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Step In Power Yoga For Fitness And Weight Reduction

What Is Power Yoga

The Western adaptation of Ashtanga Yoga is Power Yoga. It lays stress on the development of your strength and flexibility while nurturing self-discipline. Power Yoga is just another one of the several styles of Yoga that facilitates weight loss through a painstaking full-body workout. In the process it also helps promote concentration and mental stability.

Power Yoga involves a continuous process of a series of basic Yoga Postures, just as in Bikram Yoga. It is tough, exacting, challenging and demanding but is an energetic workout that guarantees results. The best part is that the basic challenges are such that it can be taken on even by beginners to Yoga. This style of Yoga also emphasizes on perfecting Yoga postures by retaining the asana (pose) for longer. In the process you improve your flexibility and powers of endurance, an aspect that has been taken from Iyengar Yoga.

In the practice of Power Yoga you perform a series of asanas (yoga postures) while coordinating your breathing patterns with every movement. This is also called Vinyasa and the result is asanas (poses) with grace and unity. Many of these movements might appear free-flowing, flexible and gentle, and some people even compare the style to a trance like dance. But in Power Yoga your perspective is determined and vigorous exercise; you contort and push every limb and sinew of your body to the limit maintaining each pose flawlessly and gracefully for quite some time with dedicated concentration. Those wishing to do Power Yoga should be prepared for a set of asanas (yoga poses) and pranayama (breathing exercises).

Various Asanas Or Poses

Asanas – Power Yoga Yogasanas (poses) are designed to sculpt beautiful bodies, to shed weight from all over the body, increase stamina and powers of concentration. You do a series of poses repeatedly, just like in the Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation) while standing, sitting, lying on your back, lying on your belly and in inverted positions in one smooth rollover. This smooth cycle helps you trim down your weight in the hips, abdomen and thighs. You normally begin with the Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations) and move into the other asanas (poses).

Pranayama – Power Yoga pranayama (breathing exercises) involve both hypo-ventilation and hyper-ventilation. While hypo-ventilation includes the stimulating Pranayama (breathing exercises), hyper-ventilation includes the relaxing ones. These include Kapalabhati (Skull Cleansing) and Bhastrika (Bellows Breath), and Kapalbhati for weight loss.

While you do the transitions of asanas (yoga poses) in Power Yoga at a slow and steady pace, you still hold some of the poses for longer than the minimum 5 counts. This helps raise your physical endurance as well as your powers of concentration. Weight loss is an added benefit.

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