Yoga Month!

Yoga practitioners have chosen to celebrate yoga in September. Since yoga is best used as a daily practice, I promote its importance to your health and well-being all year long. If you haven't incorporated yoga into your routine yet, this is a great month to give it a try. Since there are a variety of  styles, I encourage you to try several different types until you find the one that works for you. Yoga balances your body and can support you in the ways you need.

Yin Yoga: This style of yoga is slower. The poses are held longer and is passive. The focus is on allowing the tendons and ligaments to stretch. This is a good style for those who are very tight or for those who have a very active exercise regime, for it will balance the muscle conditioning.

Kundalini Yoga: This style is based on moving the life force energy through the body with active breathing and movement exercises. Many of these yogis adopt a yogic lifestyle and your teacher may wear all white and a turban. Great exercises for energizing and moving energy and is for the open minded and open hearted.

Vinyasa Flow Yoga: This Hatha Yoga style connects the breath and movement in the dance of Sun Salutations, and sequences of poses strung together with the Sun Salute or Vinyasa. It's great for people who like movement. It's terrific for overall conditioning and toning and is the cardio version of yoga.

Hot Yoga: This is an offshoot of the Bikram series which is a series of set poses done in a heated room. Bikram style can be great for people who like doing the same set routine daily. This series does not require much upper body strength, so may be a good option for those with upper body injuries. Hot Yoga has taken the heated room aspect of Bikram Yoga, but varies the poses. This can be great for those who love to sauna or sweat. It creates a feeling of difficulty without too much complexity.

Restorative Yoga: Uses props and allows the body to be completely supported and relaxed, which enables the nervous system to restore itself. This is like nap time. You will never feel more relaxed than post-restorative class. I highly recommend.

Iyengar Yoga: This style of yoga focuses on proper alignment and uses props to allow this alignment. This will open the flow of energy in the body to be free. Iyengar was considered the father of Western yoga. I would like to pay my respects to B.K.S. Iyengar, who passed away in August at age 96. When I was a child, my father found the book Light On Yoga and passed it along to myself and my brother. Certainly Iyengar was a model example of yoga as a way of life.

"Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure that which cannot be cured."
~ B.K.S. Iyengar

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