Yoga is much more than just exercise for keeping the body fit it’s also about balancing the mind. Yoga is based on a series of exercises or poses as they are called and it takes a lot of perseverance and practice to master. Practicing yoga on a daily basis will improve your health; strengthen your resistance and Develop mental awareness.

Doing yoga requires that you study and learn different sets of poses. Each pose is done slowly and requires you to control both your body and mind. For the beginner it is easier to learn the various poses one at a time until you know it off by heart before moving onto a new pose.

Warm up routine

As with any form of exercise getting into the habit of performing a warm up routine is essential, the poses of yoga require your body to be supple and warming up before hand is essential. Warming up exercises for yoga consists of performing various poses, each of these poses have names as do the yoga exercises themselves.

Standing poses

The standing poses in yoga consist of the triangle pose, Hands to feet, the Side standing stretch pose, Stand spread leg forward pose, Warrior pose ,tree pose and sun Salutation.

Sitting poses

This set of warm up poses can be done whilst sitting down They consist of spread leg forward pose, Hero pose, seat forward bend and The child pose.

Twist poses

These poses are excellent for strengthening the back and will also tone abdominal muscles and improve digestion.

Supine poses

This set of poses is done lying down, face up. They consist of the leg reclining lunge, legs raise, legs pulls and wind relieving poses.

Inverted posture and balance poses

Shoulder stand, head stand and plough poses help increase the circulation, stimulate the brain and help with relieving pressure on the abdominal organs. They also help Enhance the glandular system.

Backbends

Backbend yoga poses help to strengthen the arms; Legs, abdomen and stomach. They also help to keep the spine supple.

Finishing poses

The corpse pose, savasana and final corpse pose are the cooling down poses in yoga, they allow the body and mind to relax and focus at the end of the yoga routine.

Just as there are different poses to be learnt in yoga there are also different styles, though each style has common grounds they all have there own unique features.

Hatha yoga

Hatha yoga is one of the most popular styles of yoga and it from this style that other styles have originated such as Power yoga, Kundalini, ashtanga yoga and Bikram yoga.

Kundalini yoga

This form of yoga focuses on awakening our Kundalini; this is energy which is found at the base of the spine.

Bikram yoga

These types of yoga focus on breathing techniques know as the “Breath of fire”.

Ashtanga yoga

For those who like an intense workout then this is the style of yoga for you, it consists of a challenging set of poses which focus primarily on breathing.

Power yoga

This is a challenging set of poses which are both physically and mentally demanding which are said to help connect you to your inner power.