The benefits of yoga are many, from aiding with stress relief to increasing flexibility and improving the health of joints. For these reasons, a lot of people have chosen to make it a part of their daily exercise routine. For those now getting started, you may think that all poses are the same. This is not so as there are quite a few disciplines, each focusing on a specific area. Three of the main types of yoga being practiced today are Hatha, Bikram and Ashtanga yoga.
Ashtanga poses are also collectively known as power yoga and have been experiencing an increase in popularity over the past few years. Classes which used to have one or two students now don't have enough room. Why is that? Well the simple answer is that some people view Ashtanga postures as a more well-rounded form of exercise as opposed to the other two types.
Traditional yoga tends to center on exercises which promote deep breathing, flexibility and relaxation. With Ashtanga poses the emphasis is on enhancing both strength and stamina in a short space of time and it is therefore very popular amongst athletes. The postures do have a greater level of difficulty than other types of yoga and they will often form part of a series. What this means is that exercises are not done in isolation. Students move quite quickly from one pose to the other so the focus remains on strength training and the muscles are kept in constant use.
Unless you have some level of prior training, or know that you're in fairly decent shape, it's undoubtedly not a good idea to start off with Ashtanga yoga poses. As already stated, the exercises are more on the rigorous side and you can easily strain yourself if you're not used to strenuous workouts. Even the warm up routine is designed to get your muscles working quickly so they can gain the maximum benefits from the postures.
If you decide that you'd like to try your hand at doing some, you should do so as part of a class, with a reputable trainer. This is because of the intensity and complexity of some of the poses. There's no need to put your self at risk of harm unnecessarily. If you tend to not be a team player you may be a bit put off by the idea of contorting yourself in a room full of strangers. Don't worry. Everyone else in the room is likely to be as uncomfortable as you are at first. That's just part of the experience.
Depending on the instructor, the pace of the class may start of slowly or not, but you can most certainly expect to gain momentum quickly. This is not to say that you won't have time to master the postures. To the contrary...you can look forward to lots of practice before your trainer moves you on to higher level of difficulty. Your muscles may not thank you immediately, in fact they'll be quite sore at you for a while, but you'll begin to feel a difference within a few days of starting the exercises.
Ashtanga yoga poses take many forms but, if you have practiced any type of yogic body training before, you'll most likely be familiar with the basics. Classes move through standing, seated, balancing, inverted and twisting postures. Some of the more popular postures include the upward dog, standing bend and downward dog. There is also some element of focus, as with all types, where you will be called upon to concentrate on one spot while doing the poses.
If you are an athlete, or just someone who is very active, and you'd like a way to boost your performance, you might want to consider taking up Ashtanga yoga. It can not only keep you in shape but also give you that feeling of accomplishment that accompanies finishing a strenuous workout.
Sherry Holistan is a yoga expert. For more excellent tips on Sun Salutation Yoga please visit http://yogatraininganswers.com/
