Different Types Of Yoga Asanas And Their Benefits
Who is not aware of the benefits of Yoga? For a healthy lifestyle, including Yoga in your daily routine is a must. Yoga is not just an exercise but a science that aims at a healthy human body and a healthy mind. So, it is important for your physical as well as mental health. Yoga contains so many asanas that are aimed to make your body, mind, and soul work in sync with each other.
Yoga Asana:
Asana is basically a Sanskrit word that means the posture of the body. So, Yoga asana means physical postures or poses that are practiced in Yoga to make your body and mind healthy, and to improve the strength and flexibility of the body.
There are so many Yoga asanas that prove beneficial in one way or the other for your body and mind. The technique of meditation keeps your mind cool and stress-free, leading you toward a depression-free and emotionally balanced life. There are various breathing techniques included in the asanas as well. In short, Yoga asanas are extremely important for your overall well-being.
Different Types of Yoga:
Basically, there are 4 types of Yoga that present 4 aspects of the human body, namely body, mind, emotion, and energy. These Yoga are – Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Kriya Yoga. These are briefly explained below:
Karma Yoga:
It is the ‘Yoga of Action.’ It emphasizes selfless service and not worrying about what fruits your actions bear. It makes a person down to earth, humble, selfless, and responsible. Thus, it is concerned with the use of physical action to evolve spiritually.
Jnana Yoga:
It is the ‘Yoga of Knowledge and Wisdom.’ It emphasizes self-discovery with the help of study and meditation. It makes you aware of yourself and the universe and helps you in overcoming ignorance.
Bhakti Yoga:
It is the ‘Yoga of Devotion.’ It emphasizes being lovable, compassionate, and devoted to a spiritual ideal or a deity. It is concerned with guiding your emotions toward the supreme power.
Kriya Yoga:
It is the path of reaching the ultimate by collecting and directing your inner energies in one direction. It needs the purity of body, mind, and soul to walk on the spiritual path.
Apart from these, there are other types of Yoga as well, these are:
Hatha Yoga:
It is the most famous type of Yoga that is used by even beginners. It is popular abroad as well. It contains various exercises and breathing techniques to strike a balance between the body and mind.
Vinyasa Yoga:
This is done in a flow where each body movement is related to the breath inhaled or exhaled. Thus, there is a synchronization between the body movements and the breathing patterns.
Ashtanga Yoga:
This yoga is done at a fast pace while keeping body movements and breathing synchronized. This is a complex form of yoga that involves a lot of physical movement.
Iyengar Yoga:
This kind of Yoga uses various props like blocks, straps, etc. to maintain the balance of the body. Its emphasis is on making the alignment of the body better.
Bikram Yoga:
This yoga contains 26 postures in total and all the postures are to be performed in a heated room where the temperatures range from 95° F to 105° F.
Kundalini Yoga:
This Yoga is concerned with awakening the energy lying at the base of the spine. Various breathing, chanting, and meditation techniques are used to perform this Yoga.
Yin Yoga:
In this method of Yoga, the postures are needed to be held for a longer period of time, so that the strength and flexibility of the body can be improved.
Yang Yoga:
This method of Yoga aims at building body strength, endurance, and flexibility of muscles. In it, a sequence of poses is performed in a particular time period and one body pose is held for a small amount of time. This helps in generating heat and energy in the body. It improves heart health and tones the muscles.
Restorative Yoga:
This is a gentle and relaxing form of Yoga that makes use of props. In it passive poses are held for a longer period of time with the aid of props to relax the body and mind.
Power Yoga:
It is an intense and vigorous form of Yoga. In it, a sequence of poses is performed while synchronizing the breathing pattern. It is useful for those people who are looking for a tough form of workout to make the body strong, and flexible, and improve endurance.
Tantra Yoga:
Tantra means ‘Technique.’ So, tantra yoga is done to awaken the kundalini energy to achieve spiritual transformation. It is often related to sexual practices, but it is not so. Some forms of tantra yoga do have sexual techniques, but its main aim is to raise a person physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Aerial Yoga:
This kind of Yoga makes use of a swing to perform various Yoga poses. Swing helps to stretch the body and makes it more flexible. Apart from being fun, it makes balancing better.
Raja or Classical Yoga:
It is a traditional kind of Yoga that aims at meditation and the Eight Limbs of Yoga. It is basically connected with spiritual enlightenment.
Face Yoga:
As the name implies, this kind of Yoga aims at the muscles lying in the facial and neck area. The muscles get strengthened and toned. Apart from facial exercises, various massage techniques are also used in it to reduce the signs of aging, even out skin tone, and release tension from facial and neck areas.
Prenatal Yoga:
This Yoga has been designed keeping pregnant women in mind. Simple Yoga poses and breathing methods are included in it so that pregnant women can perform them without must difficulty. This reduces stress in pregnant women and various issues like back pain, tiredness, etc. are also kept at bay.
