(Hatha) Yoga (for Health)

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Types of Yoga Poses

There are hundreds of yoga poses, but here are fundamental movements to bring you into your practice:

Standing yoga poses: Standing poses are often done first in a yoga class to build heat as a warmup. In vinyasa flow, standing yoga poses are performed sequentially to form sequences. Hatha classes typically have yogis do standing poses with rest between.
Balancing yoga poses: Beginners' balances are an important way to build core strength for advanced yoga poses. Though balances may seem challenging initially, they will improve with regular practice.
Backbends: Beginners generally start with gentle spine flexion (bending forward) and extension (bending backward), eventually moving to deeper bends. Since daily life rarely requires you to move like this, backbends are essential for spinal health and longevity.
Seated yoga poses: Seated stretches, focusing on hip and hamstring mobility, are usually done near the end of a yoga class after your body is warm. Placing a folded yoga blanket or block under your butt is an excellent way to make yourself more comfortable.
Resting or supine yoga poses: It's essential to get to know your resting yoga poses, especially child's pose, which you are encouraged to do whenever you need a break. These resting yoga poses continue hip and hamstring work and provide gentle back-bending, twisting, and inversion.

Different Schools

Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga focuses on posture and breathing techniques to channel vital energy sources. In Sanskrit, Hatha translates to force. The practice involves breath, body, and mind, and classes are usually 45 minutes to 90 minutes and include breathing, yoga poses, and meditation.

Hatha yoga breathing techniques can be traced back to the 1st Century in both Buddhist and Hindu texts. It was another 1,000 years before the use of yoga postures, or asanas, and breath control was recorded to enhance vital energy.

Ashtanga*

Kundalini*

Iyengar*

Vinyasa Flow

This popular style, also called vinyasa flow, links movement and breath.

Vinyasa yoga, also called flow because of the smooth way the poses run together, is one of the most popular contemporary styles of yoga. It's a broad classification that encompasses many different types of yoga, including Ashtanga and power yoga. Here is what you need to know about vinyasa yoga.

Vinyasa stands in opposition to hatha. Hatha classes focus on one pose at a time, with rest in between. In contrast, flow classes string poses together to make a sequence. Due to vinyasa's more active nature, you should ideally be wearing clothes that move with you in lightweight, sweat-wicking material. A sports bra for yoga will also provide the right amount of support to carry you through flow of your poses.

The sequence may be fixed, as in Ashtanga, in which the poses are always done in the same order. But most of the time, vinyasa teachers have the discretion to arrange the progression of poses in their own ways.

In vinyasa yoga, each movement is synchronized with a breath. The breath is given primacy, acting as an anchor as you move from one pose to the next.

A cat-cow stretch is an example of a very simple vinyasa. The spine is arched on an inhale and rounded on an exhale. A sun salutation sequence is a more complex vinyasa. Each movement in the series is cued by an inhalation or an exhalation of the breath.

Some popular yoga styles fall under the vinyasa umbrella, including Jivamukti, CorePower, Baptiste Power Vinyasa, and Modo. If a class is identified as vinyasa yoga, it may use aspects of several different traditions.

Power Yoga*

Poses (Asanas)

Standing

Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose)

Parivrtta Trikonasana (Revolved Triangle Pose) provides a powerful opportunity to build concentration and awareness. This twist requires you to stay in the moment, which is a valuable antidote for a wandering mind. And by giving yourself over to the more physically difficult elements of the posture, you can improve your practice of ekagrata, or one-pointed focus. Parivrtta Trikonasana is a strong counter-pose to Utthita Trikonasana (Extended Triangle Pose), and serves to improve balance, and build stability, among many other benefits.

In Revolved Triangle, it’s extremely important not to over-twist the neck, and instead focus on the muscles in the middle and upper back. “The tendency for most of us is to twist where it’s easy and avoid twisting where it’s not,” explains Yoga Journal contributor Natasha Rizopoulos. “This usually means that you will overwork the neck, which is relatively mobile, and underwork the middle and upper back, the parts of the spine that in many people are about as malleable and responsive as a block of cement.”

When you overwork an area, you run the risk of making it vulnerable to injury. If you can keep integrity in the rest of your body rather than falling into the trap of over-twisting the neck, Parivrtta Trikonasana can help work a needed and undervalued area of the body: the thoracic spine. And, working the muscles in an area that you perhaps typically forget can create a valuable opportunity to enhance the presence of the mind in relation to the body.

Sanskrit: Parivrtta Trikonasana

Revolved Triangle Pose: Step-by-step instructions

Begin in Tadasana (Mountain Pose) at the top of your mat.
Step or lightly jump your feet 3 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.
Turn your left foot in slightly and your right foot out to 90 degrees. Align your right heel with your left heel. Firm your thighs and turn your right thigh outward, so the center of your right kneecap is in line with the center of the right ankle.
Exhale and extend your torso to the right, directly over the plane of your right leg, bending from the hip joint, not the waist. Anchor this movement by strengthening your left leg and pressing your outer heel firmly to the floor. Rotate your torso to the left, keeping the left and right sides of your torso equally long. Let your left hip come slightly forward and lengthen your tailbone toward the back heel.
Rest your right hand on your shin or ankle or the floor outside your right foot—whatever is possible without distorting the sides of your torso. Stretch your left arm toward the ceiling, in line with the tops of your shoulders. Keep your head in a neutral position or turn it to the left, eyes gazing softly at your left thumb.
Stay in this pose for 30 to 60 seconds. Inhale to come up, strongly pressing your back heel into the floor and reaching your top arm toward the ceiling. Reverse your e feet and repeat for the same length of time on the other side.

Variations: [...]