Last Updated on January 17, 2021 by Jeff
To get you started, listed here are some of the many kinds of yoga.
Click through to learn more about each yoga practice and to see videos of each style:
The Mental Yoga or Raja Yoga: This kind of yoga will mainly benefit you mentally and it includes four main parts. Dhyana which means meditation, Dharana means concentration, Pratyahara means abstraction and Samadhi means hyperconsciousness. Raja yoga can help you feel pleasant, positive and powerful.
The Devotional Yoga or Bhakti Yoga: This is more towards religion and involves mantras and puja. The word Bhakti itself means devotion and mainly, the rivers, the trees, the moon and the sun are worshipped. This kind of yoga will help you emotionally.
The Yoga of Action or Karma Yoga: Just as the name suggests, this kind of yoga involves action. The principle behind this is that there is a cause behind every effect. New causes will lead to effects. This will help you establish positivity in life and ward away all the selfish thoughts.
The Yoga of Knowledge or Jnana Yoga: This focuses on wisdom. When you practice this kind of yoga, you will believe only in higher consciousness. It will help you concentrate, relax and calm down.
The Yoga of Sounds or Mantra Yoga: When you practice this kind of yoga, you chant phrases or words. When you chant a word or a phrase with concentration, your emotions and mind transcend and you achieve super-consciousness. You should begin with chanting loudly until you feel that your mind is relaxed. After that, you should whisper and later, chant only mentally.
Physical Yoga or Hatha Yoga: With this yoga, all your physical tensions will be released and you will be helped mentally as well as physically. Your stress will be reduced while your vitality will be enhanced. You will be healthy and relaxed. This kind of yoga mainly involves flexing your body through stretching and exercising. Through these, you can live a long, healthy and happy life.
These are not the only kinds of yoga. The list of yoga practices is never-ending and when you look for yoga online, you will see just how much depth there is to it. Some other kinds of yoga are Tantra Yoga that focuses on consciousness, Laya Yoga for letting go worries and gaining strength, Kriya Yoga that focuses on self-surrender and self-study among the many others. The most recent type of yoga is the Power Yoga, which is merely a simplified form of Hatha Yoga, practiced in America.
Yoga and Its Benefits
In simple words, yoga may be defined as a meditation that cleanses you not just physically but also mentally. It relaxes your mind, body and soul. Thus, it is recommended for each and every person and that is also the reason why it has become so popular that you can easily find free online yoga today.
The practice of yoga dates back to thousands of years ago. It is believed that it was first practiced in North India. Until recently it was believed to have a religious and spiritual edge to it but today the practice of yoga has spread far and wide because of its numerous benefits. It is very popular all over the world because of the wonders it does to those who practice it regularly. You can either join yoga classes or look over the Internet for online yoga class. Free online yoga is highly preferable mainly because it is free and you have the convenience of practicing it in your house.
The Various Benefits of Yoga:
Physical Benefits: The main physical benefits include enhanced flexibility, strength and breathing. Since yoga involves a number of stretching exercises, your body will be very flexible and that will lead to better muscle and joint movement. When practiced regularly, hamstrings, hips, back and shoulders will also be stretched and will become more flexible. Yoga also helps you gain better balance and attain better support. Through a few yoga poses, you can also help your strength such as balancing on a leg. The breathing exercises will help your lungs and this will cater to overall physical development. Your health will thus be benefited from every angle.
Mental Benefits: On the mental level, yoga will help you lower your stress levels and calm you down significantly. Times are tough today and stress and tension attack you from every side. You may have personal problems; work pressure and family responsibilities and sometimes, all these tensions can take you down. If you let your tensions overpower you, you will never be concentrate on anything. Leading life confidently and positively is very important and this is exactly what yoga will help you with. Alongside, your concentration will increase; you will calm down and feel relaxed.
Spiritual Benefits: Yoga soothes you spiritually to make you a better person. Patience is a virtue but sadly, it is rare today. If you practice yoga, you will learn to be patient even amidst turmoil. You will learn not to act on impulse and to forgive. You will not only be more aware of yourself but also of the surroundings and feelings of other people. Overall, you will be a much better person inside out.
The Various Kinds of Yoga:
Done wrong, yoga can be very harmful. You could even end up injuring yourself. Hence you must be very careful about it especially if you are a beginner. Joining yoga classes for beginners is the best way to start and as aforementioned, you could choose free online yoga too. However you should be careful with the free yoga videos you download because some of them may be useless. Knowing something about yoga beforehand thus and going through a yoga journal to learn about the various kinds of yoga will thus help you a lot in choosing the right free online yoga tutorial.
Finding Your Practice
While joining yoga groups and classes is a good idea, the fact that free online yoga is so easily available attracts numerous people today. The internet has indeed made everything easier to access. With one click of the mouse you can download free online yoga videos and practice free yoga in the convenience of your house. There are many videos that are free to download on popular sites like YouTube. You should however ensure that you download only those free online yoga videos that teach you how to do yoga properly and not those that rush through session or give inadequate information. Going through feedback from previous users can give you an insight about the particular video so that you are saved the hassle of downloading a number of free online yoga videos or tutorials.
YouTube and podcasts are however not the only place where you can have access to such yoga videos. Yoga gurus and experts today are also setting up their own websites with detailed yoga tutorials that are free to download. The practitioners will take you step-by-step, give your information about yoga and what you require to practice yoga [such as the right yoga mat] and help you perform yoga correctly.
With such great facilities provided to you and free online yoga for you to access whenever and however you want, you must take advantage because yoga indeed helps you live a happy, healthy and peaceful life.