Posts Tagged ‘Yoga Teachers’

Power Yoga Video – choose the appropriate one

There are different choices on the market today that allow students to learn power yoga. There are power yoga videos, classes and even power yoga CD’s. It is important to choose a power yoga video carefully to make sure that the instructor is qualified to teach the class. Two famous yoga teachers are most often credited with the near simultaneous invention of power yoga: Beryl Bender Birch, based in New York, and Bryan Kest, based in Los Angeles, both have trained under with Ashtanga master Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. There are power yoga videos that give the instructors all that they need to be able to instruct their students. Good power yoga videos are the ones that are led by qualified instructors and also have more than one version of the workout depending on the level. The power yoga video should also offer modified versions of the various poses so that the beginners can use a modified position to make it easier and more advanced practitioners can use a harder position.

Equipment

Once a power yoga video is purchased, there are a few other things that are necessary in order to fully participate in the workout.

One of the items to focus on is proper yoga clothing when doing your yoga video class. The clothing should be loose and comfortable so that the different poses can be done without hindrance. Most people prefer some sweat pants or tights and a tank top which allow movement without hindrance. It is very important that the clothing used during yoga should not be so loose so as to move around too much and have to be readjusted during a pose, interrupting the flow of the asana.

The other important item needed is a yoga mat and can be purchased for about fifteen dollars. Yoga mats (also called sticky mats) are used in most yoga classes to provide cushioning and traction. Students’ hands and feet get sweaty when participating in the power yoga video and the rubberized mat helps to prevent slippage and mistakes. The yoga mat helps the students to keep their feet and hands in place when participating in the power yoga video. The cushion that is offered by the mat allows the individuals to have more comfort when participating in some of the floor poses, but it is not so thick that the students lose their balance when doing the balancing poses of their power yoga video.

A good power yoga video will leave the person feeling exhausted yet stretched out and relaxed at the same time.The poses in the power yoga video flow from one to the next, yet are held for about five slow breaths each to give the strength part of the workout. The poses are so difficult because they require the students to hold their own body weight, which gets tiring over time.

Development of the Core with Power Yoga

Power yoga is a term used to describe a new approach to the to vinyasa-style yoga which is vigorous and fitness-based. Developing the Core, Power Yoga is the translation from the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit, meaning”Asthanga Yoga” – meaning power Yoga. These poses help to develop the core of the student in power yoga so that the foundation of the body is strong. Power yoga develops these core muscles especially because they are used in almost every pose that is held in the practice of power yoga. There are many power yoga DVD’s and classes that teach students how to develop their bodies using simply their body weight and different poses which are held for a certain length of time. With this yoga poses, the stomach muscles are engaged and grows stronger by the minute whether the pose is sitting, standing or balancing.

Improving your Core health with Power Yoga

All the Core Power Yoga poses require that the individual hold his own body weight throughout the series of five or more deep breaths that he needs to take before the pose is over. This requires strength from the muscles that the respective asana concentrates on. The back is kept in better alignment throughout the day as it maintains a better posture whether sitting of standing. Developing the core with power yoga helps individuals who enter the class with back problems. Developing the stomach muscles helps the body to support the torso through the use of the stomach muscles rather than using the back muscles so much. In addition to the core’s development in power yoga, the flexibility that is gained in conjunction with the core development allows individuals with back problems to have looser muscles in the back and hamstrings, which also helps to alleviate pain.

Importance of Breathing in Core Power Yoga

The term “power yoga” became widely used, in the 90s, when some yoga teachers were looking for a way to make Ashtanga yoga more accessible to students. The students are also taught to breathe properly so that the people can breathe deeply even in the midst of strenuous exercise. The individual is taught how to relax all other muscles in the body other than the ones that are being used to hold a particular pose. These breaths are controlled and are taken in and out through the nose. The breaths are drawn from the diaphragm so that they are slow and full, supplying much needed oxygen to the entire body. These breathing methods are important life skills as well to help calm the person down and reduce stress levels. In addition to these looser muscles and developing the core in power yoga, there are other health benefits as well, like stress reduction and helping the person’s concentration levels.

Bikram Yoga – Hot Yoga!

Bikram Choudhury developed Bikram Yoga or Hot Yoga, a style of yoga, in Los Angeles. Choudhury settled in California in the 1970s and now lives in Beverly Hills and was born in India in 1946.

The unique element in Bikram yoga is that the sessions take place in a well heated room in a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit or more. In many parts of India where yoga developed, this resembles the temperature.

If people arrive at a class for the first time unprepared for the intense heat, they often quit the classes. But like a sauna, it is beneficial for reducing muscle stiffness and increasing physical relaxation and flexibility. People appreciate this aspect of the class when they stay through the first few sessions.

A Bikram yoga class uses a series of 26 postures which are based on traditional Indian yoga poses. In other forms of yoga many of these poses are also used but Bikram yoga is unusual in that it only ever uses these same poses and no others in one sequence, although a class may go through the sequence twice. In Bikram style of yoga the breath is also very important. Most classes are 90 minutes and will include breathing exercises as well as the postures, plus a relaxation session at the end.

As with most forms of yoga it is important not to be competitive with others or expect quick results, but work at the yoga practice for its own sake. Students must take care not to injure or over stretch themselves. Progress will be slow but steady. However the beneficial effect of attending a yoga class regularly may be felt in all aspects of daily life and often can be reawakened by returning to practice many years later.

Bikram Choudhury claiming copyright on the sequence of yoga poses that he uses has sparked controversy in both the American yoga community and in India. Traditional poses which have been used in India for centuries by yoga teachers cannot be copyrighted, this is the opposition argument. So far this argument has failed to overturn the copyright in the USA, and anyone wishing to teach Bikram yoga or use his sequence of poses must obtain a licence to do so. Of course this does not prevent other yoga instructors from teaching the same basic yoga poses in different sequences, but they may not call themselves Bikram yoga teachers.

As well as the requirement for the instructor to obtain a licence, there are limitations on the popularity of Bikram yoga caused by the high temperatures required. This is not only because people are uncomfortable in these temperatures. A special yoga studio is required because most public building administrators would not allow an instructor to heat the room that high. Due to these factors there are not so many Bikram yoga classes as there are in other styles of yoga.

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