What kind of Yoga?

[kittydinner]

I live in the sticks, and mostly I just want to get home at the end of the day and not faff around travelling to classes, plus I don't really have any expendable income, so I'd like to buy a yoga DVD to practice at home since there are no classes nearby.
I am relatively fit and strong as I work out at home already... I have always fancied Bikram Yoga (hot yoga) because I heard it's a cellulite buster (and a thread on here made me wonder if I could blast the last of it off!) but I can't find any DVD's, so I might just try another yoga in a hot room. There seems to be so much to choose from. Anyone got any recommendations?

Yoga Shakti shiva Rea.
Transform with Jivamukti. David Life & Sharon gannon
Both dynamic vinyasa flow. Basically Hatha yoga, moving from one asana to another using sun salutations as the base. If you are reasonably experienced both these are great. Yoga is ideally taught by a qualified teacher who can adjust you, make sure what you are doing is right, a DVD can't do that. If you contact the British Wheel of Yoga or the Krishnamacharya healing foundation uk
(KHYF UK) they would probably be able to put you in touch with a local teacher who could give you a couple of one 2 one sessions to give you a basic grounding.
Yoga is so much more than asana!
( Bikaram is a set series of 26 postures, same every time, you might find it gets a bit tedious after a while, also not every asana is suitable for every body)
If you need any more info pm me

I wouldn't recommend practising yoga by DVD unless you have some experience. You need a teacher to not only correct posture but explain the intention behind each posture, correct breathing etc.

I have been practising hatha yoga for 10 years. I recently started practising ashtanga and I can't imagine trying to teach myself from dvd despite a good deal of yoga experience.

You will be missing out on so much of the practice if all you do is copy.

Thanks for your replies. It sounds like it won't be right for me then, I guess I'll just wait until someone starts teaching near me. Fingers crossed

Hi Kitty, I've done Bikram for over a year and disagree that its tedious-every class is different and theres always somewhere new to go in the postures. I went initailly for weight loss but it now means far more to me and I can't imagine life without it.

You can get books on Bikram explaining the postures and a CD (its a dialogue led class-google Bikram yoga for the website) and theres another good website called 'HotYogaDoctor' which has information on home practice.

I'd agree with ujjayi that its far better to go to a class, at least initially, but
I've heard that Leah Bracknell has a good Yoga DVD out and theres also a yoga special in Top Sante magazine this month.

Good luck with it!

Hi I have practiced yoga for almost 20 years and have been teaching for 12 years. I teach a dynamic style of Hatha yoga (even Bikaram is Hatha yoga)
Yoga needs to be taught by a good teacher, I see so many people who have done yoga at home, or had a few classes with an under qualified instructor and I wish they had come to me first....a little knowledge is a dangerous thing...
The Bikaram question. Bikaram Chowdry was a weight lifter from India, he had an injury and designed a program of asana to help his recovery. He moved to California where it is hot (almost as hot as India but not quite) he recoverd from his injury well, being a business man he promoted his series of postures, as a good means of exercise. In colder climates like NewYork or London his success would have been difficult, the venue had to be warm if students were to gain as much success as he had. So rooms were heated, and Bikaram yoga began. You can take from it what you want, it is a form of good exercise, ( the heat helps the muscles relax to facilitate deeper stretching) but it is not really yoga in the classic sense.
Yoga was brought to the west originally by Krishnamacharya, and it was meant to be a way of calming a busy mind, chitta vritti Nirodah. Asana was such a small part, infact only 3 postures were ever mentioned in the Sutra. So when practicing Bikaram enjoy it, (it is fun for a while) but hopefully it will lead you on to a deeper more full understanding of yoga when you are ready to develop mind and body further. If you want to stay with Bikaram that's fine too, but I see many Ex Bikaram students and teachers, who just want to progress and widen their knowledge. "Enjoy today for what it is, tomorrow may be different"
TKV Desikachar (Son of Krishnamacharya)

How fascinating!
I went to a yoga class once... I am not a silly or generally ignorant person and I do not normally giggle like a twerp, but I enjoyed the stretchy bits quite a lot and when it came to the meditation bit I felt very energised and didn't want to lie in the dark being quiet and I don't know, just quite happy and I'm afraid the mirth and giggles just escaped and I kept chortling to myself on the floor in the dark. I know I sound like a toddler. I didn't know anyone in the class and they were all a bit annoyed so I didn't go back and it's put me off trying again, although now I have moved and there's nothing nearby.

kittydinner Me too! I think some of the people in my class fell asleep last week. It's just irresistible to laugh, grown people lying on the floor of a village hall. Why??

So, anyway, you're normal. Or we're both odd.

yogajournal.com has a lot of information and some great videos which work as an introduction to different types of yoga.