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Can yoga make you fit?
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Yoga provides many health benefits, including:
- decreases blood pressure
- increases flexibility and range of motion
- improves posture
- promotes weight loss or maintenance
- decreases anxiety and depression
- provides a better sense of self
To be fit you must have a strong cardiorespiratory system, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and range of motion, and a healthy body composition. Yoga is capable of providing all of these components and then some. If yoga is your primary form of exercise, make sure your heart rate is elevated for a portion of the class and there are muscular toning exercises incorporated into the class.
Which type of yoga is right for you?
Ashtanga: This fast-paced practice follows a set series of poses while synchronizing breathing. It is an athletic form of yoga and not recommended for beginners. Experience this invigorating class at Yoga Works.
Bikram: Also known as "Hot Yoga", it is practiced in a heated room and follows a sequence of 26 poses. It incorporates different components of fitness including: cardiorespiratory, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility. Visit Bikram Yoga NYC to find a class near you.
Hatha; This is the easiest to learn and is recommended for beginners. This basic yoga is popular as a form of exercise and stress management. It incorporates posture, breathing, and meditation into the practice. Try a class at OM Yoga at Union Square.
Iyengar: This practice promotes strength, flexibility, endurance, and balance through coordinated breathing and precise body alignment. The poses are held longer than in other practices. Sign up for a class at Yoga Sutra.
Power: This vigorous, fitness-based yoga, with many poses resembling basic calisthenics, is challenging and recommended for advanced students. Challenge yourself with a class at Prana Power Yoga.
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