Did you know that there are 3 levels of yoga intensity? Are you new to yoga practice? Do you want to know the basic yoga poses? If you want to learn more about the levels of yoga intensity, keep reading this article.
A Yoga Session For Your Health
Yoga therapy may be considered an alternative and complementary medicine, which has many health benefits concerning the entire body and even one’s mental health. Not only does it burn calories, but it also promotes body awareness.
Yoga practice also helps tone your muscles. Yoga exercise programs vary from light and slow to intense and fast. It’s a great form of physical therapy that can be adjusted according to an individual’s fitness level.
Regular practice of yoga may be good for the following aspects of an individual’s health and fitness:
Training the various parts of the body (core muscle, arms, legs, glutes, and back)
Improving your posture
Increasing your flexibility
Lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol levels
Managing stress levels
Increasing one’s ability to focus
Increasing one’s balance and endurance
Practising meditation for one’s mental health wellness
Most yoga poses can be done alone at home with a practice mat. You can also opt to practice yoga with a group of people in a class. Both types of yoga sessions are practical, what matters is the regular practice of yoga.
All you need to practice yoga is yourself, a yoga mat, and ample space for your yoga mat. A yoga mat is necessary to comfort and prevent slipping during standing poses. There are plenty of free resources, but you may also consider enrolling in yoga classes for extra guidance.
If you plan to learn the basics of yoga at home, it can be helpful to study the basic yoga poses first. A basic understanding of yoga can help prevent injuries when practising individual yoga. You can learn more about this by reading the different forms of yoga below.
3 Levels of Yoga Intensity
The intensity levels of yoga are based on the individual’s oxygen consumption and heart rate. Yoga poses can vary from high-intensity sun salutations to seated positions, which tend to be low-intensity. Different forms of yoga exist for different reasons, so knowing what these are can help you determine what foundational poses to practice to suit your needs.
1) Light, Gentle, and Slow
There are many different styles of light, gentle, and slow yoga poses such as Hatha and yin yoga. Hatha is a light flow of yoga based on heart rate and oxygen consumption. It is a beginner-friendly basic form of yoga. Hatha is considered to be the foundation of yoga poses. In Hatha, yoga poses, controlled breathing, and meditation are incorporated.
Similar to Hatha, yin is also a light form of yoga based on both heart rate and oxygen consumption. In yin yoga, the joints are targeted the most. Yin yoga can be considered a bit more difficult since the yoga poses are held for long periods.
Those who want to try this type of yoga flow are those who want to appreciate the yoga poses. In this yoga flow, you can relax and concentrate on achieving the poses at your own pace. This is great for those who just want to meditate, focus on their mind-body connection, and lower their stress levels.
2) Moderate
Moderate yoga may be perfect for those with a little more yoga experience. In this type of yoga flow, the common yoga practices are vinyasa yoga and ashtanga yoga. Vinyasa yoga is one of the forms of hatha yoga. It is concerned with posture, breath control, and the connection of postures through breath and movement.
On the other hand, ashtanga yoga is more complex than vinyasa yoga since it includes coordinating your breathing with a series of postures. The benefits of ashtanga yoga are improved flexibility, endurance, blood circulation, and focus. This form of yoga is more suited for those with more yoga experience as it is more athletic.
3) Vigorous and Challenging
The vigorous and challenging forms of yoga are for those with plenty of yoga experience and high fitness levels. Many different poses count as vigorous and challenging. Power yoga and Bikram yoga are two of the more well-known styles of vigorous yoga flow.
In power yoga, it is likely to build muscle strength. It consists of poses like the downward-facing dog, the child’s pose, and the cat or cow pose, which all target the back muscles. Power yoga incorporates many poses. The difference between this yoga flow and the lighter one is that there is no rest between each pose. You must cycle through the poses while controlling your breathing and maintaining proper alignment.
Moving on, Bikram yoga is also referred to as “hot yoga”. This is a complete exercise routine that consists of 26 challenging poses that are done in a high-temperature room. This yoga style is unique because it is the only style done in a hot room. Bikram yoga is notable for its holistic benefits. It can improve your muscular strength, endurance, cardiovascular health, and flexibility and promote weight loss.
The vigorous and challenging styles of yoga show that with regular yoga practice comes more health benefits. However, it’s important to note that all yoga intensity levels, whether light, moderate or high intensity, are essential.
It may help to look for Pilates Singapore or related services to check how much intensity you can endure. The practice will help you learn more about your agility and strength and make it easier to choose which yoga intensity is best suited for your fitness level.
Final Words
These are just some yoga types that can be categorised into the three levels of yoga intensity. There are a lot more poses that you can learn, whether online or by attending yoga classes in a studio Pilates. Additional equipment that you may need besides your yoga mat is yoga blocks and straps, which can help you in accomplishing challenging stretching poses.
For your safety, you may consult a specialist in sports medicine from Sweatbox to determine what yoga intensity is suited for you. Remember that even healthy adults can get injured while doing yoga, so practice caution. Yoga is not a competitive sport, so you can take your time and practice
About the Author
Lynette is fully dedicated to the support and empowerment of the growing community of committed yoga students and teachers. As one of the Lead Instructors for Yoga Teacher Training, she is here to share tips on how to grow your profile as a yoga teacher or build a yoga business either physically or digitally.