Greta Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 My gym offers classes in hatha yoga, iyengar yoga, and vinyasa yoga. The descriptions of the classes on the schedule are so brief as to basically be meaningless. Can anyone tell me if one of these types of yoga involves less/no "pulling"? What I mean by that is, for example, I like doing a trunk twist using the power of the muscles in my trunk. I do not like using my arms to pull myself deeper into the twist. I like doing a seated forward bend where I reach toward my toes. I do not want to pull myself deeper into the bend by grabbing onto my feet and pulling. I only want to move my joints through the range of motion that they are capable of, I don't want to force them further than they can naturally go by pulling on them. Does that make sense? Is there any type of yoga that would work for me? Or should I just do something like Classical Stretch videos at home? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Peregrine Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 My yoga teacher tells us that our practice is our practice. No one is forced to do anything. We have various levels of modification going on. I can barely touch my toes, let alone grab the bottom of my feet. I do my practice. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Peregrine Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 The class I take is mostly vinyasa. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted July 1, 2016 Author Share Posted July 1, 2016 My yoga teacher tells us that our practice is our practice. No one is forced to do anything. We have various levels of modification going on. I can barely touch my toes, let alone grab the bottom of my feet. I do my practice. Is that philosophy from a type of yoga, or from the personality of the instructor? Or are you just saying I should take that philosophy into whatever class I attend? (I suspect you mean the latter, but wanted to make sure!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Peregrine Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 The class I take is all levels so I think it's a combination of her personality and the class makeup. I suspect there are classes more hardcore, lol. She tells us that listening to our ego instead of our body is how we get injured. But yes, I would take that philosophy into whatever class you take. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted July 1, 2016 Author Share Posted July 1, 2016 The class I take is all levels so I think it's a combination of her personality and the class makeup. I suspect there are classes more hardcore, lol. She tells us that listening to our ego instead of our body is how we get injured. But yes, I would take that philosophy into whatever class you take. I like that! I hope I can find a teacher like her. I do think that's part of what got me into trouble with yoga years ago. I'm naturally pretty flexible, so I got a lot of encouragement from the instructors to do the advanced versions and go really deeply into the stretches, and I got a lot of gratification from that. But I was doing too much, and ended up being in pain all the time. I know I need to stay flexible, but I also know that I need to not go there again! I have to find the right balance. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I think that doing what is right for your body is the philosophy of yoga of all kinds. Or at least all the classes I have been to (hatha, vinyasa flow, ashtanga). I would recommend mentioning to the teacher that this is your preference at the beginning of the class. If s/he objects, I would walk away. All styles, as far as I know, involve taking 'binds' (taking hold and pulling) but it should be entirely up to you whether you do that or not. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 (edited) As Mrs. Peregrine said your practice is your practice. One reason I like yoga is that modifications are expected. When I started back after this baby I skipped every single pose that worked the abs too much. Forcing a stretch is never good. Holding your toes shouldn't be so you can pull yourself further into it (a bit of pulling yes but the primary action of getting into a stretch is not the pulling or pushing your body into it - my hands just keep support generally). You should just be going as far as you can comfortably go. One reason I love my current teacher is she stresses form, it is not about how deep you can go but only going as far as your body allows while keeping good form. I'm naturally fairly flexible too- but my current teacher is also good w/ stressing the fact that we should not push ourselves too far- it is easy sometimes w/ flexibility to hang out in a pose without using the proper muscles for support). I think more than the type of yoga it is the teacher. Vinyasa is more power yoga- flows w/ sun salutations are usually a part of that, hatha generally just means practicing poses at a usually slower pace. Iyengar generally foces on alignment, fewer poses for longer. I'd think hatha or Iyengar would be better, leaning towards just hatha. I've heard some Iyengar teachers are militant although the one teacher I had that was Iyengar trained was anything but that, she was very much about you listening to your body and I carry that with me no matter where I am. Power/Vinyasa/Ashtanga seems to focus less on good form from my experience, although you might be happier to go faster, although you might not get time for too much stretching. I've heard from my current Ashtanga trained teacher that there are plenty who are crazy strict about all kinds of things in class. I'd expect however that doing classes in a gym there are none that are going to be crazy hard core, if anything the quality is not always the best as the teachers may or may not have any training. Edited July 1, 2016 by soror 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted July 1, 2016 Author Share Posted July 1, 2016 I think that doing what is right for your body is the philosophy of yoga of all kinds. Or at least all the classes I have been to (hatha, vinyasa flow, ashtanga). I would recommend mentioning to the teacher that this is your preference at the beginning of the class. If s/he objects, I would walk away. All styles, as far as I know, involve taking 'binds' (taking hold and pulling) but it should be entirely up to you whether you do that or not. That is a great suggestion, Laura. Thank you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted July 1, 2016 Author Share Posted July 1, 2016 As Mrs. Peregrine said your practice is your practice. One reason I like yoga is that modifications are expected. When I started back after this baby I skipped every single pose that worked the abs too much. Forcing a stretch is never good. Holding your toes shouldn't be so you can pull yourself further into it. You should just be going as far as you can comfortably go. One reason I love my current teacher is she stresses form, it is not about how deep you can go but only going as far as your body allows while keeping good form. I think more than the type of yoga it is the teacher. Vinyasa is more power yoga- flows w/ sun salutations are usually a part of that, hatha generally just means practicing poses at a usually slower pace. Iyengar generally foces on alignment, fewer poses for longer. I'd think hatha or Iyengar would be better, leaning towards just hatha. I've heard some Iyengar teachers are militant although the one teacher I had that was Iyengar trained was anything but that, she was very much about you listening to your body and I carry that with me no matter where I am. Power/Vinyasa/Ashtanga seems to focus less on good form from my experience, although you might be happier to go faster, although you might not get time for too much stretching. I've heard from my current Ashtanga trained teacher that there are plenty who are crazy strict about all kinds of things in class. I'd expect however that doing classes in a gym there are none that are going to be crazy hard core, if anything the quality is not always the best as the teachers may or may not have any training. Thank you, I appreciate this! I think I will start with hatha, and get a feel for that instructor's personality, see how it goes. Actually, it looks like there are two different instructors for the hatha yoga classes, so hopefully one of them will work! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Thank you, I appreciate this! I think I will start with hatha, and get a feel for that instructor's personality, see how it goes. Actually, it looks like there are two different instructors for the hatha yoga classes, so hopefully one of them will work! Ya! I hope you like one or both, there is something to be said for personality too. I put off trying my current teacher for months after being disappointed about some of the different teachers I had tried. Remember regardless of what they say it is your body, never do anything you aren't comfortable with. I happily modify whenever I feel the need. Generally I will tell a teacher if I decide to keep coming, if they have an issue with that then that is a red flag to me. When I told my current teacher about my abs being weak and skipping and modifying she started mentioning modifications to poses in class- that is the proper response. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Another thought: if you are concerned about going too far and getting hurt, I would mention that specifically to your teacher (not just avoiding binds). That way s/he can tailor any adjustments to that end and not unintentionally suggest that you to go too far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted July 1, 2016 Author Share Posted July 1, 2016 Yes, Laura and Soror, that is a good point about communicating with the teacher. That's something I didn't do well the first time around (plus, it's hard to communicate when you yourself don't even realize what you need!) so I'll be aware of that this time. Thank you! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I'm not an expert, but I thought Iyengar was the type of yoga most concerned about using correct form and using props whenever necessary? If so, I'd think that would naturally lead to not forcing beyond your ability? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Peregrine Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I'm not an expert, but I thought Iyengar was the type of yoga most concerned about using correct form and using props whenever necessary? If so, I'd think that would naturally lead to not forcing beyond your ability? That might be personality of the teacher, too. Mine is very concerned with form. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 (edited) I'm not an expert, but I thought Iyengar was the type of yoga most concerned about using correct form and using props whenever necessary? If so, I'd think that would naturally lead to not forcing beyond your ability? that was my experience although I've heard that some teachers are so ingrained about the exact proper form they might not take into consideration individual variations in anatomy. the big thing too is to check your ego (said as one that has to do the same- yoga is not a contest!), nobody knows how deep you can go and you have nothing to prove. Edited July 1, 2016 by soror 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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