Sunday, July 17, 2011

All You Need to Know About Power Yoga

Yoga is a traditional practice which includes postures (asanas) to get union of the mind, body and spirit. There are many types of yoga and each one is carried out to improve the connection of mind-body-spirit. “Power Yoga” is one of the yoga types. It is among the best ways to stay fit and healthy. It is a unique combination of breathing, meditation and postures which are designed to develop strength, control, balance, co-ordination and flexibility. Compared to traditional yoga, power yoga is more energetic, fitness based as well as holds poses longer.

Power yoga is recognized as the western version of Ashtanga yoga. Two Western students (Beryl Bender Birch and Bryan Kest) of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois created "power yoga" in the 90s. They created this yoga as a way of making Ashtanga Yoga more popular among Western students. Power yoga let people to perform yoga in a more lively, energetic and appealing way. It involves aerobic exercises and continuous strenuous movement. To some extent power yoga is similar to Ashtanga yoga, but it is more accessible and geared towards western style yogis.

Power yoga practice includes specific series of moves as well as unites 3 yogic concepts such as tristhana, vinyasa and internal purification. The difference between Ashtanga yoga and power yoga exercises is that power yoga does not stick to a preset sequence of poses. Power yoga is perfect for the people who look for physical benefits and would rather give up the meditation and repeating aspects of traditional yoga. Like martial arts or any fitness program, power yoga also needs lots of devotion.

Power yoga is a combination of Bikram yoga and Ashtanga yoga. It provides thorough and intense cardiovascular and strength workout to practitioners. The same postures like "regular" yoga are used in power yoga. It includes the breath in a flowing practice and needs you to move steadily from one asana to another. To enhance physical endurance and concentration, some poses of yoga are held longer but most of the postures flow flawlessly into each other. The backbone of power yoga is Surya Namaskar (sun salutation) sequence.

There are 2 steps of power yoga training. 1st step revolves around two important approaches: synchronizing mind & body and flushing out the toxins from the body. 2nd step give attention on raising muscle flexibility & stamina as well work by cleansing nervous channels. Power yoga classes begin with warm-up as poses generally need deep stretching which can injure stiff muscles. In power yoga class, students perform Surya Namaskar (sun salutation) with standing, seated, back-bend and inversion poses. These poses are held for longer compared to regular yoga. To promote flexibility and accelerate detoxification process, power yoga classes are often performed in heated rooms.

Benefits of Power Yoga:

  • Improves strength of muscle as well as tone them.
  • Power yoga flushes out toxins as well as cleanses the system.
  • It improves concentration, calorie burning and lean muscle tissue.
  • Power yoga helps to decrease stress & tension as well as relax the mind & body.
  • Power yoga also improves core strength as it exercises your back and stomach muscles.
  • It also helps to maintain good posture as well as cure old and new injuries.
  • Power yoga increases the circulation of blood which results in healthy & glowing skin.
  • It boosts immune system & mental clarity as well as decreases pains triggered by stress.
  • It enhances joint flexibility, stamina, lung volume, metabolic rate, physical endurance and heart efficiency.
Video of Power Yoga Total Body Workout from youtube:


Video of Power Yoga for Beginners from youtube:

1 comments:

Thanks for posting here such a nice information about power yoga. Good to know about the yoga. Thanks for sharing here with us.

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