Fitness Yoga for Beginners
Which yoga is best for fitness? What is fitness yoga? Is there fitness yoga for beginners?
You might find yourself asking these questions - but first things first - fitness yoga might not be what you think of when you think of "fitness." It might not be too far away from your ideas of fitness, but it is different.
It’s common to come to your first yoga class wanting or expecting a certain type of fitness. We have learned and seen a certain type of fitness, and quite possibly believe that to be what is necessary for health. Maybe you have searched for “best yoga for fitness” or “free fitness yoga videos,” looking for something vigorous or super-active. Something that burns calories and builds muscles, something that will change you into a lean, mean fighting machine. We offer daily yoga routines for fitness within each and every one of our classes. The reason is that yoga for overall fitness is the absolute best. Before we go on, let’s define fitness. Fitness means health.
Health is a personal state of balance, or homeostasis. This means that a generic image of "fitness" may not be what healthy looks like on you. Maybe you are supposed to look like you and not some generic prototype. So when someone asks me “how to do fitness yoga,” I interpret that to mean, how can I create a yoga practice that helps me maintain health and balance. Yoga is a tool that can be used benevolently or malevolently, as it is just a tool. Why would someone use yoga in a harmful manner? I do not believe anyone would use yoga in a harmful manner purposely. Yet the goal of yoga is enlightenment or awareness, because awareness is lacking, and if there is no awareness then you could be using yoga in a harmful manner without even knowing. This is actually what is happening all over the fitness world. My teacher is my life experiences and my teacher has taught me that “the harder you are on anything, the faster you destroy it.” So in pushing your body hard to achieve the generic prototype, the body is abused. Yes, you will get bigger and stronger or more flexible as the body responds to the abuse, but we are actually damaging ourselves and end up breaking ourselves down instead of building ourselves up. We still do not have proof that prettier, skinnier, stronger or more flexible people are healthier or happier. Yet if all you know pertaining to fitness is to push and be aggressive (“no pain, no gain”), then you will actually be doing this in your hot yoga practice, rendering it malevolent. So, let’s bring some awareness into our yoga practice, so we are not breaking ourselves down but building ourselves up.
Our physical aim is the best fitness yoga course on a daily basis. I call it the ultimate cross-training, as every aspect of the fitness paradigm is included, “strength, balance, flexibility, CVR, stamina,” and most every place in our body touched. Remember, you cannot take of something that’s not touched (gently). Yet we do all this with an awareness that we are not trying to change ourselves to conform to the generic prototype, but we are trying to take care of ourselves. The mentality shifts, and finally a yoga fitness class becomes healing, because we are honoring what we are feeling. Enjoy our wide selection of the most well-rounded, complete fitness class on earth. My opinion, of course. For a yoga class, always use a yoga mat vs. a fitness mat.