Which style of yoga will help you meet your goals?

Variety in your activities ensures that you will keep your interest high and your fitness even higher. Whether you are cross-training to support your sport or have specific goals such as increasing your strength, mobility, or balance, it is important to choose activities that specifically support your goals.

Yoga has increasingly become an adjunct to mind-body fitness. Owning incense and flexible hamstrings is not a prerequisite, however. From elite athletes to those seeking to age gracefully, yoga can be an excellent addition to your fitness routine and can help you work towards attaining specific fitness goals.

The popularity of yoga has resulted in many different styles of yoga that provide a variety of benefits. Most styles of yoga will include elements that increase strength, improve balance, decrease tension and stress, and increase breath awareness. Certain styles tend to highlight one or more of these areas more brightly.

Power Flow

Goal: Improve Cardiovascular Fitness
Power Yoga, also known as Flow Yoga, or Vinyasa Yoga, is known for its continuous flowing style linking one movement to the next. This continuous flow allows your heart rate to stay elevated as you move from one pose to the next. Your heart rate may not get as high as it would on your favorite trail run, but imagine the concept of circuit training, moving from one exercise to the next so that your heart rate stays continuously elevated.
Example: Perform the Sun Salutation three to five times.

Hatha

Goal: Improve Balance and Coordination
Traditionally yoga is more than just the physical poses but also includes breathing and meditation exercises, as well as a belief system and ‘code of conduct.’ Hatha is the traditional word to describe the physical component of yoga. In Western society Hatha has come to represent a specific style of yoga that takes a little more time moving from pose to pose. The standing poses challenge your balance and proprioception, or the sense of where your body is in space.
A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning examined the effect of a regular yoga program in young adults. Specifically they followed participants over eight weeks, looking at upper and lower body strength, coordination, and balance. The researchers found substantial increases in balance, up to a 228 per cent increase, and increased co-ordination, particularly in the lower limb musculature of the knee extensors.
Example: Perform Eagle in a Tree.

Yin

Goal: Increase Flexibility
Yin Yoga is one of the newer yoga styles on the yoga scene. The name comes from the concept of Yin and Yang, opposites. The Taoist interpretation of the body is that there are Yin and Yang tissues of the body. Muscles are Yang, connective tissues and joints are Yin. The theory is that Yin and Yang tissues do not respond to training in the same way, and to get improved results all tissues need to be targeted in specific ways.
Yin Yoga attempts to target the connective tissue of the hips, pelvis, and lower spine. Yin postures are held three to five minutes at a time. In a Power Yoga or Hatha class you may practice as many as twenty or thirty different poses. In a Yin Yoga class you may only practice ten different poses. The emphasis is on a deeper ‘opening’ or increased range of motion in the joints. Yin Yoga is also a great complement to a more ‘yang’ practice of Power Yoga.
Example: Perform the Butterfly Pose and hold for two to five minutes.

Restorative Yoga

Goal: Decrease and Manage Stress
Stress can be extremely damaging to our bodies. In Restorative Yoga, props are used to support the body. The poses create specific physiological responses, which can reduce the effects of stress-related disease. Things like blankets, pillows, chairs, and the wall are used to allow you to fully rest in poses, while at the same time increasing range of motion and flexibility.
A recent study examining the use of Iyengar Yoga (a style that utilizes a number of props) to control depression found that participants had significant reductions in depression, anger, and anxiety.
Example: Perform a Supported Backbend and hold for two to five minutes.

Hot Yoga

Goal: Improve Mental Focus
Hot Yoga comes in many different forms and names (Bikram, Moksha, etc.) but the one common element is that the class is taught in a hot, sweaty room heated to thirty-five or even up to a panting forty degrees Celsius. This causes a faster increase in heart rate, increased perspiration, and increased body temperature. Depending on the style taught by the teacher you may follow a set series of postures, or the teacher may design a class that changes each time.
Although all styles of yoga allow you to move toward a calmer and more focused state of mind, hot yoga promotes a focused mind by increasing the physical workload. Imagine running at noon on a crisp fall day; now imagine running at noon on the hottest day of the summer. Your body is challenged to work in different ways in the heat. This physical challenge ultimately results in a mental challenge to stay focused, keep your alignment and form, and hold the pose for the full time.
Example: A common hot yoga pose is the Standing Half Moon (ardha chandrasana). Standing with feet together, hands clasped with arms straight overhead, then bending to one side.

Yoga is a great tool to bring variety to your workouts, achieve your fitness goals, and increase your overall health. When you choose activities that specifically target your goals, you will be much more effective at achieving the outcome you desire.

About the Author

Dr. Robin Armstrong is a chiropractor and yoga instructor in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia. Combining traditional chiropractic with advanced soft tissue therapies, Armstrong treats sports and spinal conditions to help people get well and stay well. Dr. Armstrong practices at Qi Integrated Health. See www.stayactive.ca.