I have been practicing for nearly three months now which is nothing in the long journey of life.
My yoga practice takes place at three different YMCA locations which I live in close proximity, as well as occasionally at home. When I first decided to give it a try, I simply looked up the yoga schedules at my gyms and went from there. I did look at the websites of a few different local yoga studios and felt slightly overwhelmed when reading the different descriptions of the classes. I had no idea there was a difference. I thought that yoga was yoga. Period.
After three months, I can tell you a few things I have learned and what I prefer.
First of all, I recently learned what Bikram yoga is. I have absolutely ZERO desire to try this. Do you know why? Bikram yoga practices in the poses and postures in a studio where the temperature is set to a very high temperature, approximately 105 degrees F. Seriously! Who does this? I hate the heat. So this does not sound appealing to me.
Two other styles of yoga are Hatha and Vinyasa, both of which I have now practiced.
Reading up on the styles, Hatha is explained as a slower, gentler flow of poses and postures. It is often recommended for beginners.
Vinyasa moves through the poses a little more quickly. You will do more poses and hold them for less time.
I prefer the Vinyasa which is funny because most things I have read states that Vinyasa is best for advanced students. I find the Vinyasa easier when it is a difficult pose because I don't have to hold the pose as long. I suppose in all honesty, I should be doing the slower and perfecting those poses. However, I think for me, a big reason some poses are difficult is that I am overweight. (will work on that after the holidays!) So holding some poses just gets so hard. My arms get so achy!
As I have said before yoga will be so much easier for me when I am skinny.
One of these days when I feel a little more skilled, I would like to take classes at an actual yoga studio. I'd love to see what it is like in that environment.
For now, I'll enjoy my YMCA!
