The majority of people take up different forms of exercise in order to reduce weight, strengthen muscles, and tone their bodies. However not every format of exercise or the goal a person has clings with the orthodox ways. For instance, a lot of people perform yoga and treat it as a daily ritual. On the contrary, there are people who want more. This is the place where Power Yoga comes into play.
In this article, we’ll be explaining what Power Yoga is, its origins, different exercises, and resources that can help you learn it. Therefore, let’s read ahead…
What is Power Yoga?
Power yoga is an intensive form of yoga that works on building strength and endurance, thereby, reducing the weight of the practitioner. The practice is also interchangeably called Vinyasa Yoga. In Power Yoga, the emphasis is more on flowing from one yoga pose to another instead of performing them individually.
How is it different from Ordinary Yoga?
If seen from a beginner’s perspective, Power Yoga is more dynamic in nature and might look like aerobics. It doesn’t feel like meditative or like mindfulness exercises (despite having that benefit) instead it is performed at a much more rapid pace. To further add, the roots of power yoga (which is based on Vinyasa Yoga) go back to Ashtanga Yoga which was established in the early 20th century.
Origin of Power Yoga
The origin of Power Yoga begins in the 1990s with two students of K. Pattabhi. This was further carried on by several other yoga teachers that include the famous Larry Schultz who was behind Rocket Yoga.
After that Beryl Bender Birch created modern yoga which is often considered as the original power yoga in the year 1995. Another student known as K. Pattabhi Jois by the name Bryan Kest created his own variation of the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. From there this modern variation of Yoga carries on till this date and has been adopted by 10-15% of yoga practitioners in the USA (with an estimated strength of 36 million practitioners).
Power Yoga Exercises for Weight Loss that Helps in Strengthening and Toning Your Body
There are several exercises in the realm of power yoga that can help you lose weight and at the same time strengthen & tone your body. Let’s have a look at them:
Plank Pose (Phalakasana)
It is one of the best poses for strengthening the core of your body. One might find it pretty easy to perform but it takes time and strength to completely hone it. Aside from it, this particular exercise has various benefits such as strengthening of shoulders, back, buttocks, thighs, and abs.
In order to perform this, you need to get in a push-up position. After that using the pressure on your wrist, hand, and elbow, try to lift your body from the mat. Try to look downward and relax your neck to avoid any after-workout strain. Try to hold this position for as long as possible.
Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)
If you want to tone your belly and neck then this is the perfect pose for you. This particular pose helps you strengthen your core and abdominal muscles. Bow pose helps in improving the posture and gives a full stretch of the body. This exercise also works on the back, chest, abs, legs, hips, and arms.
In order to perform this pose, you need to bend your knees and hold the ankle with your hands. Make sure you keep your knees hip-width apart. Now, try to lift your chest and thighs on the floor while simultaneously holding your ankle. Try to continuously breathe and hold the pose for 20 seconds to see the benefits.
Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)
This is another excellent pose that works on your thyroid, glutes, spine, thighs, and back. This particular pose helps you improve your digestion and muscle tone. It helps you reduce hypertension and menopause symptoms which makes it an excellent way to lose weight.
In order to perform it, simply lie down on your back, bend your knees, keep flat feet on the floor, and simply press down. Now, try to push up the torso while placing your hand under the hips. Make sure that your palms are facing down.
Warrior Pose (Virabhadrasana)
This is amongst the best upper body workout that one can do to improve their strength. Warrior pose helps in improving your arms, shoulders, and legs meanwhile working on strength. The benefit of this pose is immense. It can help in energizing your entire body and promote overall balance.
To perform this, stand straight and try to stretch your legs without bending your knees at a distance. Make the distance between the knees three to four feet apart and make sure you have a straight back. After that bend your knees and twist your upper half while facing sideways. Now raise your hands in a wing position and try to stay in the position for 10 seconds.
Standing Forward Bend Pose (Uttanasana)
This pose helps you stretch your hamstrings and muscles of your abdomen which can even help in improving the digestive system. Aside from this, the pose also helps in improving your mental as well as physical health.
To perform Uttanasana, simply stand hip-width apart. Now bend down and try to touch the floor with your palms. Make sure to not bend your knees and try to touch your knees with your forehead.
Apps for Power Yoga
Telling someone about the benefits of something and not telling them where they can find it, is not justified. We’ve already talked about power yoga but haven’t told you the best free yoga apps for weight loss.
Well, here are the best power yoga apps that come from the house of some incredible healthcare software development services. These are:
Alo Moves
Alo Moves is a great app to find numerous resources for Power Yoga. The app is a consolidation of 1000s of video resources. Also, it is backed by some amazing fitness experts. The application offers intensive sessions of power yoga as per the level of the user. Also, there are multiple other resources for other types of exercises.
Asana Rebel
Asana Rebel is amongst the most popular application for finding various resources for different types of exercises. The application can help with power yoga by explaining different power yoga moves, their instruction, and how these poses should be performed. Adding to it, this is a highly rated application and has a decent community of users.
Glo
Glo is another highly impressive application that helps its users to perform different types of exercises in different styles. Adding to it, power yoga is one of them. Just like any other application, this one also offers intensive sessions of workouts. These sessions are practical in terms of providing body balance, muscle strengthening, and overall rejuvenation of the body & mind.
Benefits of Power Yoga
Performing power yoga and embracing it as a daily ritual has tremendous benefits. To provide further perspective, we have consolidated the major ones below:
- It can help in improving cardiovascular health by increasing the heart rate and breathing
- It is capable of increasing flexibility by stretching the different muscles and joints in the body
- It helps in strengthening the different muscle groups in a variety of ways
- It can help in improving overall body balance by maintaining a challenging pose
- It can help in increasing energy levels by improving the circulation and metabolism of the body
Wrapping Up!
Power yoga is one of the most powerful tools to embrace a healthy lifestyle. It keeps you active and provides you with a healthy mind. With Power Yoga, you can increase the vitality of your body, lose weight to look better, and gain overall muscle toning. With this article, our attempt was to get you started with Power Yoga if you had it in mind. It may be a modernized version of Yoga, however, its regular practitioners are reaping the benefits by performing it on a daily basis.
