Want to freshen up your fitness routine? Then you've come to the right place! It's great to mix things up every now and again, however trying out a new class can be daunting: What do you do? How do you do it? Where do you do it?!
Our aim at Move is to try and remove all barriers to exercise, so to help with this, check out number 2 in a series of quick guides to some of our favourite fitness classes. We hope these will help you overcome any anxiety or unsurety you may have about heading out to your first class (who knows, it could turn out to be your favourite workout!)
The Lowdown
Yoga is an ancient practice that focuses on flexibility strength and breathing to boost wellbeing. Yoga is made up of a series of postures that you perform in a class setting usually with one instructor.
While not a particularly strenuous form of exercise, yoga is a great way to increase strength, flexibility and can be a great supplement to many other forms of exercise.
You can burn anywhere in the region of 100 - 250 calories in 1 hour of yoga.
A Few Different forms of Yoga
Iyengar yoga
Great for beginners, the teaching of Iyengar yoga focuses on precision and ensuring the execution of all poses is correct.
Ashtanga yoga
A faster, more powerful form of yoga, Ashtanga sees students moving more quickly through a series of poses.
Hatha yoga
A gentle form of yoga, Hatha yoga is great if you're a beginner. However don't expect an easy ride! It can still be challenging both physically and mentally.
Bikram yoga
A form of yoga that's gained increasing popularity over the past few years, Bikram yoga is a form of hot yoga where the room is heated to around 40 degrees celsius. Expect to sweat!
What you'll need
An Open Mind
Yoga is as much about mental wellness as it is about physical so don't decide you're not even interested in the meditation aspect before you've even tried it
Comfortable Clothes
That you can move freely in without restriction. Gym lycra is fine and men usually wear shorts
An empty stomach
Try not to eat a meal for at least 2 hours before you go to your class
Punctuality
Try an arrive to your class at least 10 minutes early so you're ready to begin the class
Top Tips
Alice from Alihearta Yoga (one of our great MoveGB partners and winner of the Yoga/Pilates Instructor category at the MoveAWARDS) has the following advice for anyone new to yoga:
Trying something new and stepping out of your comfort zone can sometimes be a daunting experience. Yoga has so many benefits, from increasing your mental well-being to increasing strength and flexibility and many more benefits; it is a great addition to your workout. Choose a class or course suitable for beginners and remember that every one else there is just starting out too.
One of the things that I always stress to my students is to take your time and listen to your body, if something feels a bit too much, don’t feel afraid to ease out of the pose. Above all, enjoy it, don’t worry if the person next to you can touch their toes and you can’t. We all have different bodies and capabilities; enjoy breathing and moving in your own body, touching your toes will happen with practise.
Live in Bristol and want to try out some yoga classes (including Alice's!)? Just click this link and sign up for free.
