Yoga
What is Yoga?
Yoga is an ancient form of exercise that focuses on strength, flexibility and breathing to boost physical and mental wellbeing. The main components of yoga are postures (a series of movements designed to increase strength and flexibility) and breathing.
The practice originated in India about 5,000 years ago and has been adapted in other countries in a variety of ways. Yoga is now commonplace in leisure centres, health clubs, schools, hospitals and surgeries.
Why do Yoga?
While there's scope for more rigorous studies on its health benefits, most studies suggest yoga is a safe and effective way to increase physical activity, especially strength, flexibility and balance.
There's some evidence that regular yoga practice is beneficial for people with high blood pressure, heart disease, aches and pains – including lower back pain – depression and stress.
Yoga poses for beginners
Start simple
It is important to note that before trying any yoga poses that you warm up to prevent any injuries from occuring.
When completing yoga poses, you should only complete the pose that you're capable of achieving. Don't over-stretch or over-do a pose for the sake of trying to achieve the desired pose. This can cause injury and it's important to remember that everybody is different.
You can follow YouTube videos if you're unsure about how to complete yoga, but yoga is very individual and predominantly focuses on your breathing, flow and form. You can also follow yoga training sessions on your mobile by downloading the Nike Training App for free. This walks you through yoga poses and gives you training sessions to follow.
Vinyasa Fow
Vinyasa is a style of yoga characterised by stringing postures together so that you move from one to another, seamlessly, using breath.
The variable nature of Vinyasa Yoga helps to develop a more balanced body as well as prevent repetitive motion injuries that can happen if you are always doing the same thing every day.
As a philosophy, Vinyasa recognizes the temporary nature of things. We enter into a posture, are there for a while and then leave.
