Ashtanga yoga is a series of advanced yoga postures, performed in a detailed order, that emphasize the flow and breath between movements. This yoga comprises six levels of seated poses and standing poses. It has been known as one of the most popular forms of yoga in the Western world. The practice stresses the intense level of physical strength, flexibility, and endurance, which explains why many people see it as a hard and challenging workout.
Whether you’re just beginning out in yoga or looking for something new as your goals change, adding It’s class to your everyday workout is a good way to keep your mind and body healthy and strong. In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits, tips, and more about this yoga style.
What Is Ashtanga Yoga
Ashtanga yoga is a dynamic style of yoga that follows a series of poses (asanas). Thousands of people around the world practice it. Because it follows the same series of poses, the practice has remained constant around the world, making it a truly universal practice.
It translates from Sanskrit to Yoga of the Eight Limbs and was taught by the sage Patanjali. Today this Yoga is commonly referred to as the yoga practice of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois taught by Sri T. Krishnamacharya and is now practiced in Ashtanga Yoga studios around the world.
How To Practice Ashtanga
Ashtanga yoga guides our bodies through a series of poses, helping us understand the limits of our flexibility. With time, patience, and practice, we can experience increased flexibility. For some, it will be a lot, for others maybe not so much.
Typically, students begin an Ashtanga practice with five recurrences of Sun Salutation A and Sun Salutation B. This is tailed by a set of standing poses, in 5 recurrences, then a set of seated poses. After you have learned these three pose sequences, your coach will guide you through the advanced sequence, Advanced A, Advanced B, Advanced C, and D. This yoga practice follows the same postures, so each class begins with a series of sun salutations. This challenges the body to move in physically demanding poses such as the plank, lower plank, and downward dog. Therefore, from the very beginning, the body is asked to perform various weight-bearing positions.
Benefits Of Ashtanga Yoga
- Increased strength and flexibility, improved well-being, and improved overall health are just some of the many reasons Ashtanga yoga is such a popular yoga style around the world. Yes, it follows a sequence of poses, but we can modify the exercise as needed.
- Ashtanga Yoga offers many other benefits to help you live a strong, happy, and, productive life.
- It is known to be energetic, so it is great for athletes and people that are looking for good exercise.
- Regular yoga practice can advance your flexibility, breathing, and balance. It can increase your endurance, bone density, and muscle strength, control your body weight, lower your blood pressure, and discharge stress.
- The benefits of this yoga are not only limited to physical aspects. It also helps mentally and spiritually by boosting mental intelligibility, creating mental calmness, and increasing a better concentration in daily life.
Tips For Beginners
- Start small and build up gradually, don’t chew too much.
- While it may be tempting to jump into a full beginner series, as someone new to Ashtanga yoga, I recommend you start with sun salutations.
- If you are watching the full beginner series of videos to motivate your practice, follow along with part one and watch as many as you want.
- Then, when you’re ready to wrap up, continue with the final finishing pose to complete your practice.
- Once you’ve mastered the basics of sun salutation, you can move on to the standing pose, then the seated pose, until you’ve completed the entire beginner series.
- Ashtanga yoga guides our bodies through a series of poses, helping us understand the limits of our flexibility.
- With time, patience, and practice, we can experience increased flexibility.
FAQs
Is Ashtanga yoga Good For beginners?
As it is complex, precise, and physically challenging, Ashtanga is not the best style of yoga for beginners to practice, but beginners are still welcome to start.
What happens if you practice Ashtanga yoga daily?
Your body will adapt to the practice more quickly if you practice consistently. Your flexibility and strength increase at a faster rate with everyday practice. It’s easier to implement into a daily routine that you can stick to.
Does Ashtanga yoga burn fat?
To sum up, some of the benefits of Ashtanga Yoga include Burning lots of calories, enough to lose weight. Builds strength, flexibility, and endurance. Boosts metabolism and calorie burning.