YOGA
A little about Yoga
The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit word 'Yuj' meaning union, join or bring together.
Yoga helps to unite mind, body and breath, bringing harmony between them.
It combines physical exercises, breathing techniques and meditation to strengthen the body and calm the mind, ultimately bringing you more peace, health and happiness.
There are so many health benefits of practising Yoga. Slow and mindful movements combined with deep breathing create space and awareness in the body, while holding postures improves strength, flexibility and balance.
Yoga can help to enhance energy levels and boost your mood, certain postures (known as asanas) help to awaken energy within the body, and others can be deeply relaxing.
Physical Yoga compliments and enhances all other physical activities such as surfing, swimming, running, cycling and much more. Regular Yoga can help to improve posture and alleviate postural related aches or pains. This in turn can also help with lower back pain as well as providing more mobility and stability to the spine.
Breath awareness is such a vital part of Yoga. Yogic breathing techniques (known as pranayama) focus on breathing fully and deeply, whilst slowing down and regulating the breath help you to feel calmer, balanced and more present. This can give you more mental stability, whilst improving concentration and awareness.
Yogic breathing, mindfulness and meditation all help to decrease stress and anxiety, which can help to support mental health and promote a healthier lifestyle.
On top of all these benefits, Yoga is a wonderful way to take some time out of our busy lifestyles and just connect to your own body and breath, turning your attention and energy inward whilst bringing you into the present moment.
Vinyasa
Vinyasa Yoga focuses on linking movement with breath in a beautiful flowing and energetic sequence. Pairing movement with breath can be quite a dynamic style of Yoga, generating heat in the body. Vinyasa is a really fun, expressive and free style of Yoga, great for anyone from beginners to experienced Yogis.
Hatha
Hatha Yoga is slower style which involves a set of physical postures (asanas) and breathing techniques, practised more slowly and with longer static posture holds than a Vinyasa flow or Ashtanga class.
Ashtanga
Ashtanga is a strong and powerful style of Yoga that follows a specific sequence of postures, performing exactly the same postures in exactly the same order every time. Ashtanga is a strict style of Yoga, which really allows you to delve deep into yourself and your own personal practise.
Restorative
In restorative Yoga props are used to support the body so you can completely relax, while poses are held for a longer period of time. Restorative Yoga focuses on slowing down and allowing the body to open though passive stretching, trying not to hold any muscular tension at all and just using props, the ground and gravity to do all the work.
Styles of Yoga
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