namaste yogis . . . tell me about your practice?

[Mitchy1nge]

classes, at home or combination of both?

I have a hatha/integral class once a week which is all very relaxing etc but is a quite major source of irritation that I can't go to a more interesting and less static sort of class most days (do vinyasa, vinyasa flow at home but is not the same as having a person there to adjust you when needed!)

so was wondering what others do and how happy you are with it?

I do Bikram purely because it opened down the road from me and I go sometimes 3 times a week sometimes just once, depending on shift patterns. It is very intense and hot, but it does relax me and i feel better for it.

Am interested in other posters' experiences though as i am just a beginner and would like to find out more about other types of yoga.

My mother is 65 and has been doing iyengar ever since i can remember and she was a bit sniffy about Bikram ( I had no idea the world of yoga had its politics!)

hot yoga

I really really really want to try that, but nearest place involves big £££ upfront and then there are not even many classes a week and none that I can do grrrrrrr om shanti motherfuckers

yoga people are funny aren't they there are all these different ones offering their random versions of yoga in village halls everywhere - I want to unify them and open a yoga studio where they can all do their own thing, separate but together!

I practise at home, around 30-45 minutes every evening, usually whilst listening to the radio (not very spiritual I know)
I've done it for about 30 years, there are some good youtube yoga chanels and the vinyassa stuff with the updog/down dog transitions seems very popular these days.

I veer a bit towards yin yoga I find it handy to check e-mails on my phone while holding the various seated poses

The guy who started our local bikram one used to practise at home with a heater and a book!

I quite like the idea of the dotty yoga classes in village halls - Bikram is a business/marketing machine.

I go to two classes a week, one Iyengar and one Hatha. I try to practice at home every other day for an hour.
Iyengar is my favourite, I love the attention to alignment.

I wish I could practice more but childcare and full time work makes it difficult.

I go to a 90-min yoga class once a week, and keep on meaning to do at least 15 mins practice each day alone but am too sodding lazy . Even in the 6 months I've been doing the yoga course I've noticed a huge improvement in my asanas and breathing, but I'm still really bad about not letting my mind wandering during meditation.

I go to a kind of yoga that has been trademarked in Germany (BenefitYoga) which is a mixture of various other directions, on their website they call it a 'synthesis of yoga pathways with the emphasis on connecting the different levels within us and their harmonic development as a way of releasing each person's individual potential. The means for doing this are loving mindfulness and breathing as an integrative force and link to our inner being'.

Good grief, I'd never read that stuff before. I like it because of the real emphasis on linking breathing and movement, and the fact that nobody hassles you if you can't stretch as far as the teacher (I've had really bad experience in the past with a radical Sivananda group who thought my knee problems were laziness instead of a severe meniscus tear and called me evil for refusing to give up garlic and onion!). Developing mindfulness is not a gymnastics competition! We have loads of comfy cushions, but also straps à la Iyengar. It can be pretty hard work too, though, and at the moment our teacher is spending several weeks getting us all to do the Eagle properly (without falling over). We also chant the Gyantri mantra quite a lot, which is curiously relaxing.

what? don't understand how yoga can be trademarked? It's yoga! Millions of people have been doing it for ? thousands ? of years! there are always new versions popping up and evolving in different directions, and even within say, vinyasa, every class and every instructor varies massively

so I don't get that, the commercial aspect seems completely at odds with yoga itself

thats what I like about yoga, it's so endlessly variable and adaptable but there do seem to be a number of 'guru' type figures who have tried to stake a claim to parts of it

I like watching acroyoga on you tube
www.youtube.com/user/kwakuduahpoku/videos
I also like:
www.youtube.com/user/essentialyoga/videos
www.youtube.com/user/yogatic/videos

mercury7 those acroyoga videos are mesmerising!

I love the Meghan Currie time lapse videos, she's a amazing.
.

yes they are great to watch :o

acroyoga on tv NOW at the yoga expo

they are saying it is open to everyone who likes being upside down

from LAST YEAR so don't know why they are showing it now