I discovered another great article about the amazing health benefits of making a yoga practice part of your life.

So roll out that mat and get started!

Yoga Journal Article: Count on Yoga: 38 Ways Yoga Keeps you Fit

VINYASA

Ashtanga

The practice of Ashtanga that’s getting mainstream attention today is a fast-paced series of sequential postures practiced by yoga master K. Pattabhi Jois, who lived in Mysore, India. Today, yogis continue to spread Jois’s teachings worldwide, making it one of the most popular schools of yoga around.

The system is based on six series of asanas which increase in difficulty, allowing students to work at their own pace. In class, you’ll be led nonstop through one or more of the series. Be prepared to sweat.

For more information, visit Ashtanga teacher Richard Freeman’s website www.yogaworkshop.com

Jivamukti

Jivamukti is a highly meditative but physically challenging form of yoga. Each week, more than 2,000 people visit the Jivamukti Yoga Center in New York City. Its popularity lies in the teaching approach of cofounders David Life and Sharon Gannon, who opened their first studio in 1986, combining an Ashtanga background with a variety of ancient and modern spiritual teachings. In addition to vinyasa-style asanas, classes include chanting, meditation, readings, music, and affirmations. This spiritual resource center also offers specialized courses in Sanskrit and the sacred yoga texts.

“Over the course of time, students will get a broad yoga education,” Life promises. “One week, a class may focus on a particular asana, while the next week’s theme may discuss more metaphysical issues.”

For more information, visit www.jivamuktiyoga.com

Power Yoga

Power Yoga’s popularity has spread from yoga studios to health clubs across the country and has taken on a broad range of applications. The common thread is a rigorous workout that develops strength and flexibility while keeping students moving through poses. For specifics, consult individual instructors before taking a class.

For more information, visit: Thom Birch and Beryl Bender Birch’s website www.power-yoga.com. Bryan Kest’s website www.poweryoga.com

Kali Ray Tri Yoga

A series of flowing, dancelike movements intuitively came to Kali Ray (Kaliji) while leading a group meditation in 1980. In 1986, after developing these movements into seven distinct levels, Kaliji established the TriYoga Center in Santa Cruz, California, offering a system of yoga that is taught in a meditative environment.  A union of asana (postures), pranayama (breathwork), and mudra (seals), this practice is deeply meditative, promoting relaxation and inner peace.

For more information, visit www.kaliraytriyoga.com

White Lotus Yoga

White Lotus Yoga is the collaborative effort of Ganga White and Tracey Rich, who meld two eclectic backgrounds and years of experience into a nondogmatic teaching approach dedicated to helping students develop a well-balanced personal practice. At their 40-acre retreat in the Santa Ynez Mountains of Santa Barbara, California, this husband and wife team offers a complete yoga-immersion experience with programs ranging from weekend and weeklong getaways to 16-day teacher training programs.

White Lotus Yoga is a flowing vinyasa practice which ranges from gentle to vigorous depending on your ability or comfort level. In addition, class formats incorporate alignment, breath, and the theoretical understanding of yoga.

For more information, visit www.whitelotus.org

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Iyengar

B.K.S. Iyengar, from Pune, India, is one of the most influential yogis of his time. At 80 years old, he continues to teach thousands of students from all over the world, encouraging them to penetrate deeper into the experience of each pose. This is the trademark of Iyengar Yoga, an intense focus on the subtleties of each posture.

In an Iyengar class, poses (especially standing postures) are typically held much longer than in other schools of yoga, so that practitioners can pay close attention to the precise muscular and skeletal alignment this system demands. Also specific to Iyengar, is the use of props, including belts, chairs, blocks, and blankets, to help accommodate any special needs such as injuries or structural imbalances. Using props gives the student support, allowing them more freedom to breathe deeply into the pose.

For more information, visit www.iyisf.org

HEALING

Integrative Yoga Therapy

In 1993, Joseph Le Page, M.A., founded Integrative Yoga Therapy (IYT) in San Francisco. Le Page developed a yoga teacher-training program designed specifically for medical and mainstream wellness settings, including hospitals and rehabilitation centers.

Two-week IYT intensives are offered worldwide, training health-care professionals, yoga teachers, and bodyworkers to adapt gentle postures, guided imagery, and breathing techniques for treating specific health issues such as heart disease, psychiatric disorders, and AIDS.

“Healing happens through connection with the deepest part of who we are,” says Le Page. “The program emphasizes the healing process in detail by addressing all levels of the patient; physical, emotional, and spiritual. An example of this therapeutic application is to teach patients with heart disease to become more aware of themselves and their condition at all levels, using yogic lifestyle changes, breathing techniques, asanas suitable for their condition, guided imagery for the circulatory system, and meditation with a focus on healing the heart.”

For more information, visit www.iytyogatherapy.com

Viniyoga

Viniyoga is an empowering and transformative practice designed to tailor one’s yoga practice based on individual needs.  In this gentle practice, created by T.K.V. Desikachar, poses are synchronized with the breath in sequences determined by the needs of the practitioner. According to Gary Kraftsow, owner and teacher at The American Viniyoga Institute on the Hawaiian island Maui, Viniyoga is a methodology for developing an integrated practice for each person’s needs as they grow and change. “As children, our practice should support balanced growth and development of the body and mind. As adults, it should protect our health and promote our ability to be productive in the world. And as seniors, it should help us maintain health and inspire a deeper quest for self-realization,” says Kraftsow.

For more information, visit www.viniyoga.com

Anusara

Anusara means “to step into the current of divine will.” Anusara Yoga is an integrated approach to hatha yoga in which the human spirit blends with the precise science of biomechanics. It is a new system of hatha yoga that can be both spiritually inspiring and yet grounded in a deep knowledge of outer and inner body alignment. It can be therapeutically effective and physically transformative. The central philosophy of this yoga is that each person is equally divine in every part; body, mind, and spirit. Each student’s various abilities and limitations are respected and honored. Anusara Yoga differentiates itself from other hatha yoga systems with three key areas of practice: Attitude. The practitioner balances an opening to grace with an aspiration for awakening to his or her true nature. Alignment. Each pose is performed with an integrated awareness of all the different parts of the body. Action. Each pose is performed as an artistic expression of the heart in which muscular stability is balanced with an expansive inner freedom.

For more information, visit www.anusara.com

Bikram

When you take a Bikram yoga class, expect to sweat. Each studio is designed to replicate yoga’s birthplace climate, with temperatures pushing 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Why the sauna-like effect? “Because sweat helps move the toxins out of your body,” explains Radha Garcia, owner of Bikram’s Yoga College of India in Boulder, Colorado. “Your body is like a sponge. To cleanse it, you need to wring it out to allow fresh blood and oxygen to circulate and keep your immune system running smoothly.”

This method of staying healthy from the inside out was designed by Bikram Choudhury, who sequenced a series of 26 traditional hatha postures to address the proper functioning of every bodily system.

Choudhury first visited the United States from India in 1971 on a trip sponsored by the American Medical Association to demonstrate his work using yoga to treat chronically ill patients. Today Choudhury continues teaching students of all ages and abilities from his studio in Los Angeles where he also conducts a certified teacher’s training program.

For more information, visit http://www.bikramyoga.com/

Sivananda

At its core, Sivananda Yoga is geared toward helping students answer the age-old question “Who am I?” This yoga practice is based on the philosophy of Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh, India, who taught disciples to “serve, love, give, purify, meditate, realize.” In order to achieve this goal, Sivananda advocated a path that would recognize and synthesize each level of the human experience including the intellect, heart, body, and mind.

In 1957, his disciple Swami Vishnu-devananda introduced these teachings to an American audience. A few years later, Vishnu-devananda founded the International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers, summarizing Sivananda’s system into five main principles: proper exercise (asanas); proper breathing (pranayama); proper relaxation (Savasana); proper diet (vegetarian); and positive thinking (Vedanta) and meditation (dhyana).

There are more than 80 centers worldwide, as well as ashrams and teacher-training programs, all of which follow a hatha yoga practice emphasizing 12 basic postures to increase strength and flexibility of the spine. Chanting, pranayama, and meditation are also included, helping students to release stress and blocked energy.

For more information, visit www.sivananda.org

Kundalini

Kundalini Yoga, stemming from the tantra yoga path, at one time remained a closely guarded secret practiced only by a select few. In 1969, however, Yogi Bhajan decided to change this tradition by bringing Kundalini to the West. Yogi Bhajan’s reasoning was based on the philosophy that it’s everybody’s birthright to be “healthy, happy and holy,” and he believed Kundalini would help spiritual seekers from all religious paths tap into their greater potential.

The practice of Kundalini Yoga incorporates postures, dynamic breathing techniques, and chanting and meditating on mantras such as “Sat Nam” (meaning “I am truth”). Practitioners concentrate on awakening the energy at the base of the spine and drawing it upward through each of the seven charkas.

For more information, visit www.3HO.org

ISHTA

ISHTA, Integrated Science of Hatha, Tantra, and Ayurveda, is the yoga brainchild of South African native Alan Finger, who currently runs workshops at his yoga studio in Irvington, New York. Finger blends 37 years of teaching experience with his eclectic studies under Sivananda and the tantric hermit Barati, helping students of all ages and abilities to get in touch with life’s boundless energy.

“The sequence of postures is designed to help students integrate their individual sensations with a life energy force that’s beyond sensing and perceiving,” says Los Angeles-based ISHTA instructor Rod Stryker. “It’s a tool for visualization and a way to become more fully oneself.”

A typical ISHTA class mixes flowing Ashtanga-style asanas with the precise method of Iyengar, while including pranayama and meditation exercises as well. Instructors begin classes with warm-up poses, then gradually build to a more challenging practice.

For more information, visit www.beyoga.com

Kripalu

Located in the Berkshire region of Western Massachusetts, the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health has helped guide thousands of people along their path of self-discovery by teaching a system of yoga developed over a 20-year period by yogi Amrit Desai and the Kripalu staff.

During the 1970s, while studying under Indian guru Kripaluvananda, Amrit felt his body begin to move in a spontaneous flow of postures without the direction of his mind. This deep release of prana (life’s energy force) brought about a profound transformation in Amrit, so he developed these movements into three stages of practice, which he could then teach to others.

The three stages of Kripalu yoga include: willful practice (a focus on alignment, breath, and the presence of consciousness); willful surrender (a conscious holding of the postures to the level of tolerance and beyond, deepening concentration and focus of internal thoughts and emotions); and meditation in motion (the body’s complete release of internal tensions and a complete trust in the body’s wisdom to perform the postures and movements needed to release physical and mental tensions and enter deep meditation).

For more information, visit www.kripalu.org

Tibetan Yoga

Tibetan Yoga is a term used among Buddhists to describe a range of tantric meditation and pranayama practices. Though little is known in the West about the physical practices of Tibetan Yoga, in 1939, Peter Kelder published Ancient Secret of the Fountain of Youth (Doubleday, 1998), describing a sequence of postures of Tibetan origin called “The Five Rites of Rejuvenation.” In 1994, yoga teacher Christopher Kilham published a modern version of these exercises called The Five Tibetans: Five Dynamic Exercises for Health, Energy, and Personal Power (Inner Traditions). Composed of five flowing movements, this active workout keeps students on the move. Beginners start with 10 or 12 repetitions and progressively work their way up to the 21 repetitions of the full routine. Classes may be difficult to find.

Tibetan Buddhist monk Tarthang Tulku adapted another ancient movement practice for the modern West called Kum Nye. More contemplative in nature than the vigorous Five Tibetans, Kum Nye strives to integrate body and mind and means “interaction with the subtle body.”

For more information, see Tulku’s Kum Nye Relaxation (Dharma Publishing, 1978) or visit www.nyingma.org.

Hatha

If you are browsing through a yoga studio’s brochure of classes and the yoga offered is simply described as “hatha,” chances are the teacher is offering an eclectic blend of two or more of the styles described above. It’s a good idea to ask the teacher or director of the studio where he or she was trained and if the poses are held for a length of time or if you will be expected to move quickly from one pose to the next, and if meditation or chanting is included. This will give you a better idea if the class is vigorous or more meditative.

Source: Yoga Journal “Not All Yoga is Created Equal” By Jennifer Cook  

Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar

Light on Yoga has become the bible for hundreds of thousands of people who practice yoga daily for exercise, meditation, or simply relaxation.  It is a comprehensive source, with more than than 600 photographs of yoga postures and breathing exercises.

Heart of Yoga by TKV Desikachar

Sri Krishnamacharya, who lived to be over 100 years old, is one of the most well respected and well known yogis of the modern era.  TKV Desikachar is Krishnamacharya’s son, who lived and studied with him his whole life.  The core of his teachings is based on adapting yoga practices to individual’s changing needs to achieve maximum benefit. In The Heart of Yoga, Desikachar offers his father’s system as well as his own practical approach which he describes as “a program for the spine at every level – physical, mental and spiritual.”  Included in this book is Desikachar’s complete translation and commentary on the Yoga Sutras.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

The Yoga Sutras are a complete manual for the study and practice of yoga.  In this translation, Sri Swami Satchidananda shares his practical, down-to-earth advice on mastering the mind and achieving physical, mental and emotional harmony in life .  There are may translations of the Yoga Sutras.  I suggest finding a translation that speaks to you.

The Bhagavad-Gita

The Bhagavad-Gita is a conversation on a battlefield between the god Krishna and the warrior Prince Arjuna, as he confronts a life or death moral dilemma.  What is the purpose or justice of war?  Where does the right path of action lie when one duty conflicts with another?  Arjuna is led to a higher understanding of the spiritual nature of man and the world.

Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit by Donna Farhi

Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit is a comprehensive guide using universal movement principles that may be applied to all styles of yoga.  Donna Farhi provides detailed instructions, practice tips, and inspiration for students at all levels.  The book includes 75 illustrated asanas with descriptions of executions and benefits.

Anatomy of Hatha Yoga by H. David Coulter

The Anatomy of Hatha Yoga is the first modern source that combines the study of hatha yoga with anatomy and physiology.  It is a manual for students, teachers and practitioners.

Yama

The first limb, yama, or moral restraints, deals with one’s ethical standards and sense of integrity, focusing on our behavior and how we conduct ourselves in life.

The five Yamas are:

Ahimsa: nonviolence

Satya: truthfulness

Asteya: nonstealing

Brahmacharya: moderation

Aparigraha: nonhoarding

Niyama

Niyama, the second limb, has to do with self-discipline and spiritual observances. Regularly attending temple or church services, saying grace before meals, developing your own personal meditation practices, or making a habit of taking contemplative walks alone are all examples of niyamas in practice.

The five niyamas are:

Sauca: cleanliness, purity

Samtosa: contentment

Tapas: heat, zeal, austerity

Svadhyaya: self-study

Isvara pranidhana: devotion to a higher power

Asana – Postures

Pranayama – Mindful Breathing

Pratyahara – Turning Inward

Dharana – Concentration

Dhyana – Meditation

Samadhi – Union of the Self with Object of Meditation

A central premise in yoga is “everything is connected.” That’s clear when looking at the health and fitness benefits of yoga that have long been reported by practitioners and are now being confirmed by scientific research.

1. STRESS RELIEF:  Yoga reduces the physical effects of stress on the body by encouraging relaxation and lowering the levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Related benefits include lowering blood pressure and heart rate, improving digestion and boosting the immune system, as well as easing symptoms of conditions such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, asthma and insomnia.
2. PAIN RELIEF:  Yoga can ease pain. Studies have demonstrated that practicing Yoga asanas (postures), meditation or a combination of the two, reduced pain for people with conditions such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, auto-immune diseases and hypertension as well as arthritis, back and neck pain and other chronic conditions.
3. BETTER BREATHING:  Yoga teaches people to take slower, deeper breaths.  This helps to improve lung function and trigger the body’s relaxation response.
4. FLEXIBILITY:  Yoga helps to improve flexibility and mobility, increasing range of movement and reducing aches and pains.
5. INCREASED STRENGTH: Yoga asanas (postures) use every muscle in the body, helping to increase strength literally from head to toe.  Yoga also helps to relieve muscular tension.
6. WEIGHT MANAGEMENT: Yoga (even less vigorous styles) can aid weight control efforts by reducing the cortisol levels, as well as by burning excess calories and reducing stress. Yoga also encourages healthy eating habits and provides a heightened sense of well being and self-esteem.
7. IMPROVED CIRCULATION: Yoga helps to improve circulation and, as a result of various poses, more efficiently moves oxygenated blood to the body’s cells.
8. CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONING: Even gentle yoga practice can provide cardiovascular benefits by lowering resting heart rate, increasing endurance and improving oxygen uptake during exercise.
9. BETTER BODY ALIGNMENT: Yoga helps to improve body alignment, resulting in better posture and helping to relieve back, neck, joint and muscle problems.
10. FOCUS ON THE PRESENT: Yoga helps us to focus on the present, to become more aware and to help create mind body health. It opens the way to improved coordination, reaction time and memory.

For more information CDC Healthier Worksite Initiative

Where: Chapman University
Address: One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866
When: 10:30 am – 1 pm

Yoga Month invites all styles of yoga to participate in an awareness campaign designed to draw attention to the many benefits of yoga and inspire our fellow citizens to live healthier, happier lives.

More info at yogamonth.org.