How can yoga and water go collectively? Nicely, you may be in for a pleasing shock. Water Yoga, which can be referred to as Aqua Yoga, is a little-known fashion of yoga that has its roots in aqua aerobics. It’s totally different from its extra fashionable cousin, SUP (Stand-up-paddleboard) yoga, as moderately than being on prime of the water, you may be proper within the water!
Aqua yoga may be provided as an alternative choice to yoga on a mat because the aspect of water helps light motion and can cut back the prospect of damage because it takes the strain off bone stress. With decreased results of gravity, you’ll really feel like you might be floating as you circulate via a water yoga class!
What’s Aqua Yoga?
Aqua yoga is yoga poses performed within the pool. It entails aqua yoga props such because the pool noodle, to assist help the physique keep afloat within the poses.
Aqua yoga has many well being advantages together with:
- Much less strain on the knee and ankle joints
- Simpler to construct steadiness and stability
- Could be a cardio health exercise with added cardio workout routines
- Good for damage rehabilitation
- Is a type of resistance coaching, good for total well being
- Fits inexperienced persons and superior yogis too!
What do you want for a water yoga session?
For water yoga, you want water, a pool noodle and ideally an authorized private coach or certified yoga trainer who can help you thru the poses.
You’ll want to follow in a pool with water that’s round chest depth. This offers you a very good steadiness between standing poses and floating, with out having to tread water.
Within the pool, hotter water is best, you wish to discover a pool that’s ideally above 86 levels Fahrenheit. Heat water helps to maintain your physique heat throughout follow, permitting you further flexibility within the muscle tissue and a very good vary of movement within the joints.
You can too use pool noodles or different floatation gadgets to help your physique in the course of the water yoga poses.
5 Aqua Yoga Poses
If you’re able to study some water yoga poses, listed below are 5 of the most typical that it’s best to find out about!
1. Padangusthasana (Massive Toe Pose)
Massive toe pose entails standing on one leg, with the opposite leg prolonged out to the facet, and relying in your flexibility, holding onto the outstretched large toe together with your fingers.
You could wish to do that within the shallow finish of the pool, so that you could stand with ease. Begin standing in your left leg, and you’ll both lengthen your proper leg out and catch the toes in your hand, or relaxation the fitting leg on the facet of pool and outstretch your arms in reverse instructions.
This pose doesn’t require a pool noodle, but it surely is among the extra superior poses as a result of it entails balancing on the legs and a specific amount of flexibility. You can too start with tree pose, a extra light variation, and work as much as large toe pose in the long term.
2. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana (Upward Dealing with Canine)
To your aqua upward-facing canine, you will have a pool noodle. Grasp your noodle in each palms and stretch your arms out in entrance of you. Roll over onto the tops of your ft and lean the physique ahead in a plank place. Press the pool noodle down into water beneath you, and hold your head up excessive. Squeeze your shoulder blades collectively as you drop your hips, creating a delicate arch within the backbone.
This pose is nice for stretching all the backbone, and opening up the chest. Good after a day on the work desk!
Boat pose sounds prefer it was made for water yoga! This pose is nice for the entire physique, however notably for build up the energy of the core muscle tissue.
To do that, you will have at the very least one or two noodles. Place the primary noodle underneath your hips, and discover a good steadiness level within the center. Then, place the second noodle underneath your knees. You will want to activate your core right here to maintain holding the boat place. For those who want further help right here, you may also place another noodle behind your again to maintain your chest lifted.
Clearly, the much less noodles you utilize, the stronger the pose can be. So enable your self to slowly construct as much as the one noodle variation.
4. Ardha Chandrasana (Half Moon Pose)
For Half moon pose, you wish to stand on one leg, open your physique to the facet and lengthen your prime arm as much as the sky and the opposite hand will lengthen lengthy to seize the wall.
For instance, in case your proper foot is your standing entrance foot, then place it firmly on the pool flooring and lengthen your left foot behind you. Maintain onto the pool wall together with your proper hand, and lengthen your left arm as much as the sky. Use your standing foot and the pool wall to stabilize your physique.
One of many advantages of the water right here, is that it lets you steadiness extra simply than doing this pose free-standing.
5. Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand)
For a handstand, we do solely advocate this in a big pool with a giant flooring area. It’s one other superior yoga pose, so do take care and ensure there are different individuals round in case you are trying this for the very first time.
If you’re doing all of your yoga session in a spa, we don’t advocate that you simply add a handstand, as a spa usually has small and uneven floor flooring to face upon, and the chance of getting clothes or hair caught within the spa jet.
When you find yourself prepared, dive your head underwater, land your palms flat on the ground and lengthen each of your ft up towards the sky. Attempt to straighten your physique and maintain this pose for a couple of seconds. The water will assist to stabilize your physique and hold you in steadiness. Attempt to hold each your left arm and your proper arm straight as you steadiness.
Earlier than it, you may be practising many varieties of yoga inversions within the pool, and absorbing all the advantages of being the other way up.
Bonus Pose – End with Savasana
No yoga class is full with out a savasana on the finish. To do that ultimate resting pose, take one noodle behind your shoulders and neck, stretching the arms out lengthy. Take the opposite noodle down the size of your backbone, or behind the knees to maintain your legs afloat. As all the time, make it as snug as attainable.
Shut your eyes for a couple of minutes and focus in your breath transferring out and in of your physique. Let your whole muscle tissue chill out after a difficult class, and permit your self to easily float.
Typically, in a gaggle aqua yoga studio class, the trainer might information a delicate meditation right here that will help you comply with your breath and soften into bliss.
As the category involves an finish, slowly push the pool noodles away and slowly return to the current second. Land your ft again on the bottom, and congratulate your self for finishing one other water yoga session!
Placing all of it collectively – An Aqua Yoga Observe so that you can strive
Yoga within the pool is supposed to be enjoyable! Becoming a member of a gaggle yoga class generally is a good thing to do with pals, and you’ll take in the advantages collectively.
If you’re prepared to start, strive one among these practices for an ideal aqua yoga class for inexperienced persons:
Steadily Requested Questions:
Can yoga be performed in water?
Sure, aqua yoga is yoga poses which are performed in water. You will want a physique of water, comparable to a pool, with water that comes as much as your chest, a pool noodle or two, and a information of some aqua yoga poses.
What are one of the best water yoga poses?
The 5 poses listed on this article are nice for water yoga! They’re: large toe pose, half moon, upward dealing with canine, boat pose, and handstand! You can too take pleasure in a water yoga savasana on the finish of your session.
What are the principle advantages of aqua yoga?
The primary advantages of doing yoga in water embrace the decreased strain of gravity on the joints. Being in water is sort of a light resistance coaching, nice for constructing muscle energy with out injuring any of the joints. Being in heat water can even assist to enhance flexibility and vary of movement.