Yoga: A User's Guide
Don’t get yoga? Dominique Rowe helps find the style for you.
Yin, Ivengar, Ashtanga, Basic, Hatha, Flow, Mysore, Pranayama, Parallax... Okay, I made the last one up, but that’s just to show there’s plenty in the wide world of yoga to confuse the great unstretched. Even if you finally decide to join a yoga studio, choosing one of the myriad classes can leave your brain as knotted as an advanced guru’s legs.
Frances Gairns, a Pure Yoga instructor and the editor of Hong Kong’s only yoga magazine, Namaskar, sympathizes with the dilemma of the yoga virgin. “It can be really overwhelming and intimidating for many people, but there are lots of different practices because there are so many different personalities and constitutions. From the hyper to the couch potato, there’s a yoga style for everyone.”
Which Yoga Style Are You?
According to Gairns, those who are more assertive or are always busy and on the go are more likely to enjoy Ashtanga, Hot or Bikram yoga; those who are very analytical and precise will be more attracted to Iyengar Yoga; and people who like to take things easy and aren’t into being too active might prefer Yin, Basic or Shivananda yoga. But, as Yoga Limbs owner and instructor Wanda Hewitt explains, “Though people tend to gravitate toward what they like, sometimes what they like isn’t good for them.”
In the same way, the less energetic among us need a high-energy yoga. “Lethargic people are the ones who should be doing aggressive practices like Ashtanga or power yoga,” Hewitt says. And creative, airy types would benefit from Iyengar and Yin, which helps keep people grounded and down-to-earth. If you’re still not sure, you can visit an Ayurvedic specialist or take a self-test online (such as the one at the Yoga Limbs website, www.yogalimbs.com).
Bikram Yoga
Web: www.bikramyoga.com.hk.
What: Invented by scantily-clad Bikram Choudhury (now living in Hollywood), this controversial style consists of a patented sequence of asanas performed in a heated room in front of a mirror.
Fashionista rating: 4/5
Transcendence rating: 1/3