Yoga Styles

Hiking on Sundays is one of the pleasurable activities I do each week. Some hikes are straight forward and relatively easy, some are more complicated, and some are downright difficult. I liken these hikes to the practice of yoga.

The easy hikes are those trails or roads that are clearly the path to follow; the more complicated ones usually are in the boonies and we have to follow ribbons marking the trail. As long as we follow the ribbons we can start and finish. Then there are those trails with a rainbow of colored ribbons of red, pink, yellow, green, blue, and white. We almost always get lost on those trails, winding up and down, searching for the right marker, which we do eventually as we hear someone's triumphant cry, "I found it!" And we love all the hikes, lost or not.

Long ago, original yoga practice involved few poses, and was taught one-on-one with a student (male only) who studied for many years under the tutelage of a guru, who taught not only yoga poses, but also proper personal and social behaviors, pranayama (breathing), and meditation. Nowadays, yoga has become a stand-alone practice, with many different styles and taught en mass in a classroom. A student can go to classes such as Iyengar, Ashtanga, Power, Bickram, Kundalini, Anusara, etc. Like the multi-colored ribbons on a trail, one can get seriously lost as to which path to follow. I usually encourage students to try out different yoga classes, much as I do myself. But I also want to encourage everyone to choose a certain direction as a foundation for personal practice. So that when one goes to different classes and enjoy different teachers and styles, the basic foundation remains.

For instance, I was trained in the Iyengar style by a teacher who studied under Iyengar for many years. This style stresses proper alignment, breathing and the use of props. Over the years, I have attended classes of other teaching styles. I enjoy them greatly and have learned to expand and modify various poses for a more fun practice for my class. But the foundation of alignment, breathing, and props remain intact, so that if one scratches the surface of the variation of poses I teach, one will find Iyengar leading the way.

Depending on your personality, and your purpose in practicing yoga, you can also search around and find just the style you like and follow that style. But keep the door open to enjoy all classes and flavors, even if you do get lost every now and then.

"Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate." --- Chuang-tzu ---

Namaste,

Clarie