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Shane Kipple

Ms. White

UWRT 1104

1 October 2018

Yoga as a Genre

People try yoga for many different reasons: to increase flexibility, relieve stress, general

fitness, overall health, balance, etc (Walton). In reality, yoga is all about getting to know

yourself better and learning how to love yourself. It is about teaching yourself to bend so you do

not break, physically and emotionally. All of these components combined are what make up the

genre of yoga. A genre is a category of artistic composition, characterized by similarities in

form, style, or subject matter. Yoga has been around for over 5,000 years helping people with all

of those goals (Burgin)​. ​ Because it has been around for so long, there are many different types

of yoga that help people reach their specific goals, both physically and mentally. In fact, every

form of yoga is a form of meditation.

Power Vinyasa yoga is one of the most popular types of yoga in this day and age. It is a

powerful, energetic, flowing form of yoga where your movements are guided by the pace of your

breathing (What is Hot Vinyasa Flow Yoga?). The translation of the word “vinyasa” is

“arranging something in a specific way,” such as vinyasa movements (Modestini). The objective

for this type of yoga is for the movements to flow together, therefore creating body heat and

sweat (What is Hot Vinyasa Flow Yoga?). To aid creating body heat and sweat, the room where

it is taught usually ranges from a temperature of 80 to 99 degrees fahrenheit. There are three

main movements, called vinyasa movements, that make the flowing technique possible (What is
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Hot Vinyasa Flow Yoga?). These three movements are plank, cobra, or up dog and down dog.

These vinyasa movements connect other poses of yoga together so that they are able to be done

in a sequence. Vinyasa movements act as cardio in a yoga routine in order to get your heart

beating (What is Hot Vinyasa Flow Yoga?). The body heat created by vinyasa allows the

muscles to soften for a deeper and faster stretch, therefore enabling more poses to be practiced

during each class. The body heat that the vinyasa creates is not only to make the participant

sweat, but to detoxify through their sweating. It is not the same as detoxing by sweating from a

steam room or a sauna (What is Hot Vinyasa Flow Yoga?). Through vinyasa power yoga you

are sweating out the toxins and tension you are holding within your body during the practice

(What is Hot Vinyasa Flow Yoga?). ​ ​The main benefits of power vinyasa yoga are to burn

calories, build strength, relieve stress, increase flexibility, improve circulation, and alleviate

congestion in the organs. Other benefits that come along with practicing power vinyasa yoga are

improving sleep and treating addiction (McCoy). These goals are able to be reached not only

through the physical components of this style of yoga, but through the meditation components of

power vinyasa yoga as well.

Meditation is the act of focusing the mind (Modestini). Vinyasa yoga can help focus the

mind by simply giving your mind something to focus on. The technique of breathing used in

power vinyasa yoga is very crucial to keep your mind focused (Modestini). In this specific type

of yoga, all of the breathing should be done through the nose, and each movement should be

guided by a breath. Every change in position that is made should be synchronized with either an

inhale or an exhale. This ensures all movements are slow and smooth (Modestini). This

technique of breathing originated in a type of yoga called Hatha yoga (Modestini). Also
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originated in Hatha yoga, but used in power vinyasa yoga for meditation, is the “drishti.” A

“drishti” is a gazing point. For each pose, there should be a gazing point that is held throughout

the entire length of the pose (Modestini). Keeping your eyes focused in one specific place while

holding a pose not only helps to stay balanced, but helps to stay focused, therefore, in meditation.

Bikram yoga is like power vinyasa yoga, but hotter. Because of this, it is often referred

to as hot yoga. About 70 years ago in India, Bikram Choudhury designed this form of yoga to act

as a form of therapy when he acquired a severe knee injury (Lopez). ​As soon as he realized it

had healed his knee, along with majorly benefitting his overall health, he started Bikram yoga

schools in India and Japan. In 1973, Choudhury brought Bikram yoga to America, where some

of his first students were Shirley Maclaine, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and former U.S. President

Richard Nixon (Lopez). Bikram Choudhury took a long yoga practice that had already existed,

took away movements and added others to create his own form of yoga that is now a fitness

franchise (Goyanes). Choudhury designed this form of yoga so that it must be done in a heated

room of around 105 degrees fahrenheit with 40 percent humidity. The purpose of this heat is to

provide the same environmental conditions as India (Goyanes). Choudhury claims that the

advantages of this heat are to allow deeper stretches and excessive sweating to get rid of toxins.

Bikram yoga is pretty much the same anywhere it is practiced because of the fact that it consists

of only 26 poses. These 26 poses have a specific purpose to restore the whole body back to a

“healthy working order, just as nature intended” (26 Postures of Bikram Yoga). This restoration

process consists of moving fresh, oxygenated blood to every inch of your body, including each

organ and fiber. The order in which these 26 poses are done is to warm and stretch muscles,

ligaments and tendons in the proper order they should be (26 Postures of Bikram Yoga). The
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objectives of the unique features of this class are to allow your body to stretch, detoxify, relieve

stress, tone, improve balance, increase focus and concentration, and heal your body of chronic

pain (Goyanes). Another unique feature of Bikram yoga is that the studio in which it is taught

will always have a soft carpet, making it easier on the joints of the body (Goyanes). Bikram yoga

is not a typical class in which the teacher demonstrates the poses. A large part of this unique

form of yoga is to simply listen to, and not watch, the instructor (Goyanes). By focusing on

listening, you are able to forget about everything else, free your mind, and surrender yourself to a

moving meditation.

Most yoga classes stop physical movements around 5 to 10 minutes before the class ends

in order for the class to use that time for meditation and chanting (Ireland). However, Bikram

yoga spends the full 90 minutes going through the specific 26 poses. This does not mean that you

are not meditating. In fact, the entire class, start to finish, of bikram yoga is meditation (Ireland).

While focusing and concentrating on breathing and the alignment and posture of the poses, a

form of moving meditation is being practiced (Ireland).

Yin yoga, originally called “Daoist” yoga, is a less popular type of yoga that takes a

different approach than many other types of yoga do (Zvara). The purpose of Yin yoga is to

regulate the flow of energy throughout the body by targeting the body’s deep connective tissues

along with the fascia that covers the body (Zvara). Yin yoga is a more intimate practice of yoga.

Therefore, students must be ready to become more intimate with themselves: their feelings,

sensations, and emotions. Because of this, yin yoga is often used to aid people in programs for

addictions, eating disorders, anxiety, and deep pain or trauma (Zvara). Objective benefits that

come from practicing Yin yoga are a calm and balanced mind, increased mobility at the hips and
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joints, greater stamina, stress relief, increased flexibility, deeper relaxation, released fascia

throughout the body, and increased circulation (Zvara). Different yin yoga poses stimulate and

remove blockages in the myofascial meridians in the body, which balances internal organs and

systems (Ekhart). Yin yoga postures mainly take place on the floor and focus on areas near joints

such as the hips, sacrum, and spine (Ekhart). These poses are usually held for three to five

minutes or even longer to access deeper tissues and to allow the muscles around the tissues to

relax, ultimately lengthening and strengthening the muscles (Ekhart). The time spent holding

these poses is often used as a time to meditate (Ekhart).

Yin yoga is not just different in the physical component, but also the meditational

component (Ekhart). In most styles of yoga, meditation is where you are supposed to rid your

mind of any thoughts at all. Your mind should essentially be blank. However, in Yin yoga

meditation, while holding the poses for a lengthy amount of time, you are supposed to fill your

mind with the thoughts and emotions that you have not had time to deeply think about (Ekhart).

These thoughts may be filled with happiness, sadness, anxiety, boredom, etc., and should come

out through the physical sensations felt from the deep stretches brought by the poses of Yin yoga

(Ekhart). This specific Yin yoga meditation is used to acknowledge these thoughts and emotions

and then clear the mind of them, rather than ignoring the presence of them to deal with them later

(Ekhart).

Each style of yoga is different in a variety of ways. They differ from where and how they

are performed and which poses are used for each particular style of yoga. However, every style

of yoga is similar in the way in which it is not only a physical practice, but a mental and

emotional practice as well. Each style of yoga is either a moving meditation or involves a form
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of meditation at the end of each class, and all styles share the fact that they each have a very

sought-after list of unique benefits. Though each list of benefits may differ, people practice all

types of yoga for the core benefits, such as an increase in flexibility, stress relief, general fitness,

overall health, etc. These similarities combined are what define yoga as its own genre.
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Works Cited

Burgin, Timothy. ​History of Yoga​. Yoga Basics.

http://www.yogabasics.com/learn/history-of-yoga/​. Accessed 1 October 2018.

Walton, Alice. ​How Yoga Is Spreading in The US. ​Forbes. 15 March 2016.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2016/03/15/how-yoga-is-spreading-in-the-u-s/

#2f7f9841449f​. Accessed 1 October 2018.

​ oga Journal.
Modestini, Eddie. ​Vinyasa 101: 5 Things You didn’t Know About Vinyasa Yoga. Y

14 March 2016.

https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/vinyasa-101-5-things-you-didnt-know-about-vin

yasa-yoga​. Accessed 1 October 2018.

​ ower Yoga.
What is hot Vinyasa Flow Yoga? P

https://poweryoga.com/blog/what-is-hot-vinyasa-flow-yoga/​. Accessed 1 October 2018.

McCoy, William. ​Calories Burned During Ashtanga Yoga.​ Livestrong. 11 September 2017.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/297268-calories-burned-during-ashtanga-yoga/​.

Accessed 1 October 2018.

Lopez, Amanda. ​8 Reasons to Practice Bikram Yoga.​ DOYOUYOGA.

https://www.doyouyoga.com/8-reasons-to-practice-bikram-yoga-48013/​. Accessed 1

October 2018.

Goyanes, Cristina. ​Bikram Yoga: Everything You Should Know.​ SHAPE.

https://www.shape.com/fitness/workouts/9-things-you-need-know-about-bikram-yoga​.

Accessed 1 October 2018.

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26 Postures of Bikram Yoga.​ Bikram Yoga. ​https://www.bikramyoga.com/about/26-postures/​.

Accessed 1 October 2018.

Ireland, Kay. ​Bikram Yoga and Meditation.​ Azcentral.

https://healthyliving.azcentral.com/bikram-yoga-meditation-6371.html​. Accessed 1

October 2018.

Zvara, Hope. ​Yin Yoga 101: What You Need To Know. ​Mindbodygreen.

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5037/Yin-Yoga-101-What-You-Need-to-Know.html​.

Accessed 1 October 2018.

​ khartYoga. 30 November 2017.

Ekhart, Esther. ​The benefits of Yin Yoga. E

https://www.ekhartyoga.com/articles/the-benefits-of-yin-yoga​. Accessed 1 October 2018.