What Different Styles of Yoga Offer

     Over the last three weeks I have been fortunate enough to be able to devote this month to deepening my understanding of yoga and learning how to teach and share it with others.  I have been studying at Yoga Garden in San Francisco with an amazing group of people.  I have spent six days a week with them and we have grown quite close.  We have laughed, cried, fallen out of poses, and had physical and emotional breakthroughs together.  It has been quite an amazing journey and its not over yet!
     In this training I have been exposed to many different teaching styles and styles of yoga.   I am grateful Yoga Garden had a variety of teachers leading their 200 hour teacher training.  This has given me the opportunity to see what resonates with me, what feels right in my body, and what direction I wish to take my practice and my teaching.  This has taught me there is no right or wrong or one perfect way to practice or teach yoga.  Everyone is different so it only makes sense that different styles of yoga will resonate with each of us.
     I would encourage everyone, new yoga students and people with established yoga practices to try out different styles of yoga.  See what you enjoy, see what you are neutral towards, and see what you dislike.  Then I challenge you to look deeper into why you like or dislike a certain style.  Do you love Vinyasa because you are moving and sweating or do you dislike it because you don't get to hold a pose for very long? Do you love Yin because of the deep stretching and release or do you dislike it because you can't seem to relax and your mind is racing? Do you enjoy Iyengar because you gain a better understanding of alignment in the pose and explore how deep you can get into a pose or do you dislike it because you become impatient or want to do more poses in a class?
     I challenge you to dig deeper and find out why you are feeling these things.  In my own practice I found I gravitated toward more movement style classes because I didn't have to think.  When I took slower paced classes I had a hard time staying present.  I challenged myself to do the things that were harder for me and still try to find the same peace and presence I found in faster pace classes.  Going to more Yin and Iyengar classes taught me how to be in my body and how to still my mind.  These practices also helped me in my flow practice.  I had better alignment from practicing Iyengar and was more open because of practicing Yin.
     So go out there and find what is true for your body, your mind, and your practice! I would love to hear what works for you and any stories you have about finding what practices work for you!

Namaste
Ali