Yoga is celebrated widely across the globe. But, its significance in America bloomed since 2014. Read to know the importance of yoga benefits in US.

 

Hatha yoga is considered the foundation of many styles of yoga, such as Bikram yoga and Kundalini yoga. Some yogi masters define this discipline as "the yoga of force" others as the union of two opposites: "Ha" (sun) and "tha" (moon). The practice of this type of yoga is very popular and is an excellent option for those who want to start on the path of yoga.

 

What is Hatha yoga?

 

Hatha yoga is a very slow type of yoga whose main objective is to unite the body, mind, and spirit through smooth and simple movements that connect one asana with another. This type of yoga is ideal to practice after work, as it offers to reinforce health and vitality, which considerably reduces body stress and provides a calm mind.

 

Hatha yoga  is made up of several elements :

 

• Asanas  - postures.
• Shodhana  - cleaning practices.
• Pranayama  - breathing exercises.
• Mudra  - hand gestures.
• Badha  - locks.

 

Nowadays  Hatha yoga is the most practiced type of yoga, for this reason, it is taught in almost all yoga centers in the world. However, its popularity has been a factor against some yogis, since this boom has allowed its contribution as physical exercise to be more relevant than its relaxation, meditation and breathing techniques, which offer to reach a true mental and spiritual balance.

 

Hatha Yoga: Benefits of Your Learning

 

Among the main benefits of Hatha yoga stands out its slow and soft style that allows the body and the mind to connect with each other in order to reduce stress, promote calm, feel each breath and connect with the interior. It is a type of yoga that is lived and felt fully through the awareness of the breath.

 

Many people practice this traditional yoga because it is a great physical exercise that requires exercising, stretching, and mobilizing almost all the muscles in the body, allowing greater flexibility, strength, and toning to be achieved. Another of the benefits of Hatha yoga is that it helps promote correct body posture, being a highly recommended discipline for all those who have pain in the lower back, who have herniated discs or who suffer from sciatica.

 

Who Can Practice Hatha Yoga?

 

This is another of the benefits of Hatha yoga: it can be practiced by anyone. Any yoga teacher dedicated to teaching Hatha has the necessary faculties to help initiate a beginner in the practice of this discipline, even if they have never done yoga in their life.

To do Hatha yoga you do not need a strong, fit, or flexible body, on the contrary, those are characteristics that you can achieve through the practice of this discipline. The yoga teacher is responsible for adapting each pose to the individual needs of their students.

 

The path of yoga is very long and Hatha is the best discipline to start walking. If you are looking for a type of yoga that allows you to exercise while learning to be aware of your breathing to order your thoughts: Hatha yoga is for you!

 

How to Design a Hatha Yoga Routine

 

An ideal Hatha yoga routine should be composed of an initial warm-up that you can carry out by performing the sun salutation and pranayama. Then it is time to start practicing the asanas, which must include extension, torsion, flexion, inclination, meditation, and, finally, relaxation.

 

Each yoga teacher can design their own Hatha yoga routine by combining a series of traditional asanas and selecting the pranayamas and relaxation and meditation techniques that they consider most effective. For this reason, a yoga class is always different, because there are many elements that make it up.

 

When practicing yoga you should take it seriously,  this discipline will not be as effective for you if you do not listen carefully to each of the instructions when performing the asanas and if you do not coordinate your breathing with your movements. Therefore, if you have never practiced Hatha yoga, it is best to go to a professional yoga center where you can learn from the hands of real experts.

 

1. To discover more of the secrets and benefits of Hatha Yoga go to [www.vishuddhiyoga.com] There you will be able to access articles and resources relating to Hatha Yoga, ashtanga yoga, vinyasa flow yoga, etc.

Shivsiddh Yogpeeth is an organization to promote and teach Yoga in India as well as abroad. Yoga Teacher Training in India is designed to make people experience the real Yogic lifestyle. The courses and Retreats offered here are for those who want to fulfill their life and desire for life. And people who want to change their lifestyle. We offer 200 Hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training Course in Rishikesh, the perfect destination for those who want to learn systematically in Rishikesh as well as want to become a professional Teacher internationally. If you are a beginner and want to become a professional Teacher, we have a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Course in Rishikesh designed by our experienced Teachers and this course paves the way to becoming a Teacher. During our 200 Hour Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training Course in Rishikesh, there are various asanas and preferences that nourish within every yogi through various Yoga practices like our Teacher Training program Pranayama, Meditation, Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga Asanas, Yoga Darshan, etc. And want to share its ancient knowledge, it is highly recommended to pursue teacher training in our school.

 

 

In general, it is difficult to write and photograph yoga in order for it to be an instructive material. The nature of yoga is movement, and a lot is learned through one's own experimentation and from others.

The Power of Ashtanga Yoga is thorough. The book is broken into two sections: theory and practice. Even if you have other books which describe and show poses, the theory section is worthwhile.

Kino goes into detail about the importance aspects of the practice, interspersing small facts about her own experiences. You get about 50 pages of theory. She has many recommendations and suggestions for practitioners. She details the yogic philosophy in an easy manner without getting too complicated.

I can't really say that this is an introductory book to yoga. That is not to say that ashtanga isn't for beginners, but it would be beneficial to go to a class or at least watch a video of ashtanga and then go through the book. However, I think this is more a limitation of a printed book as a medium for yoga instruction.

One helpful appendix is the sanskrit vinyasa count of all the poses, which lists inhalation and exhalation along with the count.

I think her descriptions of the poses are done well. She really goes into a lot of detail and while reading, everything made sense to me. I didn't find any portions where it seemed to skip a step.

There are modifications for beginners and advanced practictioners.

Kino has a really positive attitude, which comes through in this book. I have put this next to my yoga mat and have been referencing it every day since I have received it. Because it's a larger book, the book and the pages stay open by themselves - quite handy while practicing.

Sacred Fire captures the emotional journey of Kino MacGregor and her spiritual awakening as she discovers the power of ashtanga yoga. This memoir barely mentions yoga poses, let alone techniques, which I was kind of hoping for, since Kino is an amazing advanced practitioner.

Nevertheless, it documents her battle with negative body image and an unknowing hatred against men. Through the practice and medication, Kino heals herself. She accepts her body and recognizes a true yogi has everything they need on the inside, just waiting to be found. Although I have not had the same types of hardship as Kino, I felt empathetic to her struggle in finding peace. The memoir is written like a journal in an easy to read way. Kino recounts certain events, with salient imagery, and her emotional, spiritual, and physicals state in them. Although the memoir does move forward in time, it isn't strictly linear. She doesn't burden the reader with references to yoga and Hinduism, but clearly states when she does, and the meaning, and it is all in small doses. In fact, she doesn't really describe ashtanga yoga clearly, but as an ashtanga practitioner, I didn't mind. She focuses on her journey rather than trying to write some yoga education.

She writes in depth about her visits to Mysore and her relationship with the late Guruji. Her struggle in changing her feminist, modern, American attitude to meet with the Indian way of life gave insight on to how women yoga practitioners may feel (although Kino did not write about taking time off for ladies' holidays! Too private I suppose).

Her accounts of visions/dreams are interesting. I am not someone who believes that they have concrete meaning outside of our minds, but I have no experience with any of the sort, so I am trying to keep an open mind. Kino herself doesn't even try to categorize them. I wonder if finding the way to inner peace and calm involves reliving unconscious memory of oneself or even someone else. Kino suggests it's necessary to remove these blocks in order to find peace. It's provoking to think that one could even experience memory of outside oneself, but I suppose I will leave that thought hanging.