yoga poses – beginners yoga – yoga classes – yoga mat – yoga clothing

Yoga clothes

Choosing the right yoga clothes will make your yoga exercises a lot more pleasant. The practice of yoga is a combination of various standing poses, breathing and relaxation. A healthy and fit body is the ambition of yoga. Before you begin your yoga class and buy yoga clothes the question still remains – what should I wear: discount yoga clothes, organic yoga clothes, plus size yoga clothes, are there special yoga clothes for men, yoga clothes for women, girl yoga clothes, or depends on yoga type, such as ashtanga yoga clothes, bikram yoga clothes, clothes for hot yoga? Read more

Yoga Mat Bags

Attractive Yoga Mat Bags are intended for your yoga mat and rug, to easily carry all you need for your yoga class. The Yoga Mat Bag is ideal for when you travel; this is an elegant and handy way to carry your own yoga mat wherever you go. Read more

Ashtanga Yoga the Yoga of Eight Limbs

Ashtanga Yoga, also sometimes spelled “Astanga” Yoga because of the Sanskrit spelling of the word, is an exact and efficient approach to yoga that draws attention to physical power and body stamina with performing a fluid series of arranged yoga postures. Read more

What Makes Ashtanga Yoga Different?

Nadi Shodana is the second or intermediate series in Ashtanga yoga. Nadi Shodana has the function of nervous system purification, cleaning and strengthening the nervous system and the subtle energy channels throughout the body. The second series is only practiced when the primary series is well established. The difference from the primary series is in introducing new poses and variations, while the progression is the same as the primary series. Read more

Practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga

In yoga and especially in Ashtanga yoga breath is life. The breath unites the body with the deepest part of the mind – the spirit – and the spirit of the practice of the Ashtanga is the breath. Acquiring the ability for a long and deep breath, the mind becomes calm and collected, the thoughts stop and every movement kindly and carefully flows from an asana to the other through the completion of the series. When breath and movement flow without effort and in perfect harmony, then the practice of the Yoga Ashtanga transcends the awareness and evolves in the lightness of meditation in movement. Read more

Why Ashtanga Yoga May Be Right For You?

Today, the Pattabhi Jois Vinyasa series of Ashtanga Yoga remains the most faithful to the original teachings to teenage boys, in that it seeks to not change much from that practice. Krishnamacharya was well-known for tailoring his teachings to address specific concerns of the person or group he was teaching, and the Vinyasa series for adolescents is a result of this. Krishnamacharya himself was not practicing those series at the time, nor did he teach seasoned practitioners and adults in the same manner. When working under the convalescing Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnamacharya set up a shala, or yoga school, in the palace grounds and adapted the vinyasa practice for the young boys of about twelve years of age who lived there. Vinyasa, therefore, is a very physically demanding practice targeted at channeling hyperactive young minds and restless bodies with the boundless energy of teenage boys. Read more

What Is Ashtanga Yoga? Understanding the Methods

As concentration in Ashtanga yoga increases, the body, breath, mind, and soul come into union. Ashtanga yoga is a focusing technique that joins the main life forces, beating in unison to your internal rhythm. With control of the breath, the mind becomes calm, allowing one to tap into a flow state where there is no sense of time, where externally imposed barriers dissolve and there is a sense of oneness with the universe. As focus increases, there is ease, weightlessness in the harmony of movement and breathing. Read more

Ashtanga Yoga – What’s It All About

Ashtanga seeks to represent the traditional eight limbs of yoga (referred to as ashtanga or Raja Yoga) as expounded by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras. The Pattabhi Jois Vinyasa series (or Ashtanga Vinyasa) is said to have its origin in the ancient text Yoga Korunta by Vamana Rishi, which Krishnamacharya received from his Guru Rama Mohan Brahmachari at Mount Kailash, and later passed on to Pattabhi Jois. Having taught many of the major yoga teachers of the 20th century, such as B.K.S. Iyengar and Indra Devi, Krishnamacharya has a huge influence on many of the modern forms of yoga taught today and played a crucial part in their development. Read more

Learn Ashtanga Yoga For Strength And Flexibility

Ashtanga yoga stirs the internal fire. It ignites the dormant flame of vital life energy within all of us.

As the internal heat goes up the toxins begin to exit out of the body, and the body begins to bend and move. Pattabhi Jois about this phenomenon said “even iron will bend with heat.” Freedom of movement opens up parts of the body that had been previously restricted or blocked. There is a release, a feeling of lightness. It is in these places that we can discover what yoga truly is. Yoga is a method of bringing life and vitality back into those areas, awareness of the deeper, inner parts of ourselves. It is a reunion with that innate wisdom that we all have, but seem to have lost touch with. Yoga was developed as a means of acknowledging or returning to the source of life. Read more

Enjoy The Amazing Ashtanga Yoga Practice

The vinyasa ashtanga yoga system works with the synchronization of movement and deep, rhythmic breathing. By connecting the postures it creates a incessant flow of energy that heats up the body, carrying oxygen to the blood, nourishing the glands and internal organs, cleansing and purifying the nervous system, releasing unwanted toxins through perspiration. As the heat goes up toxins are burned up and out of the system, creating a lighter and stronger body, and a clear mind. The heat is not only a physical experience, it is an internal spiritual fire that burns through the fog of illusion and ignorance. Read more

Ashtanga Yoga

Ashtanga yoga as taught by Pattabhi Jois is a form of hatha yoga which focuses on asana (posture) and pranayama (breath control). Some people call this ashtanga vinyasa yoga in order to distinguish between Patanjali’s eightfold system and the ashtanga yoga.

Yoga master and Sanskrit scholar Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya and his disciple K. Pattabhi Jois while researching Sanskrit texts at a Calcutta university library discovered an old mysterious manuscript: the Yoga Korunta, from where the ashtanga yoga system was reconstructed. The manuscript is dated to be between 500 and 1,500 year old. Krishnamacharya and Jois translated and reconstructed the ashtanga yoga series (originally there were six sequences of postures) and Pattabhi Jois, with the encouragement of Krishnamacharya, took the instructions as the basis of his practice and teaching. He is still teaching this method today in Mysore, India.

The term ashtanga, means eight limbs, the eight limbs of yoga. Thus the term does not refer to which poses one does, nor the order of poses and has nothing to do with any particular series (Primary Series, Secondary Series and so on). The term “Ashtanga” or “Astanga” does not describe whether one practices ‘vinyasa’ or the more sustained, focused action in poses as describe in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali; where ‘asana’ is described as being still and firm. In Raja Yoga, a classical Indian system of Hindu philosophy, these were expounded by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras.