by Carolina Dream Chapman

Created on: November 10, 2008   Last Updated: September 15, 2010

Healthy Mind, Healthy Body

Yoga is a workout designed to help your mind and body work together for maximum results and inner peace. When done correctly yoga  will strengthen your body while also relaxing your mind and body which may help bring inner strength. Because of the relaxation and inner awareness that comes from Yoga it is also known to help bring spiritual strength.

The meditation part of yoga can be used regardless of your personal spiritual beliefs. Above all yoga is the mind and body working together to build both inner and outer strength.

Yoga on Video

There are many ways to learn to do yoga. I personally prefer to work out alone therefore CD's and DVD's are my personal favorite. This gives me the opportunity to learn the moves at my own pace, which later I can use to create my own personal yoga workout. This is very helpful as once I have my own workout I can select music that helps me have an even better yoga experience.

Personal Yoga Instructor

For in-depth instruction, you may find it helpful to hire a personal yoga instructor. The instructor will help you understand the moves while teaching you which muscles you should concentrate on while doing each move. An instructor will insure that you learn to do the moves correctly.

While personal yoga instructors are costly, the benefit of learning to do the moves correctly is well worth the price. After learning yoga from an instructor you will be able to begin doing your yoga workouts on your own or in a class.

Yoga Class

If you prefer to workout in a group setting you may want to join a yoga class. Yoga classes should be lead by certified yoga instructors. These instructors are trained to teach others the proper way to relax and do yoga moves also known as postures correctly. They will also teach you how to concentrate on your breathing throughout each pose.

Types of Yoga

There are a variety of different types of Yoga. These types range from slow gentle concentrated moves to a quicker faster paced series of moves. It is probably best to start with a form of yoga that is slow and gentle in order to learn the poses correctly before moving onto the more intense versions of Yoga.

Slow Concentrated Moves

For slow concentrated moves, you may want to try Hatha, Vinyasa or Iyengar Yoga. 

Hatha yoga is a series of concentrated movements that are slow and gentle. 

Vinyasa yoga is a faster paced form that generally begins with a series of sun salutations to get the body warmed up. 

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