different types of yoga

bungaro

looking to maybe start a bit of yoga to improve my flexibility for martial arts but have been doing a bit of research and didn't realise there were so many types!! so for anyone in the know what one would you recommend for someone looking to get more flexible (so not the meditation type!).
and any places around cork (south suburbs if possible) that do it?!
cheers in advance!

serenacat

bungaro wrote: »

looking to maybe start a bit of yoga to improve my flexibility for martial arts but have been doing a bit of research and didn't realise there were so many types!! so for anyone in the know what one would you recommend for someone looking to get more flexible (so not the meditation type!).
and any places around cork (south suburbs if possible) that do it?!
cheers in advance!

Here is my experience yoga.

i've done ashtanga/power yoga, bikram and hatha so i'll tell you about these then link you to some sites.
Ok so i first tried yoga when i was 15 and it was power yoga. I should mention here that at the time i was very anemic as it is relevent here, i find it soo hard! this yoga is practicularly good out of all the ones for weight loss and overall toning because you go from one pose into the next really fast and then hold a really hard position than makes you wobble until you get better balance and you will sweat a bit too.

Next i've tried hatha yoga and this is the most basic (in some ways) of them, it is more relaxing as it isn't as strenous as others IMO. No sweating what soever here and not good for weight loss, i enjoy this as an add on to a workout i wouldn't really count it as a workout.

Bikram- i did bikram for nearly 1 year so longest i've kept any yoga up. This yoga is quite different, with a lot of focus on strength and alot of stretching. I enjoyed this and when i did it twice a week i improved fast but when i started doing once a week i didn't seem to improve much. We did hand stands and head stands aswell.


Ok i'm going to write advantages and disadvantages of each now.
Power yoga-
advantages
works muscles more than other yoga
burns the most calories
works on balance
afterwards you feel you earned that nap!
disadvantages
really though then again i was very anemic
alot of very flexible people in class

hatha yoga
adv
most relaxing
good for people starting out as it covers all the basic poses
disadv
mediation as you aren't into it!
doesnt burn many calories

Bikram
Advantages

gaining strength
good focus on balance
alot of stretching
pushes you to limits

Disadvantages
not sure what to write here but maybe that it isn't as relaxing as hatha as it is harder

As for flexibility all types of yoga work on this equally really so that's why i left this out however from experience i used to be very unflexible now can grab the sole of my feet with straight legs (i could barely touch my knees before no joke!) the best way to get flexible is practicising yoga as often as possible or else doing yoga once a week but throughout the week really pushing your stretchs, i do yoga style stretches after a workout which is helps.

Hope this helps you!
Here are some info http://yoga.org.nz/benefits/physiological_benefits/benefits_physiological.htm
http://yoga.org.nz/questions/marlon/yoga-flexibility_for_athletes.htm

bungaro

wow, thats brilliant serena, really everything that i needed to know, thanks again!

just did a google search there and there doesn't seem to be a bikram place in cork

what about vinyasa yoga?? how would people rate this??

serenacat

bungaro wrote: »

wow, thats brilliant serena, really everything that i needed to know, thanks again!

just did a google search there and there doesn't seem to be a bikram place in cork

what about vinyasa yoga?? how would people rate this??

you are very welcome! p.s don't live in cork so can't help you there.

Aykina

Hiya,

I'm not from Cork and I've never tried yoga there but http://www.yogarepublic.com/index.htm has a really good reputation.

I've met a lot of yoga types who rave about it and even travel down from Dublin for events there so it might be worth checking out.

A.

orlanemo

bungaro wrote: »

looking to maybe start a bit of yoga to improve my flexibility for martial arts but have been doing a bit of research and didn't realise there were so many types!! so for anyone in the know what one would you recommend for someone looking to get more flexible (so not the meditation type!).
and any places around cork (south suburbs if possible) that do it?!
cheers in advance!

Hey Bungaro,
I've done a bit if yoga over the years. I have found Hatha quite slow. Then recently I did a Vinyasa Flow yoga class and it really re-ignited my interest in yoga. Its all based around the Sun Salutation sequence of moves. Apparently the guy who developed it had it in mind for teenagers who had excess energy and needed to focus that energy. Well although i'm not a teenager it might as well been made with me in mind Used to do long distance running and this it active enough to keep me interested.

You can search for teachers here http://www.yogaalliance.org/teacher_search.cfm

Or if you want you could PM and I''ll give you the email of the teacher in Cork I go to. She teaches in a few locations and has a drop in rate if you just want to try the class out.

Orla