is, energy centers in the body.

If a surgeon cut you open, they wouldn’t see the chakras, but Hatha posits that they are there and balance the energy for healing purposes and overall wellbeing. Chinese acupuncture and acupressure, Reiki, Shiatsu and other healing modalities also work on the theory of balance and stimulating the energy in the body.

Hatha Poses

Many modern types of yoga focus mainly on the poses, or asanas, the physical side of yoga. Hatha yoga aspires to create balance in all things. There are different levels of poses, and therefore different classes and DVDs you can try.

Improved Concentration

Hatha improves mental concentration through meditation, chanting mantras like OM, and to some extent, breath work. With breath work, you learn how to breathe in different patterns with different purposes, such as a cooling breath or a heating breath that increases energy.

At One with the Breath

The Sanskrit word for breath work is pranayama. Prana means life-force, ayama to regulate or lengthen. In other words, practicing pranayama can improve one’s health and vitality through the breath. The breath work is very useful for eliminating toxins from the body and improving the immune system.

A Union of Body, Mind and Spirit

Yoga is not just about the body beautiful. It is considered to be a way of connecting with our inner selves so we can open up to connecting with others. This can be achieved through meditation. Meditation can also include breath work and chanting.

The Benefits of Hatha

Hatha has been shown to offer increased energy, less stress, better moods and sleep, and decreased anxiety. It lowers blood pressure and can help you lose weight more easily by boosting your metabolism.

Who Can Practice It?

Hatha is ideal for people of all ages because it is low impact and you can work at a safe and sensible pace. Even those with health issues can benefit from Hatha yoga. When done carefully with the help of expert guidance, Hatha can help relieve back, joint and muscle pain. The pranayama can help with allergies, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, or COPD.

Meditation helps improve focus, concentration and memory, all ideal for seniors who want to maintain a busy, active lifestyle no matter what their age.

With all of these benefits, now might be the best time to check out your local yoga studios to see which of them offer Hatha. Try an introductory class and see what a difference Hatha yoga can make to your health.

Bikram yoga was founded in the 1970s by the yoga teacher Bikram Choudhury. It is also commonly referred to as hot yoga, though there are other types of yogas also being done in hot studios these days. Bikram is also referred to as “boot camp” because it drills students in every 90-minute lesson using the same two breathing exercises and 26 Hatha yoga postures done in the same pattern.

Hot Yoga

In the studio, temperatures range from 80F to 110F, with a relative humidity of around 75%. This is thought to mimic the conditions in India, the birthplace of Hatha yoga, the most ancient form of yoga which dates back to around 1500 BC.

The second theory behind the heat is that it relaxes and lengthens muscles to give a better workout. It is also said to promote weight loss and release toxins from the body. Those who favor Bikram also say it boosts the immune system.

However, doing vigorous yoga poses in such conditions can cause severe dehydration and pose a serious health risk for anyone who has any heart health issues. Therefore, while Bikram studios are popping up everywhere these days, is not recommended for seniors or anyone with an underlying health concern.

Physical Emphasis

Yoga means union – the union of mind, body and spirit. Bikram, on the other hand, is a modern invention that emphasizes physical strength. Yoga is supposed to be non-competitive, but the founder encourages yoga pose competitions to see who can come up with the perfect pose, in order to win various awards.

Bikram Pros and Cons

Bikram came from Bengal on the Indian subcontinent and brought his version of yoga to the US through Hawaii and California. It has gained in popularity due to the novelty of the hot studios and the ease of only having to learn 26 Hatha yoga postures out of the thousands available. These poses can give a good workout in themselves, with little need for a hot studio.

In addition to the health benefits mentioned above, the heat is also supposed to help increase willpower as people struggle to carry out their practice in such difficult conditions. Willpower or not, excessive sweating can cause electrolyte imbalances and result in heart rhythm issues.

If students don’t drink plenty of water before, during and after their workout, they can experience dehydration, which can also pose a serious health risk. Dehydration can lead to an irregular heartbeat and to lower blood volume. Low blood volume can in turn lead to hypovolemic shock, which can even lead to death if not treated promptly.

Bikram Asanas

If you like the postures of Bikram, you should be able to do them anywhere to improve your body without dying of heat prostration. You can find simple posters with each of the asanas listed that you can follow along with. There is no meditation component with Bikram as there is with other forms of yoga.

Is Bikram Right for You?

In addition to the hot studios and asana drilling, Bikram is often referred to as “cult-like” rather than warm and welcoming. The founder and the teachers on his teacher training program have also recently been accused of systematic sexual misconduct with their students.

Any exercise is better than none in most cases, of course, but there are a range of yogas to choose from. Pick a style that matches your age, fitness level and interests. Compare and choose the safest and healthiest for you, with a studio to match.

Yoga. We’ve all heard the word and seen the mats everyone seems to carry around with them these days. But can yoga really help improve your health and fitness levels? The answer is yes, definitely – provided that you start safely and sensibly and know what to expect.

Why Yoga?

Yoga can help you get fit quickly and safely because it uses the weight of your body to tone and trim. It is low impact, and good for people of all ages and body types who want to build their strength and stay fix and flexible.

You’re Never too Old for Yoga

Yoga is ideal even for seniors because it can improve range of motion, balance and stability. It also relieves stiffness. The long lean muscle built through yoga can protect bones and aging joints in order to keep you mobile and injury-free. Those muscles can also help boost your metabolism so you will burn more calories, which is ideal if you wish to lose weight.

Thousands of Years of Proof That It Works

Yoga has been used for thousands of years for health, healing and fitness. It may seem weird or “New Age” to us in the West, but the truth is that Hatha yoga has been practiced for thousands of years in the Far East.

The health benefits of a regular yoga practice include increased:

* Concentration
* Strength
* Flexibility
* Long, lean muscle
* Stamina

Yoga will decrease:

* Anxiety
* Stress
* Tension
* Blood pressure
* Stiffness

Safety First

Before you start to twist yourself into a pretzel, it is important to put safety first. If you have any underlying health issues, check with your doctor before starting yoga. Choose a yoga that is low impact, such as Hatha, Kundalini or Vinyasa, compared to the more demanding forms such as Bikram (hot yoga) or Ashtanga.

Be aware of any old or recent injuries and protect your back and knees. Start with yoga poses that can work your core muscles, such as Mountain, Tree, and the Warrior series of poses, and Plank pose. A good set of abdominal and back muscles will give your practice stability and help keep you safe.

Don’t believe the myth of “no pain, no gain” in reference to yoga. That is the surest way to sideline yourself with a potentially serious injury. After a workout, it is natural to feel a little sore the next day, but if this persists, rest those muscles until the strain in healed.

Practice on a level surface and use a non-skid mat so you do not slip. It will cushion your joints as well when doing your poses. Warm up before and cool down after with some gentle stretching. Stay warm but not too hot. Cold muscles will tense can be injured more easily.

If you are using a DVD, work at your own pace. Pause it as needed. If you are confused, look up the poses online at a reliable site like Yoga Journal.

Enjoy your meditations. Think of them as a mini-break from your daily life even if some of them seem weird. Chanting mantras such as OM might also seem a bit odd, but you will soon notice your body, mind and spirit all becoming in tune with each other.

Don’t skip deep relaxation at the end. This is usually done lying down in Corpse pose and is a great way to de-stress.

Now that you know what to expect, start a daily yoga practice and see what a difference it can make to your health.

Classical yoga has developed over time to include many different styles for a range of situations, needs and preferences.  However, the majority of Yoga styles still fall neatly into either the therapeutic or the meditative category.  Both categories have many hundreds of different Asanas, (poses or positions) and all of these are designed to benefit both the body and the mind.

5 Prayer Position:

Yoga takes the five ‘prayer’ positions and uses a corresponding yoga position to activate the seven chakras in the body.  A Chakra is a type of energy field or is sometimes thought as a key position in the flow of energy throughout our body.  Each different type of Yoga and each different Yoga position will have a different chakra as its core emphasis.  All of these positions, which we tend to think of nowadays in Western Yoga as exercises, were in fact originally the preparation for the Yogi to enter a state of meditation.

Asanas:

The actual positions or poses of Yoga are known as Asanas and they may seem complicated or difficult to a new Yoga student.  It’s important not to forget that all of the basic positions of Yoga are designed to improve the bodies strength and flexibility, and as these characteristics are improved it also makes the positions more comfortable and easier to settle into.  The deep stretching that is the basis of most Yoga positions is beneficial for trauma disorders, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow amongst others.

Before you begin you may find it beneficial to attain a basic knowledge of the philosophy and theory behind Yoga, however this is not a requirement or essential to your success.  It does assist with being comfortable settling into and performing the poses associated with Yoga, and it should be remembered that if you cannot do this then you will probably not benefit from Yoga.

Common misconception about Yoga:

There is a common misconception about Yoga that it is only for the tremendously flexible who can contort themselves into weird and wonderful positions.  Chanting is often also associated with a Yoga class in people’s preconceptions.  Neither of these ideas is true.

The Yoga positions are generally quite easy to get into but they do have several different depths in many cases.  This means that a completely beginner can move into a position and still benefit from it at a great level after many years of Yoga.

There are some advanced positions that a beginner should probably not bother themselves with.  Just as you are not going to compete with top marathon runners on your first day jogging, but can still get benefits, you are also not going to be able to ease into some of the positions that an instructor is capable of.  Likewise, if you are pregnant or perhaps have an injury such as a bad back you should inform your Yoga instructor before you begin.  There are some positions that can actually be detrimental to certain conditions.  Twist exercises with a recurring back injury is one of these.

Yoga is something that is most beneficial in a comfortable environment, as the muscles will stretch better when they are still warm.  It’s important to learn the discipline to enter and leave each new pose or position slowly.  Not only does this help avoiding injury but also the movement from one pose to another is often part of the program.  Don’t hold the poses and positions longer than is natural for you either.  As you become more used to practicing the Yoga positions each day the benefits will allow you to hold a position with more ease for longer periods of time.

When practiced correctly the benefits of Yoga are many.  Lubrication of the joints, ligaments and the tendons will result directly from performing the exercises best suited to you.  Posture will increase dramatically and you will also experience a sense of well-being.  There is also a deeper spiritual level to Yoga (it actually has its own philosophy and code of ethics) that you will move closer towards and enhance each time you stretch and go through the breathing exercises.