Power Yoga: How to Intensify Your Practice

Love the conscious advantages of yoga however crave a extra intense exercise? Energy yoga delivers each in a single observe.

“The flows may be extra bodily demanding on the physique (and generally thoughts), and the category strikes at a sooner tempo,” explains Robin Diamond, RYT 200, a Miami-based energy yoga teacher. The sequencing and velocity are “designed to maintain your coronary heart price elevated and your muscle mass working,” she provides.

A mixture of cardio yoga and yoga for power, this Twentieth-century replace on an historical observe is ideal for many who need their exercises to tug double obligation. Learn on to find out about energy yoga, the way it’s related to vinyasa yoga, and which poses you may count on in a typical class.

What Is Energy Yoga?

Energy yoga is any kind of high-intensity yoga through which the tempo and actions are more difficult than in a conventional yoga observe. Whereas yoga’s roots date back millennia as a meditative observe, energy yoga is a distinctly fashionable kind of yoga.

In 1995, Beryl Bender Birch wrote the e-book Power Yoga, named for her signature athletic technique of educating the equally intense (however way more inflexible and conventional) Ashtanga yoga. Bender Birch was the first to teach yoga to athletes, and energy yoga has been the official yoga program of the New York Road Runners Club since 1980.

Within the ’90s, yogis Bryan Kest and Baron Baptiste every put their very own spin on the ability observe, however today “energy yoga is a extra normal time period,” Diamond says, including that it’s linked to vinyasa (a.ok.a. circulate) yoga. You’ll additionally see “energy vinyasa yoga” listed on studio class schedules.

As a decidedly Western observe, contributors can count on music and power, with a mixture of English and Sanskrit names for poses. Be ready to maneuver — and sweat — with out letting go of your “yogic respiratory.”

“In an influence class, you might be linking breath with motion, simply at a faster tempo,” Diamond says. A lifelong yogi, she discovered energy yoga about seven years in the past.

“My power elevated tremendously, and my thoughts was quiet once I was on my mat,” she says, explaining that the depth truly helps with focus.

“When the courses are bodily demanding, you’re so targeted on the circulate that you simply completely disconnect from different ideas,” Diamond says.

That’s the essence of the upcoming program BODi LAVA, which fuses energy yoga and primal actions for low-impact, high-intensity exercises that construct power and cardiovascular endurance.

Energy Yoga Advantages

For these with a basis in yoga, an influence yoga observe can amplify its present advantages:

1. Muscle power and growth

“All types of yoga can present an unbelievable psychological exercise, however energy yoga is a good bodily observe,” Diamond says. “By utilizing your individual body weight via a collection of poses like push-ups (chaturanga), arm balances, and even standing poses, you’re capable of sculpt your muscle mass for those who observe persistently.”

2. Elevated calorie burn

The brisk, regular tempo of energy yoga burns extra energy than a slower yin or restorative observe, as your health tracker can verify. In 2020, researchers examined the advantages of vinyasa yoga for cardiovascular well being. They answered the query of whether or not yoga is cardiovascular train: Doing 90 minutes of vinyasa yoga can, over time, be an efficient different to different types of cardiovascular exercises.

3. Temper increase

Any time you unroll your mat, it could possibly allow you to manage stress, bounce back from tough blows, and build resilience. Even one session of energy yoga has been proven to cut back salivary cortisol, a marker for stress, based on research conducted on college-age women published in 2019.

4. Cardiovascular well being

Dancers who practiced energy yoga for eight weeks boosted their anaerobic endurance — in addition to upper-body power (in contrast with a management group who didn’t add yoga to their routine) — based on analysis published in 2019.

5. Larger mobility

Yoga can, after all, yield advantages for flexibility, mobility, and general well being of joints and connective tissues, and energy yoga is not any exception.

6. Weight administration

Energy yoga might assist with weight reduction, and, based on a 2016 review of studies, it’s a protected and efficient addition to a weight-loss routine.

What Is a Typical Energy Yoga Sequence?

“Each trainer brings their very own particular traits to their class,” Diamond says, however count on to kick off your energy yoga observe with solar salutations after a fast, mild warm-up. (However not 108 of them — don’t fear!)

As with different circulate yoga, count on to hyperlink energy yoga poses with a “vinyasa” or the combo of chaturanga (chaturanga dandasana), upward dealing with canine (urdhva mukha svanasana), and downward dealing with canine (adho mukha svanasana), that are all a part of a solar salute.

Listed here are a couple of different poses you may count on in an influence vinyasa yoga sequence. Nevertheless, since they’re meant to be intensified, the poses might look a little bit completely different than the way in which you’ve seen them expressed earlier than.

Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1)

• Begin in mountain pose (tadasana). Step your left foot again three to 4 toes, at a 45-degree angle.
• Give your self as a lot house between your toes as wanted. If you happen to’re in a position, align your again left arch along with your proper heel.
• Maintaining your chest and hips dealing with the entrance of the mat all through the posture, bend your entrance knee 90 levels instantly over the ankle, along with your knee and toes pointing ahead.
• Press your again foot into the bottom. Lengthen your backbone and interact your core.
• On an inhale, sweep your arms ahead and up, palms dealing with one another.
• Maintain your arms in step with your ears, interact your triceps, and press your shoulders down and away out of your ears. Look ahead or up towards your arms.
• Exhale to maneuver out of the pose, to mountain pose, or on to the opposite aspect.

Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2)

• Begin in mountain pose. Step your left foot again three to 4 toes, at a 45-degree angle, following the identical alignment as warrior 1.
• Bend your entrance knee 90 levels instantly over the ankle, along with your knee and toes pointing ahead.
• Sq. your chest and hips to the left aspect.
• Press your left heel down firmly and interact the muscle mass of your left leg. Stand tall and interact your core.
• On an inhale, attain your left arm again and your proper arm ahead, in order that they kind a “T,” palms dealing with down. Unfold the collarbones and broaden your higher again, holding your shoulders down.
• Look over your proper fingertips. Stack your shoulders instantly over your hips (so your backbone is upright — not shifted ahead or again). Exhale to maneuver out of the pose, to mountain pose, or on to the opposite aspect.

Warrior 3 (Virabhadrasana 3)

• Stand along with your toes hip-distance aside, along with your arms at your sides or palms collectively in entrance of your coronary heart.
• Shift your weight onto your proper foot, and carry your left knee, flexing your left foot.
• Shift your weight ahead as you lengthen your left leg behind you, holding your left foot flexed. Your higher physique and again leg must be parallel with the mat.
• Maintain your gaze towards the ground, holding your head impartial.
• Modify your hips in order that your pelvis is parallel with the ground. Your proper leg must be as straight as doable.
• Discover your stability, and, if desired, convey your arms straight out in entrance of you, holding your shoulders away out of your ears.
• On an inhale, reverse the motion to return to mountain pose, and repeat on the opposite aspect.

Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

• Stand in mountain pose, so your toes are collectively and your heels are barely separated.
• On an inhale, elevate your arms above your head subsequent to your ears in order that your palms are dealing with each other. Then bend your knees to decrease your hips down and again, as if sitting in a chair.
• Maintain your arms prolonged along with your shoulders pressed down and biceps by your ears. Maintain your chin barely tucked and your chest lifted to keep up a straight line via your backbone.
• Bend your knees deeply in order that your thighs are parallel to the mat. Put your weight again into your heels, in order that you could possibly carry all 10 toes.

Boat Pose (Navasana)

• Begin by sitting on the ground, knees bent, and toes flat on the ground. Maintain your sitting bones flat on the bottom.
• Have interaction your core and hip flexors and carry your toes off the ground.
• Maintain a straight backbone and frequently carry via your sternum.
• Lengthen your arms ahead, holding them parallel with the ground. Straighten your legs if doable.
• Maintain your core engaged to keep away from placing pressure in your decrease again. Repeat three units.

Is Energy Yoga Good for Newcomers?

Whereas a program like BODi LAVA is designed to accommodate practitioners of all health ranges, energy yoga usually requires some expertise with a primary yoga observe earlier than making an attempt its extra strenuous paces and poses.

If you happen to’re feeling energized by the prospect of energy yoga, BODi LAVA from Tremendous Coach Elise Joan, launches on June twenty seventh. The high-intensity, low-impact program combines athletic yoga, primal actions, and body weight power in a single observe that takes solely 20 minutes a day. Energy yogis will love the multi-tasking, flowing motion designed to make you sweat — and hold you transferring.