Wednesday, January 30, 2013

What is Yoga ?

The word yoga means "union" in Sanskrit, the language of ancient India where yoga originated. We can think of the union occurring between the mind, body and spirit. What is commonly referred to as "yoga" can be more accurately described by the Sanskrit word asana, which refers to the practice of physical postures or poses. 

Many people think that yoga is just stretching. But while stretching is certainly involved, yoga is really about creating balance in the body through developing both strength and flexibility. This is done through the performance of poses or postures, each of which has specific physical benefits. The poses can be done quickly in succession, creating heat in the body through movement (vinyasa-style yoga) or more slowly to increase stamina and perfect the alignment of the pose. The poses are a constant, but the approach to them varies depending on the tradition in which the teacher has trained.  

There are so many types of yoga..sometime its hard to remember all names though I am a Yoga Teacher, still i remember some to share...

1) Anusara Yoga
2) Ashtanga Yoga
3) Bikram Yoga
4) Hatha Yoga
5) Iyenagar Yoga
6) Jivamukti Yoga
7) Kripalu Yoga
8) Kundalini Yoga
9) Power Yoga
10) Prenatal Yoga
11) Restorative Yoga
12) Shivananda Yoga
13) Viniyoga Yoga
14) Yin Yoga
15) Karma Yoga
16) Raja Yoga
17) Nurtya Yoga
18) Nad Yoga
19) Kali Ray Tri Yoga
20) White Lotus Yoga
21) Patanjali Yoga
22)Jnana Yoga
23) Laya yoga
24) Bhaktiyoga

different countries has different style of yoga.

In India, laughter clubs meet every day and do laughter yoga exercises, stretching exercises from yoga for one hour. Since people meet in public parks so we don't do laughter meditation as people need to sit on the floor and lie down on their backs.  

In Eastern countries like Japan, Singapore Korea Taiwan China laughter clubs are seen as health building exercise routine and focuses equally on laughter as well as other exercises. They do laughter yoga parks. In Taiwan Laughter clubs meet everyday like in India but in other countries they meet once or twice a week.  Some Yoga studios are doing laughter yoga at the end of their yoga routine in many countries.

In Western countries laughter clubs meet once every week and since most clubs are held indoors therefore be do laughter session as well as laughter meditation. The major difference between East End West is that Western people are very easy to laugh but in Eastern countries people are little shy and inhibited because of cultural influence. They need more warming up exercises open up.


Learn about asanas in my next post....

1 comment:

  1. I m crazy abt Yoga & Guys if you are looking for most important & fundamental information abt Yoga then its right here....!

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