Olivia Summers - Yoga For Beginners: 30 Essential Yoga Poses to Transform Your Mind, Body & Spirit (Just 10 Minutes A Day!, Yoga Mastery Series, Yoga Poses With Pictures, Flexibility Training)

Aerial Basically this is yogain a hammock! Aerial yoga was introduced in New York and is one of the newest forms of yoga. If youre the adventurous type and already have the more run-of-the-mill yoga classes under your belt then it might be time for you to give this a try.

Ashtanga This is one of the oldest forms of yoga (remember Patanjalis Sutras ?) and what well be using throughout this book. Ashtanga is made up of six different series of postures and is used prevalently throughout the West.

Bikram Bikram yoga was introduced and made popular in the 1970s. Most people looking to lose weight and torch calories during a yoga session turn to Bikram yoga. Its also known as hot yogaand for good reason. The classes are 90 minutes long and consist of a series of 26 poses that are repeated twice during the session. The catch? The room is heated to 104F and a humidity of 40%!

Hatha Hatha yoga is what all other types of yoga are founded on and uses a more holistic approach than newer variations of yoga. It is a combination of meditation, purification, breathing and postures. It is very gentle and is great for beginners.

Kundalini This can be one of the most fun forms of yoga, in my opinion. Kundalini yoga is founded on the belief that there is latent energy coiled at the base of our spines and it needs to be released. Kundalini yoga uses meditation and breathing to activate your chakras and release built up energy.

Restorative This one is pretty self-explanatory. This type of yoga is focused on using different props to restore your physical body with your mental state. Its a very gentle and relaxing form of yoga. It is especially beneficial to those who need to learn to slow down and relieve stress.

Vinyasa The term Vinyasa originates from the Sanskrit language and actually means breath-synchronized movement. Which is exactly what youre doing during this type of yoga. You move through a series of poses while at the same time using your exhaling and inhaling breaths to dance your way through each pose. It is also sometimes referred to as Vinyasa Flow.

Feel free to experiment and play around with the different types of yoga and find the one that feels best to you. Just because something is deemed intermediate or advanced doesnt mean you cant try it out. You dont have to limit yourself to beginner types of yoga.

The best thing you can do to figure out where you belong in the yoga world is to find a gym or yoga studio that offers bundlesthat way you can sample different classes to find the one that fits you best.