Yoga Style Vibrations

Note. These are my opinions and thoughts based on my experience. It is okay if you agree or don’t agree.

Each Style of Yoga has a vibration. Hatha Yoga falls into a happy balance of Yin And Yang energies.
A life on the mat is and expression of how we care for ourselves throughout our days.
Like the world is a reflection of how well we take care of ourselves.
Vinyasa is a popular practice that is helpful when we need to move stagnation. But sometimes it is taught so fast that there is a chance of injury. Sometimes students to get too caught up into the show and competition of speed and ability. This is a potential problem as Yoga to me is about checking my ego and slowing down enough to actually observe it. This is a dancy, flowy class, and beautiful if done mindfully. Lots of dancers gravitate towards this style as it is an easy transition into yoga. The flowiness is feminine energy but the speed can be a bit yang at times. The term Vinyasa means to place in a special way and sometimes speed doesn’t allow for that. I would recommend if you have some stagnant energy that you will find this style uplifting and airy, just be cautious if the teacher has unrealistic speed so you don’t get injured. I used to teach this a long time ago, but as it became more popular people wanted faster and I just wasn’t interested in a race of how fast or how many poses I could squeeze into an hour.

Vinyasa comes from Ashtanga Vinyasa.

Ashtanga Vinyasa is a yang practice. Created by Pattabhi Jois. It takes about 2 hrs to do with about 200 Vinyasas or Sun Salutations in between poses. You hold the poses for 5 breaths, full Ujjayi Breathing and no external heat. Asthanga Practitioners practice everyday except for Saturday. I think this is the hardest physical practice b/c it is like an endurance scene, but doesn’t need to be if you can get your mind into the actual practice and not into any form of competition. I used to teach a fusion of this all the time. It was fun and hard. What I don’t care for is how the ego seems to have gotten the best of Pattabhi Jois as there were allegations of abuse of power like in many other styles of yoga like John Friend. Sexual misconduct and inappropriate adjustments is not something I support. His teacher was Krishmachayra.

Krishmachayra’s other well known student was B.K.S. Iyengar. And Iyengar didn’t quite approve of him according to many documentaries out there. He said in one documentary that Krishmachayra’s hand was like a steel iron. He claimed that he forced him into a split that tore his hamstrings and it took him 2 years to heal. Ahimsa means to practice non violence, so hitting or forcing isn’t an interest of mine.
Iyengar, has been my favorite of all the teachers thus far in yoga. He created more of a restorative style. A style that helps people with injuries. A slower style. A style that helps people with the use of props if needed and seems to be more well known as a kind gently man that had not abused his power. Clearly abuse of power bothers me as people become bigger there is a sense of entitlement that comes with that territory. Now in a video I did see, bc Yoga is about finding balance, i noticed that B.K.S. Iyengar needed help to stand on someone bc of instability and could not help to ask why could he not balance on his own. I have no clue. I had a student that was in her late 70’s and was extremely flexible when I met her. She loved B.K.S. Iyengar style but had no muscle tone. She spent her days creating flexibility in her body so much that she didn’t find balance with building muscle. She was unable to hold postures. It was a big lesson for me as I am naturally flexible and have worked hard to build muscle to prevent injury to myself. I am grateful for the lesson she taught me.
B.K.S. Iyengar has some incredible books out there like Light on Yoga and The Tree of Yoga.

Hot Yoga and Bikram Yoga is a very yang practice. The practice doesn’t exist without the heat. Is very much an exhausting and depleting practice. I once got a colonic and she said to me, you clearly don’t practice hot yoga, when I told her I owned a yoga studio. She said most hot practitioners that she has worked on are so dehydrated that they have stones and issues with their kidneys.
Only 1% of toxins are released on our skin, so trying to lose weight thru hot yoga to remove toxins, I wouldn’t recommend it.
I would recommend some goo breathing over anything. Netflix has an interesting documentary of Bikram is his cult or followers. The thing is he is loved by many even if he has wronged many and people think his actions are okay to support him bc he is a brand name. I don’t need to understand it and I don’t agree with it. He has left the county… go figure.
B/c Bikram had so many rules that people that wanted to offer hot yoga simply offered hot yoga instead of having to pay his dues.
So the temp is high 104+ degrees and some offer hot yoga with weights and some with vinyasa. But why not just sit in a sauna. I have a sauna to sit in. I love it, but don’t think it is safe to go thru extremes and make it part of my life. It is confusing for the muscles to be asked to over stretch and work with weights at the same time and deplete the muscles of proper fluid and the organs.

Again. This is my opinion.

Restorative Yoga is great for high strung and high stressed people that need to calm their energies and be okay with coming to terms with where they are. It is great with injuries but best for stress. Most poses are lying down and using props.
Hatha Yoga is the balance of the sun and the moon. It makes complete sense to me. It is a day or a life on your mat. You get to savior and appreciate each pose and just makes sense to me. You don’t exhaust yourself and you fell calm and relaxed and at ease with where you are. If you know me, you know how much I love the Sun, the Moon, and the Seasons and my life on and off the mat.

If you find that you are not being able to quiet the mind in your final relaxation pose (leaf pose) then make sure to do more of the Restorativer, Iyengar, or Hatha Yoga classes to help you maintain your homeostasis.