You may have heard about the healing and spiritual benefits of yoga, and perhaps you want to try it. How do you get started? A first thing you might do is to let friends know that you are seeking a yoga class and see what you find out via word of mouth. See our Yoga.com Teacher directory with a link in the "Studio" section at the top of our pages. Or consider a starter package with everything you need to get going (See the Shop Section of the Yoga.com Website).
What style of yoga should I choose?
Below is a list of some different types of yoga you may discover in your community. Finding a teacher with experience, and one you feel a connection with is a place to begin. Often, you can try out a class the first time for free. If you are wanting to start very slowly, go for an easy, gentle, or restorative class. Svaroopa Yoga and Iyengar Yoga are style to seek if you are worried about some physical problem. Find a very experienced teacher who has dealt with students with your problem, such as a bad back. Ashtanga and Power Yoga have been curative for athletes, runners and people with other injuries. Practicing power yoga has helped my computer wrist pain go away. Do yoga very mindfully to make sure you don't make any problem worse.
If you want a vigorous practice with an intense workout, try Bikram, ashtanga, or power yoga. You will move from pose to pose continuously and are likely to feel great afterward, if this is the style you seek. A certified Iyengar teacher will guide you into the details of poses, probably starting with standing poses which are considered the foundation of a yoga practice. The class is a learning experience and not as much of a workout, though it can be very challenging to do Iyengar Yoga. Mats are used in almost all yoga classes to prevent slipping, but Iyengar Style uses many other props like straps and blocks to assist the student.
A good teacher will adapt poses to all bodies in the class so that each feels like they are having individual attention. Look for a responsive teacher who looks at bodies and makes helpful suggestions about which way to move. Don't ever feel you need to be doing the perfect pose and that there is judgement if your pose is corrected. Take it humbly as learning, and know that each body is different with some folks having ease at some poses and difficulty with others. Each person has some things they are better at. Yoga is never a competition, but a time for going inward to learn what the body is saying.
If you like chanting, try Kundalini or Sivananda Yoga. Kundalini has a focus on the breath, and is a moving, somewhat energetic practice.
Some yoga classes may have a meditation period at the end. Yoga was originally designed as a means to calm the body and prepare for meditation. Many teachers like to have a time at the end of the class for everyone to do savasana or corpse pose. You will lie on your back and breath mindfully in a totally relaxed but aware state and feel the wonderful effects of doing yoga. Go ahead and experiment, and go to different classes and try different yoga videos to get the flavor of styles you might want to try. Regularly practicing will make you fall in love with yoga and the benefits on your body, mind, and spirit.
Ashtanga or astanga yoga as taught by K. Pattabhi Jois is becoming more popular, as are other types of yoga. Expect the teacher to move the students through a sequence of poses which are followed in daily practice, with the same series until it is mastered to some degree. Then the student moves on to practice another series of poses which are more difficult. The series of poses (asanas) is called a vinyasa. A vinyasa involves weaving in a combination of standing, seated, backbends, inversions, balancing, and twisting poses into sun salutation poses which include a standing forward bend, upward dog, downward dog, and other poses. There is a focus on breath and focal point of the eyes as one does a specific prescribed series of poses, moving one to another. Sometimes a room is heated as one does ashtanga, which causes the muscles to be very flexible.
"After ashtanga I feel strong and because of the breath-posture link, the class has a quicker flow (than Bikram Yoga.)"
Bikram Yoga originates from Bikram Choudhury. His system has 26 postures, which are practiced in a regular sequence in a heated room. Bikram Yoga requires certainlevel of fitness and is vigorous. The Bikram series is warms and stretches muscles, ligaments and tendons in the order in which they should be stretched. This yoga has been helpful in removing symptoms of disease and chronic pain in the body, which seems to work if the practitioner keeps up a regular practice.
"I think after a Bikram class i feel 'lighter' and it's a slower practice than the ashtanga classes I have attended."
