Yoga - Types and Benefits of Yoga

Although it seems like a hot new trend, yoga actually began more than 3,000 years ago in India. The word yoga comes from Sanskrit, and it means to "yoke," or bring together the mind, body, and spirit. The physical component of the yoga lifestyle is called hatha yoga.

Hatha yoga focuses on asanas, or poses. A person who practices yoga goes through a series of specific poses while controlling his or her breathing. Some types of yoga also involve meditation and chanting.

There are several styles of yoga, many of these have specific characteristics which reflect a particular teacher's approach to asanas; others reflect the characteristics or teachings of a particular organization. Like individuals,

styles or schools of yoga have their own personalities and approaches to practicing asanas. What distinguishes the different styles is what is emphasized, be it posture, breath, aerobics, dance, slow and rhythmic movements, philosophy or a combination of many factors. Although the basic asanas and breathing exercises remain the same, how they are done, in what order, and where attention is focused while doing them constitute the main differences among the many schools.

Types of Yoga

· Ashtanga yoga: Ashtanga yoga is a vigorous, fast-paced yoga that helps to build flexibility, strength, concentration, and stamina. When doing Ashtanga yoga, a person moves quickly through a set of predetermined poses while remaining focused on deep breathing.
· Power yoga: The term "power yoga" came into common usage in the mid 1990s, when several yoga teachers were looking for a way to make Ashtanga yoga more accessible to western students. Unlike Ashtanga, power yoga does not follow a set series of poses. Therefore, any power yoga class can vary widely from the next. What they have in common is an emphasis on strength and flexibility.
· Bikram yoga: Bikram yoga is also known as "Hot Yoga." It is practiced in rooms that may be heated to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius).
· Gentle yoga: Gentle yoga focuses on slow stretches, flexibility, and deep breathing.
· Kundalini yoga: Kundalini yoga uses poses, deep breathing and other breathing techniques, chanting, and meditation.
· Iyengar yoga: This type of yoga focuses on precise poses. and participants use benches, ropes, mats, blocks, and chairs.
Benefits of Yoga

Muscle tone: As a by-product of getting stronger, you can expect to see increased muscle tone. Yoga helps shape long, lean muscles.

Complete Detoxification – By gently stretching muscles and joints as well as massaging the various organs, yoga ensures the optimum blood supply to various parts of the body. This helps in the flushing out of toxins from every nook and cranny as well as providing nourishment up to the last point. This leads to benefits such as delayed ageing, energy and a remarkable zest for life.

Stress Reduction: Physical activity is good for relieving stress, and this is particularly true of yoga. Because of the concentration required, your daily troubles, both large and small, seem to melt away during the time you are doing yoga. This provides a much-needed break from your stressors, as well as helping put things into perspective.

Massaging of ALL Organs of the Body – Yoga is perhaps the only form of activity which massages all the internal glands and organs of the body in a thorough manner, including those – such as the prostate - that hardly get externally stimulated during our entire lifetime. Yoga acts in a wholesome manner on the various body parts. This stimulation and massage of the organs in turn benefits us by keeping away disease and providing a forewarning at the first possible instance of a likely onset of disease or disorder.