Training & Nutrition - What kind of yoga should I start with?

Here in our Recreation and Education program for adults we have about a dozen flavors of yoga: Iyengar, Vinyasa Flow, several other things called "Flow," and specialties on family, better back, power, strength, teen.

My goals are better body stability while biking, better flexibility and balance, as well as the meditative benefits. I've never done any yoga, but I'm starting and want to start with decent form. I'm leaning toward the Iyengar class, which is about learning the positions correctly.

Is this my best choice? Yoga is big in Ann Arbor, I'm sure I could find any kind one could think of.

Since you've never done any at all, you may want to find a class for beginners. In the beginning, almost any form of yoga should help with your balance and controlled breathing.

I'm kind of in that boat myself, trying to improve my flexibility for TTs. I found a couple DVDs, Yoga for Inflexible People and Yoga for Cyclists that I'm working on (just for about 10 days now). It's not the same as going to a class, but for now it's fitting into my schedule better and getting me started.

Can you ask the instructor(s) which would be best suited for you? You seem to have a good idea of what you want to achieve and are honest with your current abilities. They can help direct you to the class which would best benefit you.

If the classes aren't specified "beginner" or "advanced", most instructors should be able to accommodate a beginner in their class. Let them know you are new to yoga, any restrictions or health concerns you might have, and your goals.

If I was a beginner and did not receive any direction from the instructors on which class to take, I would too start with Iyengar. GL!

echoing all of the above...
over the years I've tried a number of different disciplines.
not directly aimed at cycling, rather overall health, flexibility, body and mind control.

The practices which I find least helpful to me are the 'flow' vinyasa flow hatha classes.

Most move way too fast for me to develop a good inner focus or get the full benefit of any asana. Lotta people like these, but to me they're sortta counterproductive.
I prefer to be in an asana until I become that balance point of relax/strength/flexibility.
'Flow' might be fine for a very flexible young woman, but not for a 60+ old guy who is a jumble of broken parts.

iyengar - good stuff for really learning asanas and their underlying purpose.
yoga is as much (maybe more) about the connection of asanas and how they collectively affect you, rather than the individual doing of a pose.

hence a good class and instructor is lightyears better than any instruction media. IMO
I'm very fortunate to have a variety of good yoga in my area.
and developing a personal practice outside of 'class' structures is a good way to making yoga a cornerstone of your daily life.
I started doing it as a tool towards improving other things, but over the years it has become a 'thing' unto itself. My only regret is not having found it sooner in my life.

Ok, I just finished signing up for the Iyengar. It's a mixed/
- level class, but he does say starting level is included.

Ok, I just finished signing up for the Iyengar. It's a mixed/
- level class, but he does say starting level is included.

Probably THE BEST choice for all beginners. Iyenger yoga will help you learn the asanas correctly and safely. After you learn the basic postures, you can try other forms of yoga that involve more movement, such as flow or Ashtanga.

Since you've never done any at all, you may want to find a class for beginners. In the beginning, almost any form of yoga should help with your balance and controlled breathing.

I'm kind of in that boat myself, trying to improve my flexibility for TTs. I found a couple DVDs, Yoga for Inflexible People and Yoga for Cyclists that I'm working on (just for about 10 days now). It's not the same as going to a class, but for now it's fitting into my schedule better and getting me started.

I am there too. I need some flexibility in my legs period. There are some good Yoga videos on Youtube.

The Yoga Journal web-site has good videos and descriptions of the poses.

My first yoga -- that is, the stuff I've repeated more than once and later felt some improvement in my ability to do it -- was P90X.

Later, a friend told me, "Tony doesn't know anything about yoga! What he's doing is too damn hard." Eh, maybe, but that's the one I've done the most. :p

Tip: My first time doing yoga (not P90X), I used one of those thin yoga mats on the gym's hardwood floor. I might as well not have had any padding -- my knees hurt so much that I couldn't focus on any of the poses. I laid down two mats the next time and started enjoying it.

Wow, if you are in Ann Arbor - that is really where Iyengar Yoga came to the USA! I highly recommend:

http://www.annarborschoolofyoga.com/

I looked at them before. For now I'm just trying this out, but I might get to the point where I want to spend that much.

Some local wisdom is that because of the long history of Iyengar here, there are no bad certified teachers. In any case I'm starting.

because of the long history of Iyengar here, there are no bad certified teachers.

The certification process in Iyengar yoga is also very rigorous. Laurie Blakeney in Ann Arbor at least was one of the top folks in the national committee that runs the certificatio process. I was out in Montana at Feathered Pipe Ranch for a couple of week-long workshops she co-taught with George Purvis. Top notch instruction!

Laura Blakeny now runs the school you mentioned, but it's a lot more expensive than what I am doing at this point. The class I'm taking is by David Rosenberg, also on the Iyengar site as a certified teacher. Sounds like there are no bad certified teachers.

Do you teach?

We had our first lesson this week. I'm hunting now for some printed instructions to remember the gist of the asanas we did. Would like to run some of them once before next Wednesday. I feel some minor cramps and muscle pains where I felt stretched a lot. Almost the sort of thing that would keep me off the bike for a day or so, hence I'm a little concerned. If I felt nothing, I'd want to practice them twice.

Any type of flow yoga moves from position to position without stopping. Sometimes at medium speed, sometimes fast.

A yoga mat is essential. They come in different lengths. If you are near 6'0", get a longer one than 72".

We had our first lesson this week. I'm hunting now for some printed instructions to remember the gist of the asanas we did. Would like to run some of them once before next Wednesday. I feel some minor cramps and muscle pains where I felt stretched a lot. Almost the sort of thing that would keep me off the bike for a day or so, hence I'm a little concerned. If I felt nothing, I'd want to practice them twice.

I tend to go at things with full effort. I think I'm patient, however I'm always taught that my patience has a long road to hoe.
Yoga reinforced that.
We're all different, and at different levels of flexibility, strength and patience. Asanas, as I do them currently is not how I did them years ago. Like getting base miles, yoga is a long term thing.
As cyclists we become prone to pushing - we know that we don;t improve until we push the envelope.
Yoga works that way also, but yoga doesn't work best when you try to do 'intervals', it's more like LSD or moderate tempo rides.
Finding where an asana starts transforming you without causing issues is one of the most important things to be aware of in the beginning, 6 months later and years after that. It's actually an awareness I believe is always needed.
Instructors can only know what they see of you, how you feel is something you can communicate to good instructors, They'll help in finding that balance for you - but you have to make the decision. If you're no longer the perfect specimen, then adjusting a pose to work in your envelope is important - with the objective to get closer to the desired pose, at some future point, if that's in the cards.
Yoga continues to teach me more about myself, everytime I practice.

I took my first class in Iyengar yoga in 1978 & have kept at it more or less continuously since then. I worked a little as an assistant teacher and done a very little teaching myself.

Yoga: The Iyengar Way, by Silvia Mehta, would be a good book for reminding yourself what you learned in class. http://www.librarything.com/work/7361

You can do nasal breathing yoga while you are riding.

I tend to go at things with full effort. I think I'm patient, however I'm always taught that my patience has a long road to hoe.
Yoga reinforced that.
We're all different, and at different levels of flexibility, strength and patience. Asanas, as I do them currently is not how I did them years ago. Like getting base miles, yoga is a long term thing.
As cyclists we become prone to pushing - we know that we don;t improve until we push the envelope.
Yoga works that way also, but yoga doesn't work best when you try to do 'intervals', it's more like LSD or moderate tempo rides.
Finding where an asana starts transforming you without causing issues is one of the most important things to be aware of in the beginning, 6 months later and years after that. It's actually an awareness I believe is always needed.
Instructors can only know what they see of you, how you feel is something you can communicate to good instructors, They'll help in finding that balance for you - but you have to make the decision. If you're no longer the perfect specimen, then adjusting a pose to work in your envelope is important - with the objective to get closer to the desired pose, at some future point, if that's in the cards.
Yoga continues to teach me more about myself, everytime I practice.

That's interesting. I was having trouble raising my leg while in a prone position so it stood straight up with my knee locked. Rather than hold it straight up without the knee locked, he said to raise it as high as possible with the knee locked, and move forward from there. In that asana, I know which aspect of form has the priority. So my teacher is watching and adapting.

raise it as high as possible with the knee locked

In general the idea in such poses is to keep the leg straight, rather than locking the knee. The difference is usually quite subtle in the beginning. But just think of extending your foot fully out away from your hip, rather than jamming the front of your knee back.

So, since people here seem to know good yoga --

What's the deal with the version in P90X? I honestly don't know how it differs from other forms and why some don't recommend it.

I'm not defending it, I just wanna know. At least it's gotten me curious about trying other classes.

I tend to go at things with full effort. I think I'm patient, however I'm always taught that my patience has a long road to hoe.
Yoga reinforced that.
We're all different, and at different levels of flexibility, strength and patience. Asanas, as I do them currently is not how I did them years ago. Like getting base miles, yoga is a long term thing.
As cyclists we become prone to pushing - we know that we don;t improve until we push the envelope.
Yoga works that way also, but yoga doesn't work best when you try to do 'intervals', it's more like LSD or moderate tempo rides.
Finding where an asana starts transforming you without causing issues is one of the most important things to be aware of in the beginning, 6 months later and years after that. It's actually an awareness I believe is always needed.
Instructors can only know what they see of you, how you feel is something you can communicate to good instructors, They'll help in finding that balance for you - but you have to make the decision. If you're no longer the perfect specimen, then adjusting a pose to work in your envelope is important - with the objective to get closer to the desired pose, at some future point, if that's in the cards.
Yoga continues to teach me more about myself, everytime I practice.


+10000

In general the idea in such poses is to keep the leg straight, rather than locking the knee. The difference is usually quite subtle in the beginning. But just think of extending your foot fully out away from your hip, rather than jamming the front of your knee back.


Well, that depends on who you ask. Go to ANY Bikram class an you will hear the phrase "Lock the knee" over and over again.

That's interesting. I was having trouble raising my leg while in a prone position so it stood straight up with my knee locked. Rather than hold it straight up without the knee locked, he said to raise it as high as possible with the knee locked, and move forward from there. In that asana, I know which aspect of form has the priority. So my teacher is watching and adapting.

right on
I have plenty of issues in many asanas due to injury or just plain inflexibility or morphological issues.
Whenever I do a 'class' with an instructor who is new to me, I give them a quick rundown of my major injury/issues. I truly don;t expect them to remember all that, fully expecting that I'll remind them during the practice, and they'll remember our very brief conversation. Surprisingly, they remember more than I expect. They then help me adjust accordingly.
I'm lucky - we have some great instructors around here who put a lot of thought into their classes.
I've found that if I can bring some focus to my breath, most all my poses benefit greatly as I can decide what to relax and what to strengthen.
Good Instructors come from great teaching instructors, and aware students come from good instructors.
BTW, I'm not an instructor, by a long shot - just slowly becoming a better student.

Well, that depends on who you ask. Go to ANY Bikram class an you will hear the phrase "Lock the knee" over and over again.

Yes, the diversity in yoga practice and instruction is quite wide. My practice and study has been 99.9% Iyengar. I have taken a few other classes and am always amazed to observe the considerable differences.

I've taken my sweetheart to a few classes from our local Iyengar instructor, and she's decided she really doesn't like them. I encourage her to try other styles. I think that's an important point about yoga. What clicks for one person might just not work for another. If a class from one place doesn't work for you, go someplace else to see if it works better. At the very least you'll get to see for yourself how diverse a field the term "yoga" covers!

right on
I have plenty of issues in many asanas due to injury or just plain inflexibility or morphological issues.
Whenever I do a 'class' with an instructor who is new to me, I give them a quick rundown of my major injury/issues. I truly don;t expect them to remember all that, fully expecting that I'll remind them during the practice, and they'll remember our very brief conversation. Surprisingly, they remember more than I expect. They then help me adjust accordingly.
I'm lucky - we have some great instructors around here who put a lot of thought into their classes.
I've found that if I can bring some focus to my breath, most all my poses benefit greatly as I can decide what to relax and what to strengthen.
Good Instructors come from great teaching instructors, and aware students come from good instructors.
BTW, I'm not an instructor, by a long shot - just slowly becoming a better student.

In my second lesson I've started noticing just this point.

Yes, "lock the knee," and "pull up those kneecaps!"

Yoga is two fold with a detour, stretching and strength training and the detour is physical relaxation with mental relaxation.

If you want the stretching part of it, I find being taught stretching exercises by a high school/college wrestler is better. They do better and more dynamic stretches than yoga does. Yoga helps develop smoothness and balance moving to different poses and strength from holding the poses. The relaxation of the mind comes from the relaxation of the body and allowing yourself to mentally relax by accepting the body's relaxation. I've taken many a yoga class where after the "stretching" part, you lie on your back without moving for as much as 2 1/2 hours relaxing. This is the mental relaxation.

I just take it as it comes, at this point. My instructor does have us relax afterwards, but nowhere near two hours - more like 10 minutes.

If you want to know the ins and outs of how the body works in yoga check out Ray Long at http://www.dailybandha.com/

If you want to know the ins and outs of how the body works in yoga check out Ray Long at http://www.dailybandha.com/

nice! thx!

Update 13+ weeks later:

5 weeks into the yoga class, other things in life got really busy and I had to cut back training to like 2 hours a week, so there went regular yoga. When the musical concert season entered full-speed, I had to cut that out, too, with 3 hour rehearsals and performances 11 nights out of 14.

I'm re-taking the class starting in a few weeks, and it seems to be designed for this. To try to keep up a little, I bought some books. It's amazing how different Iyengar is from some other styles. My teacher is a stickler for form and for staying in an asana long enough to feel how to relax when in it. One of the books I bought (by Cynthia Worby) seems to follow this and models the form I was taught. Some of the instructions for achieving an asana are the same as in my class. Another book by Zack Kurland focuses on morning workouts (vinyasas?), and seems to move you from asana to asana at a rather quick pace - 15 asanas in a 20 minute sun salutation warmup or beginner vinyasa. So far I think I'll stay with Iyengar and Ms. Worby when I'm not working under my class.


Like that bandha site!

In general the idea in such poses is to keep the leg straight, rather than locking the knee. The difference is usually quite subtle in the beginning. But just think of extending your foot fully out away from your hip, rather than jamming the front of your knee back.

Ok, perhaps I've not been hearing what he really means. He also gets his lefts and rights mixed up. You have to watch him and reverse sides to follow accurately.

So, since people here seem to know good yoga --

What's the deal with the version in P90X? I honestly don't know how it differs from other forms and why some don't recommend it.

I'm not defending it, I just wanna know. At least it's gotten me curious about trying other classes.

From my limited point of view, how is P90X connected with Yoga? Look at their site, I don't see a connection, other than the human body itself.

From my limited point of view, how is P90X connected with Yoga? Look at their site, I don't see a connection, other than the human body itself.

They've got a routine that's about 90 minutes long, starting with 40-45 minutes of vinyasas and movement, then a bunch of balance poses, and finishing with some stretching, a brief minute-long corpse pose, and even some "om"-ing. My sister says it moves really quickly compared to the classes she's taken, though. I did the session with her during a visit over Thanksgiving, which was after my posts in this thread.

They put in a shorter one in the new P90X2, too, but I haven't gotten it.

I'm a rank beginner, but what I do is very slow. I've gained significant strength from it and even breathed hard, but I'm not in it for aerobics; I got bikes for that.

Compared to what I'm doing, it seems to use some of the elements of yoga, but it's real different.