Class Descriptitons

The building blocks to a deeper practice. Learn and practice the fundamentals of yoga, including 23 different
postures and 5 breathing techniques. Pace is gentle stretching, to helpyou slow down, relax, focus. Go at your own pace, using props and
teacher guidance for variations. 15 page class guide handout available in bookstore for home practice for $2.00. No pre-requisite.

The core strength of Pilates blended with the holism of yoga. Discover your power house and explore complete range of motion through
every major joint in the body in every plane of movement. The routines
will focus on using proper body alignment and increasing body awareness
to improve coordination, balance, flexibility, and strength.
Prerequisite - some experience in yoga or pilates.

Poses held to emphasize “release” over stretching.

 A step or two beyond Beginners.

The salubrious nectar of a full yoga practice:  Asana,Pranayama,and Meditation.

 A flowing choreography of moving meditation.

Description of Hatha Yoga Styles

There are many different styles of Hatha Yoga practiced at the Cincinnati Yoga School. you can check the class schedule to see which style each teacher focuses on. The postures in this booklet are basic instructions and will be affected by the different style accordingly. Following is a brief description of each style. 

Kripalu Yoga , inspired by Kripalvananda and developed by his disciple Yogi Amrit Desai, is a three stage Yoga tailored for the needs of Western Students. In the first stage, postural alignment and coordination of breath and movement are emphasized, and postures are held for a short duration only. In the second stage, mediation is included into the practice and postures are held for prolonged periods. In the final stage, the practice of postures becomes a spontaneous "meditation in motion". 

Atma Yoga is a contemplative, soul centered way of yoga developed by Christopher Ken Baxter and his colleagues in the fields of physical therapy and sports fitness, allopathic and complementary medicine, Buddhist meditation and Hatha Yoga, A subtle and deep practice, Atma Yoga's pace is attuned to your growing ability to focus attention on the core strength and energy of your own body - the foundation of all Atma Yoga practice. Once you have mastered the foundation, the emphasis moves to development of spontaneous inner guidance. That brings on an exciting personal shift from following the program to following your heart as you develop confidence in intuitive ways of knowing. Learn to relax and trust yourself. You may discover that your Hatha Yoga practices become more expressive, stronger, and more creative - and so does the way you live your life. Atma Yoga: the soul centered way. 

Anusara Yoga is a new paradigm for hatha Yoga, developed by John Friend. Anusara [a-nu-sar-a] means "to be in the flow", "flowing with Grace", "to go with the flow of Divine Love", "to follow your heart". Anusara Yoga is hear-oriented, spiritually inspiring, and yet grounded in the Universal Principles of Alignment for both the inner and outer body. It is a uniquely integrated style of Hatha Yoga in which the artistic glory of the human heart blends magically with the scientific principles of biomechanics. 

Ashtanga Yoga originated with K. Pattabhi Jois, who was born in 1916 but who has a suitably modern outlook to draw eager Western students to his Ashtanga Yoga Institute located in Mysore, India. He was a principal disciple of Sri Krishnamacharya who, apparently, instructed him to teach the sequences known as Ashtanga, or Power Yoga. This is by far the most athletic style of Hatha Yoga. Ashtanga Yoga differs from Pantanjali's eight-fold path, though it is theoretically grounded in it. On a physical level, Ashtanga Yoga connects the flow of postures with breath awareness in a sequence that creates heat and releases stored energy in the body. As a result builds strength, flexibility and endurance. 

"Eclectic" Hatha Yoga - some teachers have studied in may different areas such as Integral, Iyengar, Integrative, Phoenix Rising, White Lotus and Tri Yoga. These are represented by master teachers such as Swami Satchidananda, Rodney Yee, Eric Schiffmann, Joseph LaPage, Ganga White and Tracy Rich, Judith Lasiter and Kali Ray (and many more).