Hatha yoga

Discussion in 'Health and Fitness' started by Knee Rider, Oct 26, 2017.

  1. Knee Rider

    Knee Rider Valued Member Supporter

    I've been wanting to get into yoga for a while. I tried Ashtanga for a bit. Liked it. I have found somewhere near me that teaches hatha yoga. I was wondering if anyone here has studied it and what it's like.

    I'm looking for improved flexibility and primarily in it for the physical benefit.
     
  2. aikiMac

    aikiMac aikido + boxing = very good Moderator Supporter

    As far as I know "hatha" is just the umbrella term for the physical postures aspect of yoga (as distinct from the meditative side). It's great exercise. Wife has been doing it for years. I tried briefly a couple times and was very surprised at how difficult it is.
     
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  3. Travess

    Travess The Welsh MAPper Supporter

    Just offering up a 'It may depend on the class' response here, but my (much) better half did Hatha Yoga for a while, whilst she was heavily pregnant with our second child, and she stated that she was by far and away the youngest (at 37) in the group, and that everything was very low key and seemed geared towards the older generation. Though that could just be a case of cause and effect - If older members are all you have, then that is what you plan your classes around.

    Travess
     
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  4. Knee Rider

    Knee Rider Valued Member Supporter

    The woman that runs it is about 60,000 years old... No idea on the rest of the class.

    I'll give it a go in a few weeks (when I'm healed) and report back. Hopefully the class will be physical enough!
     
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  5. Travess

    Travess The Welsh MAPper Supporter

    Ah, sounds like it could be the granddaughter of my wife's teacher then...

    Hope it works out for you all the same.

    Travess
     
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  6. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    This is what I remember from reading about Hindu esoteric practices. Hatha is the physical side of yogic practice (the only bit that became popular in the West).
     
  7. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    The above definitions of Hatha yoga are accurate, but Hatha classes are typically a collection of mild relaxed stretches. You may not get much return on investment in terms of increased joint range of motion if you are already reasonably flexible. Further, as an athletic individual you will probably get bored before the end of your first class.

    If your primary goal is increased flexibility, I would suggest a 'hot yoga' class like Bikram. You can permanently elongate tendons and connective tissue sheaths, with minimal structural weakening by low-force (stretching to the point of resistance but not past the pain threshold) but long-duration stretching (holding for longer than 30 seconds) with temperatures of the tendons at more than 103°F/39.4°C. You will achieve this by working through the asanas in a hot yoga class, where the thermostat is set to 107.6°F/42°C and humidity is close to 100%, alhough exact figures vary among studios. To increase the amount of permanent elongation, you maintain longer stretches (holding for one minute and beyond) while tendons and connective sheaths cool down; this is best achieved by holding your preferred stretches at the end of class when the temperature and humidity are turned down. Every class I have been to had a period of 10-15 minutes at the end for students to lie still and focus on their breathing, and the instructors were fine with me doing relaxed stretches for front and side splits. This permanent elongation with minimal structural weakening of tendons and connective sheaths is an effective strategy for increasing flexibility in older adults who are at the age when molecular changes in collagen fibres causes a decline in joint range of motion.
     
  8. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    I think I've done a few months of hatha, but...... The teacher was a crazy white witch lady who used tarot cards during class, so I assume that's not standard.

    I enjoyed it, and it did my flexibility some good.

    Re hot yoga, watch who touches you, plus it's part scam, part warm stretching.

    Bikram Yoga Founder On The Run After Massive Sexual Harassment Lawsuit


    Re yoga as a whole.

    It looks like yoga as it's practised here, didn't really exist in India, when it made its way to the States and the UK, it evolved into its current health practise.

    So you can take most of its claims with a big grain of salt, it's just some bodyweight isometric exercises plus stretching, filtered over a few decades of experience for its target market.
     
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  9. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    Did Kriplau Yoga, Power Yoga and Hatha yoga. But the Hatha was with a friend who was a licensed Yoga Therpist and a certified teacher in two other styles, one of those was Iyengar, can't remember what the other one was.

    It depends on the class and the teacher. Frankly I like yoga, but do not do well in a class, I always end up with the same thought.... I am glad there are people who love yoga...but it is just WAY to peaceful for me. Power Yoga was a little different. Of all of them I like Hatha best, but that may have more to do with the fact that it was all done with private lessons and that things were explained in great detail.

    What I learned in Hatha I apply to the yoga routine I do today and that routine helps me a lot with arthritis issues and flexibility.

    If I were to list the styles in order of benefit to me, and this is purely opinion and there are others who would not agree

    Hatha
    Kripalu
    Power
     
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  10. Knee Rider

    Knee Rider Valued Member Supporter

    Yep that makes sense. It really is just the flexibility plus core work I'm interested in.

    I definitely don't buy into the detox bs etc sprouting up around Bikram; I'm fine with being cupped and fondled though :D

    Regarding taro I actually really really like tarot. Not because I believe in the psychic/spiritual stuff around it but because I think if it's used well it's a brilliant tool for self-reflection and turning a critical eye on your life, practices and ambitions. I think it provides a good framework for that analysis depending on what layout/reading you choose and providing you read them yourself. Not only that but the old school decks have cool art work. If someone pulled them out in yoga I'd be less than Impressed though.

    Crystal skulls on the other hand... #Toteslegit!
     
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  11. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

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  12. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    I went because it was free, but also there was loads of pretty ladies there which is socially nice, (not in a perv way) , then some of the not so pretty ladies obviously oggled me, and the circle was complete.

    #feminism
     
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  13. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    Had a guy in my Taiji Shifu's class pull out a mini glass skull that, he claimed, had been left next to one of the actual glass skulls for 24 hours. Told my shifu and myself how much energy you could feel when you held it. He handed it to my Shifu.... he held it in his hand...looked at me and said....."feels like cold stone" But then he also has no use for Yoga so... :)
     
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  14. Knee Rider

    Knee Rider Valued Member Supporter

    God. I'd be less upset if my coach or training partners whipped out their 'mini me' than if they took out their mini skull.

    Sounds embarrassing for you and your sifu
     
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  15. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    We both thought it was normal for this guy....once had a long conversation with him about the Menehune he claimed to have seen when he was in Hawaii as well as more that a few conspiracy theories he fully believes. He was in and out of class and eventually out...and never returned
     
  16. El Medico

    El Medico Valued Member

    Glass? All the ones I know about are quartz.

    You could have told him that none of the crystal skulls are especially old,they weren't made by Mesoamerican cultures,and he would probably have gotten more "energy" from putting his toy near Big Ben for an hour.

    I mean,that baby's got some serious vibes!
     
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  17. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Mate, in that case, you'll love hot yoga!!
     
  18. Xue Sheng

    Xue Sheng All weight is underside

    Sorry, it was quartz, and this was about 10 to 15 years ago. But I have no doubt it would have gotten more energy from Big Ben. And it was a pretty cold stone.... As to the skulls, I believe they were commissioned by the man who discovered them, or at least that is what I seem to remember from a documentary I watched about them a few years ago
     
  19. CamToolin

    CamToolin New Member

    my body is still sore and i'm on my sixth session of ananda marga yoga. our teacher is a sister who is studying to be a "didi", i think female monk or something. they are sheltered in monastery near our home.

    as for the yoga that we do, it's truly challenging but i love it. makes me sleepy at night, meaning, im relaxed.
     
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