Before, I never thought that yoga is for me. The picture of yoga looked to me like some people are just lying on their mats and resting with their eyes closed. I thought I’d rather go and do some squats instead. One day, I came to my gym and instead of my boxing class, it was a Yoga class, and I didn’t know about it until that moment. So, I decided to give it a try. The thing that surprised me the most was; after 15 minutes of sun salutations, my heart rate increased and the heat went all over my body. I was fascinated with it and Yoga was a “discovery” for me. Now, I have decided to share the same experience with you, make yoga a “discovery” for everyone who comes to my class.

Yoga For Beginners
Everyone at least once in their lives heard of the word “Yoga”. But can everyone explain what is it? Let me try to explain in my words. Yoga is an amazing practice that has come to the world from mysterious India, that gives enlightenment to the soul and strength to the human body. Yoga will teach you how to breathe and relax, gain flexibility, stabilize blood pressure, and help you forget about insomnia. It has a beneficial effect on the entire body, the exercises restore the work of the cardiovascular and endocrine systems. When certain asanas are performed, a massage of the internal organs takes place, the abdominal internals are compressed and unclenched during twisting, which provides a good therapeutic effect. It is worth paying special attention to the fact that with regular sessions there is an active reduction in excess body weight. At Hampton University, a study was conducted in which students with overweight were involved. Both girls and boys for 3 months regularly practiced Yoga and breathing techniques. In most of the cases, the result of the experiment was a significant weight loss. The researchers relate the positive effect to the fact that in combination these practices contribute to a powerful blood supply to all organs and to an increase in the metabolism in the tissues of the brain. Moreover, breathing techniques (pranayama) oxygenate all internal organs, train the heart muscle and teach concentration. However, despite such promising physical changes, first of all yoga is a spiritual practice. Where each person learns to be in the present moment, concentrates fully on his body, breathing and inner sensations. In order to start, let’s figure out what are the styles of yoga.

Yoga For Beginners
Hatha Yoga. The name “Hatha Yoga” is very often in the yoga clubs’ schedules along with “Iyengar Yoga”, “Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga”, “Power Yoga” and further on the list. In fact, the concept of “Hatha Yoga” means all these practices taken together. This is a form of training when a person learns to perfectly command his own body. Though, how this perfection is achieved – this is in every yoga school in its own way. Hence the variety of many styles. And since now it’s all firmly on the commercial track, the styles are growing every year. And they all have mysterious names, even some of them claim “brands” 🙂 Actually, the essence of Hatha Yoga is to learn how to use the body. Over time, it is found that any difficult exercise succeeds when energy flows correctly through the body. Then it makes no sense to train the body, and the training in energy flow begins. Pranayama-teacher does not follow the methods of any particular school and leaves his or her style of training without a name. This means that there will be physical exercises using the “poses of yoga,” which we call “asanas” and relaxing at the end (Shavasana).

Yoga For Beginners
Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga is one of the most powerful and effective of the hatha yoga systems known nowadays, the custodian of which is currently Sri K.Pattabhi Jois, who heads the yoga school in Mysore, South India.
Ashtanga Vinyasa is a dynamic practice that includes sequences of asanas linked together by a complex of movements – vinyasas, performed together with pranayama, bandhas (energy locks) and drishti (focused gaze, a concentration of attention at certain points). During the practice, the dhyana (meditative state of consciousness) is persisted.
The term “vinyasa” can be translated as “the respiratory-motor system of exercises”. When the movement is synchronized with breathing according to the ujjaya-pranayama type and the mula bandha, uddiyana bandha, and jalandhara bandha are used during the asanas, a strong internal heat arises in the body, causing profuse sweating. By this way, the process of purification and rejuvenation of muscles and internal organs occurs, toxins are eliminated from the body. As a result, the practitioner feels strength and lightness in the body. Vinyasa balances breathing and ensures smooth blood circulation throughout the body.

Yoga For Beginners
Yin-yoga combines Taoist yoga and the yoga teachings of the chakras. The Daoist teachings are based on the concept of the duality of the world, the existence and two principles of yin and yang, which arose from a single flow of chi energy. The whole world, including humans, consists of yang and yin: sun and moon, sky and earth, motion and stillness, alternations of day and night, heat and cold, inhale and exhale. In human, the energy of chi flows through the meridians, from the chakra to the chakra. Meridians entangle the human body as irrigation canals. The practice of yin-yoga purifies these energy channels, the practice of yang-yoga increases the flow of energy through these channels.
The modern meridian theory also considers the physical body of human from the principle of duality of yin and yang: muscles are yang, and connective tissue is yin. Human energy circulates through the channels in the connective tissue to every cell of our body. The practice of yin-yoga is focused on working with connective tissue. Soft, relaxed performance of asanas for a long time (from 3 minutes) allows you to stretch connective tissues, restore their elasticity. Only a smooth stretch can affect a fairly tight connective tissue.

Yoga For Beginners
The key moment in performing asanas of yin yoga is a complete relaxation of the muscles that are involved. If the muscle is tense, it takes on all the tension and connective tissue is staying untouched. Then all the yin approach loses its meaning. The ability to relax is closely related to the awareness of tension. The way out of yin yoga asana should be done slowly and carefully. Connective tissue is the main supporting and protective tissue of the body, the basis of all its connecting and supporting structures. In a broad sense, these are several different tissues that form connective tissue structures – bones, tendons, ligaments, joints, dermis and blood vessels. The connective tissue is up to 50% of the mass of the human body. Each cell, each organ is framed by a connective tissue.
By the way, women suffer from connective tissue diseases 4 times more than men. Here it is – lack of yin energy. The practice of yin-yoga allows you to go into places where energy “stocks” in order to activate its circulation. Energy flows more freely, which releases pain and practitioner begin to feel better.
Yin yoga eliminates the energy “toxins”. Energy “toxins” are manifested in the form of emotions. These include anger, stress, anxiety, sadness, and much more. According to traditional Chinese medicine, for each emotion – each specific body part is responsible. For example, sadness is associated with the lungs, fear is in the kidneys, and stress in the liver. These emotions are equally harmful to our body.
When you begin to practice yin, you will notice how negative emotions go away on their own, flexibility develops, clamps are removed and complete relaxation sets in.

Yoga For Beginners
Ayengar yoga
Unlike the previous version, the yoga of Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar is focused on the correctness of the body’s position in space. For the improvement of each of the asanas, there are pauses. The purpose of the classes is to rehab after injuries with the help of certain asanas (the teacher himself had very poor health in his childhood). It was Iyengar who came up with props to help those to whom even simple asanas can be performed with difficulty: pregnant, elderly and sick people, children. A study conducted by JAMA Internal Medicine magazine proved that Iyengar yoga relieves chronic back pain in three months.

Yoga For Beginners
Bikram yoga
A variety of hatha yoga consists of 26 asanas and two breathing exercises. The main difference between bikram yoga is not in postures, strings or spiritual component, but in the hall for classes. The yoga room is heated to 40.5 ° C, so the bikram is also called “hot” yoga. The creator of the method Bikram Chowdhury believes: in conditions close to the Indian climate, the elasticity of muscles increases, the body more easily gets rid of toxins and extra pounds.
Peace and tranquility live within each of us and no one is able to give them to us from outside. Unfortunately, with the urban rhythm of life, everyone is in a hurry and forget about the universe within us. Choose a style of yoga that you like, and make a “discovery”, discovering yourself. Namaste

Yoga For Beginners
Please comment below if you have any questions. I would be happy to help!