Yoga for Stress Relief - Hatha Yoga?

[Sugar-n-Spice]

I do a lot of stretching in complicated poses at home (this is not coming off very well is it? ) What I am meaning to say is like I do stretching in various positions but I have never taken a formal yoga class, so now that I have the dire need for stress relief and I prefer to stay at home, I purchased a DVD for stress relief yoga. The thing is they are calling it hatha yoga, but as I am researching, sources are saying that all yoga is hatha yoga. I also see some sources saying that hatha yoga is gentle yoga and others saying that hatha yoga focuses more on breathing and less on physical movement, but bringing the two in tune with each other I will get the DVD in two more days but I was wondering if anyone is familiar with this term and practice and could explain this a little more clear please?

[Triple11]

From my experience

Hatha yoga focuses on poses and breath work, it's slow to moderately paced. Somewhere in the middle of vinyasa and yin.
Vinyasa yoga is faster paced and focuses on a series of movements, often repetitive. (Hot yoga stems from vinyasa)
Yin yoga is extremely restorative, where the focus is on holding the pose for quite some time.

I burn out easy, so I really prefer hatha or yin yoga!
Which video did you order?

[Clover]

Hatha is very basic, your primarily focusing on breathing. It's good for grounding purposes, so It's practically meditation.There are various techniques you can incorporate to boost your breathing while your doing poses, for example, "the breath of fire".

A Hatha thread just in case you missed it.
http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...ad.php?t=97466


You can pick up similar breathing/techniques with Chakra Yoga. I took a class like this, you focus on balancing the chakras,

https://youtu.be/_HrsfEdwcRU

[CosmicWisdom323]

The term Hatha Yoga is used in two different senses:

In the western usage, it is a style of yoga, introductory level, focusing on basic poses or asanas, and basic breathing techniques or pranayama. It is called hatha to differentiate from more vigorous athletic types like vinyasa or deeper more alignment based styles like Iyengar.

In traditional hindu philosophy, Hatha Yoga does indeed cover all physical forms of practice. In contract to Hatha Yoga, the physical practice, there is Jhana (Knowledge) Yoga, Karma (Service) Yoga, Bhakti (Devotion) Yoga, Raja (Royal) Yoga, Tantra.

These are not styles of physical yoga as we in the west think of it. They are more like spiritual paths.

[Sugar-n-Spice]

Thanks so much everyone I received the DVD a while ago but didn't try it until I read your replies this morning.

Originally Posted by Triple11

From my experience

Hatha yoga focuses on poses and breath work, it's slow to moderately paced. Somewhere in the middle of vinyasa and yin.
Vinyasa yoga is faster paced and focuses on a series of movements, often repetitive. (Hot yoga stems from vinyasa)
Yin yoga is extremely restorative, where the focus is on holding the pose for quite some time.

I burn out easy, so I really prefer hatha or yin yoga!
Which video did you order?

It is actually called Yoga for Stress Relief. Really beautiful, she has a soothing voice and the background is pretty awesome. I thought I was flexible until we did one particular pose and I felt like someone lit my thigh on fire she said that pose takes months or years to master but she gave advice to focus the breath on the area with the most burn and it actually helped, I felt the tension release a bit.

I will look into vinyasa and yin. Thanks so much!

The tape had so much more than I expected. a 25 minute morning warm up, a 60 minute morning session, and then other sessions for the evening, one for just coming home from work, and I think a couple more. I only did the 25 minute one today but it was really great. And yes lots of focus on breathing.

[Sugar-n-Spice]

Originally Posted by Clover

Hatha is very basic, your primarily focusing on breathing. It's good for grounding purposes, so It's practically meditation.There are various techniques you can incorporate to boost your breathing while your doing poses, for example, "the breath of fire".

A Hatha thread just in case you missed it.
http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/sh...ad.php?t=97466


You can pick up similar breathing/techniques with Chakra Yoga. I took a class like this, you focus on balancing the chakras,

https://youtu.be/_HrsfEdwcRU

Thanks so much for the links! It was really a nice experience today :) Instant yoga addict!

[Sugar-n-Spice]

Originally Posted by CosmicWisdom323

The term Hatha Yoga is used in two different senses:

In the western usage, it is a style of yoga, introductory level, focusing on basic poses or asanas, and basic breathing techniques or pranayama. It is called hatha to differentiate from more vigorous athletic types like vinyasa or deeper more alignment based styles like Iyengar.

In traditional hindu philosophy, Hatha Yoga does indeed cover all physical forms of practice. In contract to Hatha Yoga, the physical practice, there is Jhana (Knowledge) Yoga, Karma (Service) Yoga, Bhakti (Devotion) Yoga, Raja (Royal) Yoga, Tantra.

These are not styles of physical yoga as we in the west think of it. They are more like spiritual paths.

Thank you so much for this thorough explanation CosmicWisdom323. The DVD has a meditation instructional from the Dalai Lama in the beginning. It was very much about breathing and the positions were different from my usual stretches so it activated different muscle groups.

[joehall]

Originally Posted by Sugar-n-Spice

I do a lot of stretching in complicated poses at home (this is not coming off very well is it? ) What I am meaning to say is like I do stretching in various positions but I have never taken a formal yoga class, so now that I have the dire need for stress relief and I prefer to stay at home, I purchased a DVD for stress relief yoga. The thing is they are calling it hatha yoga, but as I am researching, sources are saying that all yoga is hatha yoga. I also see some sources saying that hatha yoga is gentle yoga and others saying that hatha yoga focuses more on breathing and less on physical movement, but bringing the two in tune with each other I will get the DVD in two more days but I was wondering if anyone is familiar with this term and practice and could explain this a little more clear please?

There are many reasons Hatha Yoga reduces stress, including increased deep breathing, improving blood flow, relieving tension, and relaxing tight muscles. Yoga helps balance the nervous system, turning off the “flight or fight” response (sympathetic nervous system) and activating the “rest and digest” response (para-sympathetic nervous system). This means better sleep, more effective digestion, increased fertility, reduced blood pressure, and the many other benefits of reducing stress.

[Sugar-n-Spice]

Thanks so much joehall :) People have noticed the difference in me and are now doing the same yoga to gain similar benefits.